Almond Tree

Once upon a time, in a tiny village at the end of nowhere, there were two friends, who dwelled in village houses and led mutual lives.

They were very good friend, and their families were friends too.

One of them was rich and the other was poor, but that didn't cause many problems.

The only difference was, that they worked together all year, but when harvest time came, the rich man would take most of the products of the land, and to the poor family there were only leftovers.

They were happy with their leftovers, and thanked the rich man many times a day for his kindness.

One day, when the August sun was shining high in the sky, and his heat was burning the brains of the people and animals, keeping them inside the houses, or under the trees; and almost all the green of the land was turned to golden dry straw, the rich man said to the poor man: "Our roads are separating here. You take this fork, and I'll go the other way.

"Why?" Was the answer of the poor man.

"There is no why. We are rich and you've nothing. How can we be together?"

And while the rich man said this, he took the symbol of their friendship and broke it in two throwing it as far as he could. The poor man walked away with his head down, and tears in his eyes.

Some time later, the first rain came, and one of the pieces of the broken staff started to root. After awhild, a tree was rising to the sky. The almond tree grew quickly; its crooked trunk and roots hanging onto the poor soil between the rocks, and he held on with all his forces. The tree was rooted on a cliff, and the cold winter wind blowing from the north would hit his branches, hurting him, but he was able to to resist the pressures of winter, and he soon grew into a big tree.

The almond tree produced his first flowers and his first fruit, but no one, no animal, no bird, no man, would eat or partake of his fruit, as the they were the most bitter, poisonous fruits that had ever been produced. They were so bitter that in the neighborhood no other tree or grass would grow, not even the snakes dared to go near him.

One day, a voyager came along, and as he was very tired, he went to take a rest in the shadow of this tree.

"Thank you for the shadow," he said to the tree, before going away

"Thanks to you, it is the first time ever that anyone has said something nice to me." The tree answered. "I wish I could give you something else, but I am afraid the only thing I can give is my shadow. The fruit I bear is very bitter, and would kill you if you eat it."

"Actually, I need a new staff," added the voyager. Perhaps I could take one of your branches to make it, if you allow me." The tree was happy to give him a branch of his tree, and the voyager asked him why his fruit was so bitter. He listened to the story and he felt sorry for the tree.

He went away with his new staff, and he took some bitter almonds with him in a sack, and once in while he stopped and made a hole with his new staff, and threw a bitter almond in it. He spewed in the hole to moisten it - it was very dry. He'd then cover the almond with soil.

After a while, new almond trees grew, and later, they gave forth the sweetest fruit that had ever been produced on earth. People came from all over the world to admire the incredibly tall and beautiful almond trees.

That is the story of how it came to pass that the almond tree became sweet from bitter.