The Pear Tree

There was once a pear tree that stood tall and proud. It produced the most beautiful, golden pears that were delicious, satisfying, and completely gratifying.

One day, a little girl came by and sat under the tree. She began weeping, so much so, that the tree couldn’t help but ask what was wrong.

“What's wrong, little girl?” the pear tree asked.

The little girl was startled and looked around for someone that might be speaking to her. When she found no one around, she dismissed it and went back to sobbing.

“Hello little girl, it’s me, the Pear Tree,” the tree said, “How can I make you happy?”

The little girl looked up and felt comforted by the tree that was speaking to her and responded, “I’m so hungry and with nothing to eat."

"Can you help me?” she asked.

“Surely I can,” the tree responded.

"But first, you must do something for me."

“Anything, Mr. Pear Tree! I’m so hungry!” the little girl replied.

“First, you must learn how to be thankful, and then I will give you a pear,” said the tree.

The little girl’s face twisted in confusion because she felt this was something she couldn’t do.

She said, “How can I be thankful when I’m without food?”

The pear tree replied, “You must try little girl, you must try.”

After a moment of silence, the tree said, “What are three things you are thankful for right now?”

The little girl’s mind went directly to her empty stomach and blanked. She couldn’t think of anything that made her happy right now because all she could think about was food.

“I’m not really sure, Mr. Tree," responded the little girl.

"I don’t own anything, I lost my family, and my stomach has been empty for two days. I’m too hungry to be thankful,” she said.

“Ah, little girl, you must try.” The pear tree replied.

“Dig deep and you will find something you are truly thankful for,” he said.

So the little girl sat and hours passed. She could not think of anything in her life that was worth being happy about. As the hours passed, her stomach grew louder.

Until finally she said, “I am grateful for nothing! Everything that has happened to me is awful and I hate everything!”

The tree, feeling empathetic, reached a branch down to wipe her tears with a leaf.

And then he said, “Little girl, take a deep breath in, open your eyes, and tell me what you see.”

The little girl did as the pear tree said, took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and then opened them.

The little girl responded, “the grass, the sun, and the trees”

“Are these not things to be thankful for?” the tree said.

After a brief moment of silence, the tree added, “Are those not things to be thankful for?”

The little girl, for one moment, forgot about her hunger and allowed her heart to open just a crack and in that same moment, love flooded through and filled her heart with gratitude.

She had no words.

After many moments of stillness, she finally said, “I am thankful for the grass I am sitting on, the sun that is shining down, and the trees that are all around.”

And with that, the tree gently plopped a pear right into her lap.

Her face lit up as she sparkled with joy. “Thank you pear tree!” she said excitedly, moments before taking a big bite of the juicy pear.

The pear she ate was so delicious, satisfying, and completely gratifying that she felt full, happy, and completely content. Each bite was like heaven in her mouth, alivening her senses again, filling her heart with gratitude, and allowing her to remember all that is good in life.

She was sad to see it finished. And once it was gone, she suddenly felt like she was back in the same place she started: without food.

She looked up at the pear tree and asked for another.

The pear tree said, “Surely you can have another if you can learn to create it yourself.”

Confused, the girl looked back down feeling defeated.

“But, Mr. Tree, how can I create another pear? Only you can do that,” she said.

“Little girl, you can create anything you desire,” replied the tree.

“I can?” she asked, even more confused, “but how?”

“Well first, you must believe you can. Do you believe you can create anything you desire?” asked the tree.

The little girl thought for a moment and then exclaimed, “yes!” even though she was deeply sad, she still knew there was magic inside her and that this pear tree was right.

“Wonderful, so now that you believe in yourself. How about you create for yourself what you desire,” the tree said.

She sat there, still confused, waiting for the tree to say more. She hoped that the tree would drop another pear into her lap, but the pear tree said nothing and he did nothing.

So she picked up the pear core that she finished and continued nibbling on it. As she was taking the last possible bite left to take, her tooth bit into something that crunched. She pulled the pear back to examine it and realized she had bitten a seed.

Almost instantaneously, like she remembered something she forgot, she understood how she could create a pear.

“I’ll plant a pear tree!” she shouted with jubilation.

“I’ll plant a pear tree and then have so many pears of my own and never be hungry again!” she exclaimed with excitement.

The tree, pleased with her realization, found the pear on his tree with the most fruitful seeds and dropped it right into her hands.

“Little girl, remember me as you plant your pear seed in the grass. Remember me as you watch the sun shine on it. Remember me as it grows into a tall pear tree amongst the other trees. Remember that in thankfulness, you can create anything. Remember that I am you and you are me and that we are all grown from the same seed.”

The little girl gave the pear tree a big hug full of gratitude and put the magic pear in her pocket. She skipped away feeling happier and more thankful than ever.