Aonz Posted May 9, 2004 Posted May 9, 2004 In the middle of an endless plane there stands an apple tree. On this tree, there are always several hundred apples, and some are juicer than others. Some hang from quite low branches on the tree, and others are harder to reach. Generally, the further you get from the ground, the juicer the apples are. Right around the very tip-top of the tree are the juiciest of juicy apples, so rich and fleshy that if you could eat just one of them, you would never have to eat or drink for a year. That’s how juicy they are. Animals often come to this tree. Strange animals, creatures that roam the around the plane, returning every now and again to stop and look as the tree. They never go too far. Once in a while an animal approaches the tree, picks off an apple, takes it away and eats it. Some animals take apples quite regularly. Some may just sit down and watch the tree for a few days or hours, staring at the apples. Every animal takes an apple at some stage, though. Some animals, the taller animals, can reach apples higher than others, and they are the happiest, because they usually have juicer apples. Some animals are very short, with almost no neck, and the only apples they can get are the lowest ones, the ones on the lowest branches. But all the animals are united in one thing: none of them, not even the tallest of the tallest, has ever managed to reach and pick off the juiciest apples, the ones at the very top of the tree. Ironically, those are the apples that are impossible to pick, the ones that every animal wants. Even if an animal picks off a fairly juicy apple, deep down he is still obsessively thinking about the ones at the top of the tree. No animal is ever satisfied with the apple they pick. But they have to pick one, because even a rotting apple is still an apple, and they really can’t help themselves after a while. Now one day their came an animal called Feo. He was an odd creature, it was generally agreed. One fateful day, he realised that he wanted an apple. It had never really struck him before how unbelievably tempting they were, especially the ones at the very top. He went up to the tree and he looked up. Then another thing stuck Feo; He had no hands to reach up with. Without hands he could not reach the apples. In fact, He realised, he was the lowest creature there was. He had absolutely no way of getting an apple at all. Feo took a few steps back and looked at the tree. He sat down and stared at it. He stared at it for what seemed like years. It probably was. He couldn’t stop looking at them, the apples. He watched as every once in a while, an animal came up to the tree and picked an apple, always the apple they picked was the highest possible one they could get. Sometimes animals would come and sit next to Feo, and look with him, and after a moment they would turn to him and say things like "You know, Feo, you should really get up and take an apple some day". Then they would go, take an apple, and leave. Sometimes he felt as if he had hands. He would reach out in the direction of the tree, and then he would realise that nothing was happening because he was armless. He imagined munching away at the juicy sweet apple, the one at the very top of the tree. Those sweet round apples seemed to be staring back at him, tempting him to try and get one, any one. He watched as those around him feasted on the beautiful fruit, while he could only stare. Eventually, Feo realised that he had to stop staring, or he would go mad. He turned around and stared out into the Savannah. He knew the apple tree was behind him, but he decided that he had better just watch the desert, for fear of going completely mad. This went on for years. Every now and again, even though he knew it was insane and mentally suicidal, Feo looked over his shoulder at the tree. He saw what had been there before, the tree and the apples and creatures feeding from it. But every time he looked it seemed a thousand times worse, and it took every ounce of his will to tear his head back to looking away. But still he managed to stay looking at the plane for most of the time, that huge dry plane without a tree in sight for ever and ever. Sometimes he wondered what was past the plane.....
moimeme Posted May 9, 2004 Posted May 9, 2004 Yikes! I just got a hit of deja vu. Have you posted something like this before? Anyway, regardless. Neo, unfortunately, is not too bright. First of all, he assumes that just because the apples at the top of the tree look beautiful, that they are better and tastier than any of the other apples. However, the expert knows that it's not location but how the sun reaches the fruit and how the temperature affects the ripening. In fact, some of the apples at the top may not be juicy at all and some at the bottom may be the tastiest. Secondly, I think Neo assumes that nobody is satisfied with his apple. However a lot of animals have learned to love apples and are overjoyed to have a perfectly good apple of their own, particularly when they know that alll pretty apples may not be that tasty. Thirdly, somewhere along the line, Neo could have waited when there was a windstorm or asked one of the animals to help him reach an apple. But instead of that, he was wrapped up in his own misery to the extent that he didn't even bother to try to make other friends. His own misery has been his only companion. Neo, in fact, is the architect of his own unhappiness by creating myths for himself to believe. I imagine he gets some sort of satisfaction from picturing himself some sort of misunderstood, tragic figure but by shunning all the other animals plus the 'inferior' apples (which are inferior only in his own mind) he has made himself into an unpleasant creature and created his lonely little world all by himself.
Author Aonz Posted May 9, 2004 Author Posted May 9, 2004 Originally posted by moimeme Yikes! I just got a hit of deja vu. Have you posted something like this before? Maybe I don't remember. Neo, in fact, is the architect of his own unhappiness by creating myths for himself to believe. I imagine he gets some sort of satisfaction from picturing himself some sort of misunderstood, tragic figure but by shunning all the other animals plus the 'inferior' apples (which are inferior only in his own mind) he has made himself into an unpleasant creature and created his lonely little world all by himself. I agree I never did like that Feo guy, he's a shallow idiot.
average guy Posted May 9, 2004 Posted May 9, 2004 Why didn't Feo learn to like something else he could eat, like strawberries?
Author Aonz Posted May 10, 2004 Author Posted May 10, 2004 There are no strawberries, it's either apples or other animals.
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