Once upon a time, there was a Tree. It was small, and skinny, and not well taken care of. A fat, greedy man bought it because he was told that it would give golden fruit. But the Tree withered and the leaves grew brown.

One day, the man became very angry at the Tree. He pulled it out of the ground and threw it over the wall of his garden. Up and over, it flew. Then it landed right into a little girl’s basket!

It was too heavy for the little girl so she called to her three older brothers. “It’s a tree! It’s a tree for Momma!” she cried. “Oh, Momma loves trees. She will be happy when she sees this one.”

The three brothers helped the little girl plant the Tree in their little garden. “Oh, Tree,” said the girl. “Please grow big and strong. Momma is sick but she loves big, strong trees.”

The little girl watered the Tree and talked to the Tree every day. Soon the leaves became green and the Tree grew very tall and fat. But the little girl’s Momma was still sick.

“Oh, Tree!” said the girl one day. “If only you were a fruit tree, we could help Momma more. All my brothers are going to work now. They are trying to get a lot of money to make Momma better. Momma is so sick. She never leaves her bed. My brothers said we need to do all we can to make Momma better. But I’m too little to work. If you grew fruit, we could sell it at the market.”

Three days later, the little girl saw a small green ball under one of the Tree’s leaves. She looked at it, and poked at it, and then smiled really big. “Oh Tree! You are a fruit Tree! And now you are growing fruit to help Momma!”

The little girl ran inside the house to tell her Momma, but soon came back outside again.

“Oh Tree. I was going to tell Momma about your fruit. But she is too sick to listen.” The little girl was very sad.

Suddenly, the Tree shook and got a little bigger. The little girl saw the green ball get bigger too. And then with a final shake, the green ball fell off its branch to the ground. But when it hit the ground, it made a funny “PLUNK” noise.

The little girl picked up the fruit. It was very heavy and really hard. “It must not be ripe yet,” she said. “I will put it in my window so the sun can make it ripe.” And that is what she did.

For the next few days, nothing new happened. The little girl talked to the fruit in her window every day. She also talked to the Tree every day and watered it.

Then one morning the girl came outside crying. “Oh Tree! Momma’s medicine isn’t working anymore! My brothers say she needs surgery. But the doctors are very expensive!”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

The three brothers worked hard from very early in the morning to very late at night. They were only home when the sun was not up. The little girl became lonely. She tried to help her Momma, but Momma was just too sick.

Then one night, Momma was taken to the hospital. She had to have the surgery right away! The little girl told the Tree, “My brothers will figure out how to pay for the surgery. I want Momma to get better.”

The next morning, the fruit in the window was a golden yellow color. The little girl was excited. “It must be ripe now. I wonder how much it will sell in the market.” She ran to tell the Tree. The Tree had another little green ball on its branches!

“Oh Tree! I’m so excited. Tonight, I will tell my brothers about your fruit. I want to help pay for Momma’s surgery.”

But that night, when the brothers came home, they sat around the dinner table trying to solve the money problem. The little girl tried to tell them about the fruit but they told her that the money for one little fruit would not be enough to help Momma.

The little girl ran to her Tree. “Oh Tree! My brothers say it is no good! All the money they have been working to get isn’t enough. And they said the little fruit is only going to get a little money.”

“Oh Tree! You work so hard to make Momma happy and to help pay for her surgery. If a little fruit only brings a little money, can you make a big fruit to bring a lot of money?”

And then the ground under the little girl’s feet began to shake. The Tree and all its roots were shaking very hard. The little green ball on the Tree’s branches grew very big and turned a golden color. Finally, with a last big shake, the giant fruit fell to the ground. It made a very loud noise. KER-THUNK. CLANG. The fruit was as big as a watermelon!

The three brothers came outside to figure out what the loud noise was. “This is it!” they shouted. “This will pay for Momma’s surgery.” It took all three of them to lift the fruit and take it away.

The next morning the little girl was very sad. The Tree was very small and very skinny. Its leaves drooped very low to the ground. She talked to it and gave it lots of water. But by the end of the day, all its leaves had turned brown.

The Tree had tried so hard to make such a big fruit that it died.

Momma came home the next day. She was a lot better but sad to see that the Tree had died.

The little girl looked at the fruit in her window. “If I plant you in the ground, you will become a very nice Tree. But if I sell you at market, we will have enough money to be happy for a long time. What should I do?”

The little girl took the fruit to her Momma. She told about the Tree landing in her basket. She told about making the Tree happy and getting the first fruit. She told her Momma how the Tree made the really big fruit and then died. “Oh Momma, should I plant this fruit to get another Tree? Or should we sell it?”

“Dear,” said Momma. “The big fruit paid for the surgery all by itself. The money your brothers made will make us happy for several years. If you want, you can plant this little fruit. I’m sure if you take care of it, it will become a magic Tree like the first one.”

So that is what the little girl did. She planted the fruit in the garden and watered it every day. She talked and talked to the buried seeds about her Momma being happy and healthy.

Three weeks later, the little girl came outside to water the seeds. Suddenly, she ran back inside and said, “Oh Momma. Come see! Come see!”

The little girl brought her Momma outside and showed her the tiny green sprout poking up out of the ground.

“Hello, little Tree,” said Momma.

The End.