In those early days, when the exploration of the Wild West was just beginning, lumberjacks, hunters and other people had a hard time. Life was rough, and people's jokes were rough. They boasted of strength and cunning. But Johnny Appleseed, about whom we are going to tell you, was a completely different person.
He was not at all a strong man and a giant or, as they said about Mike Fink, a half-crocodile, half-horse. No, he was a quiet, modest man who, however, accomplished great things.
He did not kill anyone - neither animals nor Indians, as, unfortunately, many did. Quite the contrary, he was friends with both. And yet, this was not why he was unlike other people. And a passionate love for apples! He believed that all new lands in the West should be covered with apple orchards, so that when new settlers pour into these lands, they could immediately taste the apples.
When Johnny first started planting apple orchards, no one attached any importance to it. No one had any idea what a great thing he had started.
During the fruit harvest, when the farmers were squeezing apple juice and making cider, Johnny was right there. Of course, there were a lot of apple seeds lying around then. And Johnny collected them all in a big leather bag.
Johnny slung the bag over his shoulder and walked through the forest to the West. And when he came across a nice, flat clearing, he planted apple seeds in the ground.
Soon all the clearings in the forest and clearings at a distance of two days' journey from Johnny's house were covered with young apple trees. Johnny carefully visited his apple plantations, nursed new shoots, replanted them, watered them, hilled them - in a word, he did everything that was necessary.
Soon Johnny had to stomp through the bushes for a whole week before he got to his last garden. And then he had to walk for two whole weeks until he discovered an open plain in Ohio that no one had yet managed to plant with anything.
So, year after year, Johnny hurried with a bag of apple seeds on his back from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and from there on to Indiana.
“If only I had enough strength,” said Johnny, “and then beautiful, fragrant gardens will cover the whole country!”
It happened that Johnny's travels were very long, he had to go further and further, and the bag on his shoulders was not enough to contain all the seeds that he needed.
And one day, when he had to plant a particularly large plantation, Johnny took two Indian canoes, tied them tightly, then filled them to the top with apple seeds and launched them into the Ohio River. He drove his precious cargo across Indiana in search of suitable land for an apple orchard in the region of the great forests.
Even on his very first apple journey, Johnny made several important discoveries. In fact, he hated carrying around unnecessary things. For example, he considered it unnecessary to take with him both a hat and a soup pot. And he decided to do without a hat, and instead, when necessary, cover his head with a bowler hat. Then he made the discovery that a pot is an unnecessary luxury. Why a pot when he can not cook at all, but collect wild berries and fruits, nuts and other gifts of the forest?
He had never killed a single animal, so he didn’t need a pot to cook meat.
You don't need a bowler hat, but you still need a hat. And especially a visor to cover your eyes from the sun.
And then Johnny made a new discovery. He made himself a cup out of cardboard. But the cup is just like a baseball cap. Only her visor was too big and protruded too much forward.
These cups, or caps, did not cost Johnny a penny, because people gave him old cardboard boxes for free, and he could make himself a new one at any moment if the old one wore out.
And the rest of Johnny's clothes didn't cost him a penny. He picked up a sugar bag and made holes in it for his head and hands. These sugar bags served as his shirt and pants at the same time. In addition, Johnny always walked barefoot, even in the windiest weather.
Of course, you will say that it was too dangerous to walk barefoot through a forest in which there were poisonous snakes. In those days, when the first pioneer farmers cleared new lands from the forest for their plantings, they came up with all sorts of things against snakes! They even tied bundles of straw to their heels. But Johnny Appleseed didn't like it. He did not pay any attention to the snakes, and the snakes did not pay any attention to him.
Well, of course, Johnny didn’t recognize the sheets either. If he happened to spend the night in someone's hut, he would lie down directly on the floor. And when he slept in the forest, he curled up in a ball, like a rabbit or a fox. And I never caught a cold.
One day it was a particularly cold night, and Johnny decided to make his bed in an empty hollow. He crawled deeper into it and was about to fall asleep completely, when he suddenly realized that he had climbed into a winter bear’s den without an invitation. Trying not to disturb the mother bear and her cub, Johnny crawled out as quickly as possible.
Don't think that Johnny was scared. He simply treated animals with the same delicacy as people. And especially with children. He loved children very much.
The only thing Johnny always carried with him - besides a bag of apple seeds, of course - was a large bag of children's gifts. He went into each hut and, putting his hand deep into his sack, fished out multi-colored calico ribbons for girls and glass marbles for boys.
Johnny did not like it when quarrels arose on the frontier between the Indians and the pioneers who were taking away good land from the Indians. Johnny didn't understand why he should take land from others. He believed that it was better to plant apple orchards wherever possible. That's why he never quarreled with the Indians. And they often invited Johnny to visit them.
Years have passed. Farmers' fields stretch along Johnny's apple orchards. There are no more virgin forests left. And Johnny continued to go West. Here and there he told everyone how beautiful the apple orchards were, made fiery speeches, and farmers, when they had money, bought apple trees from him. And Johnny needed money not for anything, but for animals. Every fall, he rounded up stray cows, dogs, and horses, and then paid farmers to shelter these creatures during the harsh winter months.
If you ever travel to Ohio or Indiana, you may be lucky enough to see apple orchards planted by Johnny Appleseed himself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru