The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-24
THE FRUIT KING.
A Gernan- Fairr storr.

u A Gerpan-Fairy story.
Ira beautifn1 great house, Just on the
redga % the eiis, lived little Sigismund.
The fe was e4pretty fower-garden be-
hind The house, where he used to play.
A Board fehce separated this play-l
ground from a. large vegetable and fruit
garden, which belonged to an old gar
dener. This garden was celebrated
throughout the city, because nowhere
grew such beautiful fruits of all sorts as
! theres 7 u vas one of Sigismund's great
est delights to look out of his bedroom
window, and watch how the fruit grew
'siFeavieF aHts FesieFz-a the autumnzdrewz
on. No one would have grudged him
this pleasure, had thaSbeen alphe asked.
But, unfortunately, our Sigismund very
often climbed over thBfsnoe, and helped
himself to this fruit. His dear mother
gave him all he wished at home, but it
did not taste half so good TO him as that
which he picked himself from tree and
shrub. This naughty sin. had cost him
many a punishment; and his mother
was very sad at his thievish ways aud.
often told him of the greater sins to
" u.
whipped him severely on the complaint
of the old gardener, and even the gar
dener himself scolded, and boxed the
boys ears when he caughehim stealing;
! but it all did no good; the fruit seemed
to ,beckon to him, and. he could not ret
sist the temptation. ~ T. s-r,ll.., "a
One day the old gardener came along
I Just as ,Sigismund was .stoning down
Some Of the most beautiful apples The
old man said: al see, young master,
that with you neither words nor blows
/ do any good. You will never be quiet
\ till the Fruit King himself catches you. .
F" Pooh! the Fruit Kingl' said the
naughty boy, scornfully, and snapped
his fingers; "what nonsense you do
talk. =" 1850
\ Bang! and down came a big, half
ripe apple exactly upon his nose, and
made it bleed. Sigismund looked up at
the tree in a puzzled way, and then off
he ran. iT.9HF ~ an -T3lIT1 d
Some days afterward Sigismund' par
ents were invited out, and they were
hardly gone before he saw through the
window the old gardener setting out for
the city, and the man who helped take
care of the garden following him with
a handful of blooming house-plants.
/ Such good chance to crafty his appe-
tite had not offered itself for long time.
! It was a beautiful fall evening The
moon had risen, and lighted up with
wonderful distinctness the richly laden
apple and plum trees. Especially
\ bright shone the trellis yonder, hanging
/ full of ripening grapes. Our Sigismund
did not pause long to consider. He
I Slipped slvly out of the house into the
/ fower=garden, looking about him to
see if any servant-gi1l were watching
him; and when he was sure he was
/ quite alone, one, two, three,
and he was over the paling in the neigh
boring garden. A few minutes later
and he was sitting comfortably on the
broad branches of a plum tree, and fill-
I ing his pockets with the ripe fragrant
\ fruit. He saw and heard nothing to dis
I turb him, and felt very safe. Involun-
tarily he thought of the last time, when
the old man had caught him; and
laughing and eating he said, half aloud
'@I wonder if the Fruit King DtU catch
: me-" .-iof3iL = r. baE o.dmiN q ,
hos Yes, uyOiingster, that he WILL sud-
denly answered a very clear voice above
Z him; and when he looked up, almost
failing from the tree with fright, he saw
upon the highest -twig a remarkable
creature sitting, IL was a wee man,
/ about the size Ola large doll; his head
was nothing but grea5Tound apple :;
the black eyes were two Whortleberries !;
the nose was made from plum, and
the mouth of red cherries, which were
parted and showed, instead of teeth, a
row of little white cherryIstones. In the
place of hair, quantities of white cur
rants hung like curly locks about his
head, which was crowned with beau:
4 tiful wreath woven Of all kinds of fruit
2 blossoms. The body of the, little man
I consisted of q yellow, ribbed melon
(which had hazel-nuts for buttons. His
short legs were made Of long pears,
fIwhose crooked stems looked like tiny
shoes. His arms were great clusters of
grapes, and with the lowest grape of'the
7 right hand he heldla little bit of grape
vine fast, the head of which was adorn-
j ed with, a. golden apricot. From the
shoulders of this Fruit King hung a
/, cloak woven of trailing vines, aud a
chain of fire-redG cranberries, like a
I, badge of honor, encircled his neck ,
II SigisInund stared with wide-open
eyes at the little man sitting ssos oozily
there, and who now. began to- speak
again. .g5lsa I II bna mn!ioJ1N Y 1
7 h'' Thou thoughtstthere was no such
t-person as l in the World, didst thou, my
Ison? And yet thou vert such lover of
\ my subjects, That thou rnayst know
/ henceforth where live, TwilI now take
I thee to rnyldwelling 'b.ih llEE5yO rIH3i
70 No, oh, no, Sir Fruit LKing,' said
l'Sigismund, whining. 81 do not care to
know, and | would rather stay here. Y !
81 can not help that, "'.Quoth the Fruit
King, and hoped with "a spring down
ITO the branch on which Sigisnund was
covering, and cIasped the boy around
with his grape arms, which were not
soft at all, but felt hard as the hardest
grapevine. Then, with the struggling,i
crying boyYhe began TO, spring with
gneat leaps from one fruit tree to anotl-,
er across the garden into the next, away
on, on, far into the country into an un--
known region Sometimes he took fear,
full leaps, for often the ifruit-trees were
miles apart, and Sigismuntl grew slso'
dizzy that he could hearand see nothing
more. uErh. ~ q haG G,aII1 q Il ,
When he came to his FIVE sensesag again,
the Fruit King had let go Of him and he
7stoOd in a1strange5 looking place where
(he had never been before, 1t must have
been the tropical lands Of which he had
heard and read so fminch, % for theitrees
which grew here were quite ,differenti
from those ut home. There were tall !
palms, bread-fruit trees, and giant ferns, |
There were burning-rcd towering bush.
.es and broad leaved,, shining rubber
trees-ir short, a new, strange world :, \
In the midst of the broad, green Square I
stood a marvellous house oG,rhe founda-
ton wasa masonrysof great eocoannts.sl
On this firm baserose- lighter Wals of 4
red oranges and pemegranates.iT7 the
openings between; which were, filed VpyI
with close-packed figs The roof was i
with dates and Brazil nuts \