The Rose and the Pear Tree

There once was a maiden who was often compared to a rose. She was beautiful beyond imagine. However, if you got on her bad side, she would stab you like a thorn.

Her existence was to be the guardian of a pear tree, which was in the center of a village. She was tasked with ensuring that no one would steal a single pear. For you see, these were no ordinary pears. They possessed healing qualities. If given the opportunity, they could be used to bring someone back from the brink of death.

There once was a child who was shunned throughout the village. All because he appeared sickly. The other villagers feared that he was contagious and they didn't want to die as well. The boy tried to persuade them into helping him, but no one cared.

The young boy traveled to the center of the village and sat down in front of the Pear Tree. He wrapped his frail arms around his shaking legs and sobbed into his dirty trousers.

The Maiden of the Pear Tree heard his cries. She climbed down from the highest branch and examined the child. She pulled a pear from a low bearing branch and extended it out to the child.

The boy looked up in surprise. He was taught from his parents before they died to never take a pear from the tree. He didn't however know what to do if ever a pear was ever presented to him.

The Maiden smiled and placed the pear in the boy's shaking palms. She motioned him to eat the pear and smiled again once he did.

The boy's pale appearance began to fill with color once again. His frail bones grew stronger with every bite.

The Maiden urged the boy to keep the Pear's true power a secret from the rest of the villagers. He promised he would.

The following day, the Maiden discovered that a few pears had gone missing. She screamed out in bloody murder and stomped closer into the village.

The villagers watched in horror as the Maiden found the young boy in the local bakery and dragged him by his short brunette hair back to the Pear Tree.

She threw him in front of the Pear Tree and watched in glee as the Pear Tree's branches wrapped around the boy.

The boy screamed out in pain as he was dragged closer into the bark of the tree. Before long, he became part of the Pear Tree.

The villagers all gathered around, witnessing the act done by the Maiden and the Pear Tree. None dared to step any closer to the tree. For they feared the same fate would befall them all.

The Maiden looked out into the crowd with a snarl on her face. She yelled out towards them that if any dared to steal a pear they too would meet a gruesome fate.

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Many moons had passed since that fateful day. The village had grown in size. Many of the villagers who were around at the time had either died off or grew too old to remember. The Pear Tree and the Maiden were the same as they were. Time seemed to not touch them.

One fateful evening, a woman in her late twenties was chased through the village. She clutched her bleeding stomach as her feet carried her over the Pear Tree.

Her pursuers stopped in their tracks as she reached the Pear Tree. Frightened, they ran off, leaving her alone under the moonlight.

She fell to her knees as blood spilled from the cut in her stomach. She cried out for anyone to help her.

The Maiden awoke from her slumber and once more climbed down from the highest branch. She pulled a pear from a low bearing branch and offered it to the suffering woman.

The woman was taken aback from the odd present, but it wasn't long before she accepted. A single bite was all that was needed to close the cut in her stomach. Yet, she ate the pear whole.

The Maiden advised the woman to not tell a soul about what the pear had done for her. The woman assured the Maiden that she would take the secret to her grave.

Two days later, a handful of pears had gone missing.