The little pig and the apple tree

    

    Once upon a time, there was a big and beautiful apple tree, and beneath it, a little pig would lie and eat the biggest, reddest, juiciest, yummiest apples in all the forest (that this and only this tree could give).

But there was a problem, every day, more and more little brown birds would fly in from the south, perch on the tree and peck at the apples. 

“My apples! Don’t touch my apples!” yelled the little pig, but the birds couldn’t understand the pig’s language, they would only go ke! ke! ke!, not even kawh! kawh! kawh! like normal birds, and that drove the little pig crazy. “They are dirty and smelly and just too many!” the little pig was really upset. So he thought of a plan. He planned to scare the birds away and build a big bird cage around the apple tree, that way the birds would have to look for apples somewhere else and everything would be great again. 

    But the little pig needed help, he couldn’t do such a tremendous task alone. So he went around the forest, talking to the other animals.

“The birds are eating from our apples, leaving them full of holes! We need to kick them out or we’ll end up with nothing!” said the little pig. 

“But the tree is part of the forest, and the forest belongs to everyone and no one,” said the owl. 

“But we were here first!” argued the sheep. 

“Actually, the bison were here first.”

“That doesn’t count!”

To make a long story short, they argued and argued for a long time, until the little pig finally convinced some of the other animals to help him build the bird cage. 

    It took some time, but finally the last of the little brown birds was kicked out. The animals were very happy. With help from the other animals, the little pig climbed the tree all the way to the top. He smiled triumphantly as he threw the apples down to the animals who were devotedly cheering for him. The pig was a hero, and on top of all that he could have all the apples he wanted!

But there was a new problem, some of the animals weren’t taking the apples. They simply didn’t want them.

“What’s wrong?” asked the little pig.

“My apple has a worm in it!” said one of the sheep.

“Mine too!” said another.

Soon the little pig was attacked left and right with mine too’s.

“Well, just pick them out!” yelled the pig.

“Me? I’m not gonna touch a worm. Gross!”

“Well, look for an apple that doesn’t have worms!” yelled the pig.

“They all have worms!”

“Nonsense!” The little pig picked the nearest apple and took a huge bite. He didn’t find a worm in the apple, he found something worse… a half eaten worm! The little pig was so grossed out that he fainted and fell from the tree.

            When the little pig woke up, he saw that the animals had cut a hole in the cage, letting the birds in.

“Are you alright, my friend?” asked the owl.

“What happened?” asked the little pig.

“You see, without the birds around there was no one to eat the worms, and so, the worms multiplied and plagued our food. By kicking the birds out, we disrupted the balance of nature. All of the species have an important role in our dear forest. Only if we learn to set aside our greed, become united, and work together, we may be able to keep the forest and its inhabitants alive and well.”

 
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