The Apple-Tree The Open Country Books—No. 1

In this lyrical travelogue the narrator wanders through a lush tropical world where bamboo rattles in the wind, towering ferns stride beside giant arums, and bright parrots flash between branches. The market lanes are alive with carts piled with exotic fruits—coconuts, mangoes, star‑apples, cherimoyas—and unfamiliar vegetables, while donkeys and bullock‑carts lumber lazily down winding roads. The air is warm and fragrant, the scenery a kaleidoscope of palms, lianas and mistletoe, offering a vivid contrast to the orderly fields many readers know.

The vivid description soon gives way to a quiet longing. Amid the riot of colours the traveler feels a pang for the simple, familiar orchard of his youth: the sturdy apple‑tree beside a farmhouse, the scent of ripe fruit in a cool cellar, the gentle hum of sheep and cattle. This wistful yearning frames the narrative, inviting listeners to contemplate how a single tree can hold the memory of home even in the most foreign landscape.