A small tribute to the wild apple. Going through the history of the fruit that parallels that of human beings, Thoreau talks about apples in general to then focus on the wild apple, little fruits on twisted appletrees. He goes through their flavor, their beauty, where to find them. And with this typical Thoreau prose, mixing nature, philosophy, and autobiography. A very cute essay.
“The apple-tree has been celebrated by the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Scandinavians. Some have thought that the first human pair were tempted by its fruit. Goddesses are fabled to have contended for it, dragons were set to watch it, and heroes were employed to pluck it.”