Apricot: healthy qualities |
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The Apricots & Clever Starling |
A peasant was on his way to plough his fields when he saw a little sparrow on the ground with a broken wing. The peasant took the starling home, restored it to health, and taught it how to speak.
For days on end the starling flew in all directions, but in the evening it always returned to its rescuer. One week, however, the starling did not show up at all. The peasant, who was quite worried, was about to go out looking for his friend when the bird suddenly returned. As usual it perched on the peasant's shoulder, opened its beak, and a big, smooth pit of some kind of fruit dropped out of it.
“But this is a pit of some kind of dried fruit,” exclaimed the peasant, staring at the starling's present.
“You're right, but this is a special dried fruit, and fresh fruits are growing in the neighbouring kingdom's orchards; they call them apricots,” explained the starling. “Let's start an apricot orchard. Split the apricot pit in two and bury the seed in the ground. It's warm in our hills. It won't freeze, and it will sprout quickly. An apricot tree will grow out of it, and it will feed you when you are in your old age.”
No sooner said than done. The peasant planted the seed in the ground. He watered it and did everything that the little starling told him to do. A sapling came up, and at a moment in the spring its greyish brown branches were covered with pink blossoms in place of little leaves with tiny points on them.
 “That's a miracle!” marvelled the peasant.
“Blossoms always come out before the leaves do in the neighbouring kingdom's apricot orchards,” the starling remarked.
The hills protected the apricots from the cold, and in the warm and comfortable lowland they quickly transformed themselves into thirty foot tall trees. Now and then the starling flew to the neighbouring kingdom to gather the pits of new kinds of apricots. Thanks to such an experienced collector, the most diverse types of apricot trees made their appearance in the peasant/s orchard. They attracted everyone in the area with their succulent yellow, orange, and purple fruit.
Once an important visitor came to see the peasant: the chief royal physician. He tasted the apricots and said to the old man haughtily,
 “All right, I will take your apricots, even though they are unlikely to be of any benefit to our rulers. They have some health problems. The king is anaemic, the queen's thyroid gland is growing, and medicine doesn't help them at all.”
“Medicine won't help, but my apricots will! Our rulers can't get enough iodine and iron, but apricots are simply storerooms of such things.”
“I know, I know,” the doctor interrupted him. “Instead of talking drivel, why not load my cart with your apricots.”
The old man turned out to be right. The apricot diet restored the health of the rulers. The physician received a medal. But this was not enough for him. In order to gain total control of the peasant's orchard, he ordered his servants to throw him into the dungeon. But for the little starling, it would have gone very badly for the peasant.
They decided to starve him to death, but the peasant's loyal friend carried apricots to his master every day and told him the latest news.
The tender hands of the princess developed eczema, and she could not go out walking without gloves. The royal physician not only did not cure her, he could not do anything to help. The stupid man did not know that the answer was under his very nose as amigdalin cures skin diseases, and it is found only in apricot seeds.
The next day the peasant handed the
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Read the whole story about APRICOT
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'The World of Fruits"
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| ... amigdalin cures skin diseases, and it is found only in apricot seeds. |
 This was fragment from the story about BANANA from the book on Healthy Food for kids: 'The World of Fruits', part I >>
For the Book II 'The World of Vegetables' visit project Talking Veggies: Vegetables-for-kids.com
For anyone interested in their child's well-being, “The Storyteller's Guide to Health” series is sure to be of value. Following each selection of delightful stories, games and activities you'll also find recipes for the vitamin-conscious kitchen. The recipes are simple, allowing children to prepare dishes themselves with only minimal supervision, and are also designed to preserve the largest possible share of vitamins and other nutrients in the final serving. Read fragments from our stories: fruits for children
© Maria Skrebtsova,
© Alexandra Lopatina,
Illustration s by Svetlana Jijina.
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