But to want and to get
are very different things, as she soon found, for she was no more able
to get it than the other had been.
Last of all came the mother, and she also strove to pluck the apple. But
it was no use. She had no more luck of her trying than her daughters;
all that the three could do was to stand under the tree and look at the
apple, and wish for it and wish for it.
They are not the only ones who have done the like, with the apple of
contentment hanging just above them.
As for Christine, she had nothing to do but to pluck an apple whenever
she wanted it. Was she hungry? there was the apple hanging in the tree
for her. Was she thirsty? there was the apple. Cold? there was the
apple. So you see, she was the happiest girl betwixt all the seven hills
that stand at the ends of the earth; for nobody in the world can have
more than contentment, and that was what the apple brought her.
II
One day a king came riding along the road, and all of his people with
him. He looked up and saw the apple hanging in the tree, and a great
desire came upon him to have a taste of it. So he called one of the
servants to him, and told him to go and ask whether it could be bought
for a potful of gold.
So the servant went to the house, and knocked on the door--rap! tap!
tap!
"What do you want?" said the mother of the three sisters, coming to the
door.
Oh, nothing much; only a king was out there in the road, and wanted to
know if she would sell the apple yonder for a potful of gold.
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