Allister once set out to buy all the apple trees that Johnny Appleseed had ever planted. It was an ambitious project-even for Allister. For one thing, no one was really sure how many trees Mr. Appleseed planted. And there was no conceivable way of ever acquiring this information. But, Allister was dead-set on owning every one in the hopes that he could make the world's biggest apple pie and finally give everyone a slice of something.
So, it came as no surprise to anyone that when rumors began spreading of a possible apple tree map from Johnny himself, Allister was one of the first to join the search. The rumors placed the map under the first tree Appleseed ever planted (which was thought to be somewhere in between the east and west coast of North America). Allister estimated that it would take at least a couple of days to find the tree. He found himself, three months later, in utter disappointment and confusion (estimation was never one of his strong suits and a year later he would give up estimating all together) and having only covered an incredibly small portion of North American apple trees.
There was simply no concrete evidence. Dating the trees was all estimation at that time and Johnny himself had left no evidence of ever existing (his beard and famed pan hat were nowhere to be found). A fossilized footprint was found in Nevada, but after numerous tests and measurements it was decided that the footprint was probably from the late cretaceous era and, thus, the footprint more than likely belonged to a Tyranosaurus Rex and not Johnny Appleseed.
In desperation, Allister wrote to other nations-nations who had better documented their apple tree planters. Johnny's Russian counterpart, for instance, Boris Appleseed's maps and journals were lamenated and put on public display in Moscow. When children turned the age of seven they were expected to know the order and location of over 3,000,000 trees that Boris had planted. If they did not, their families disowned them. In Cambodia, up until the early twentieth century, many territories still used the apples from Samnang Appleseed's trees as currency. Anyone who bit into one would be shot on the spot. Allister was inspired by these stories and confused as to why we had been so careless in the remembrance of our nation's most beloved apple planter.
It would have been easy to (or so he thought) just get any old apples and make the largest apple pie out of them, but that was not good enough. He attempted everything-even just asking the trees themselves, but to no avail. The trees were not talking and no one else knew.
Allister slept with disappointment each night and could think of nothing but Johnny Appleseed for three years. Then, one night, Johnny appeared to him in a dream. He thanked Allister for his hard work and explained to him that it would be impossible to find all his trees and make the world's biggest apple pie from their apples. There were just too many and it was too long ago and, in the end, there still might not be enough apples to feed everyone. It was a nice thought, Johnny said. But, peerhaps, just a little too ambitious.
When Allister opened his eyes, he could feel his heart and soul open as well. His project had consumed him, but Johnny's message relieved him of the duty he felt to the world and let him just be Allister Cromley. He quickly decided that a monument must be made to this man so that no one ever forgot his contributions.
Allister commissioned a statue of Johnny Appleseed, towering eighty feet and to be made entirely out of apple cores. When birds began to eat it, Allister had all the cores bronzed. Eventually, he would find and catch each bird that nibbled on the monument, charging them with treason. They would later be released on a technicality-that birds could not be held accountable for treason. Immediately after their release, the vengeful birds ate the entire statue in under two hours (bronze and all) and were never seen again.
So, it came as no surprise to anyone that when rumors began spreading of a possible apple tree map from Johnny himself, Allister was one of the first to join the search. The rumors placed the map under the first tree Appleseed ever planted (which was thought to be somewhere in between the east and west coast of North America). Allister estimated that it would take at least a couple of days to find the tree. He found himself, three months later, in utter disappointment and confusion (estimation was never one of his strong suits and a year later he would give up estimating all together) and having only covered an incredibly small portion of North American apple trees.
There was simply no concrete evidence. Dating the trees was all estimation at that time and Johnny himself had left no evidence of ever existing (his beard and famed pan hat were nowhere to be found). A fossilized footprint was found in Nevada, but after numerous tests and measurements it was decided that the footprint was probably from the late cretaceous era and, thus, the footprint more than likely belonged to a Tyranosaurus Rex and not Johnny Appleseed.
In desperation, Allister wrote to other nations-nations who had better documented their apple tree planters. Johnny's Russian counterpart, for instance, Boris Appleseed's maps and journals were lamenated and put on public display in Moscow. When children turned the age of seven they were expected to know the order and location of over 3,000,000 trees that Boris had planted. If they did not, their families disowned them. In Cambodia, up until the early twentieth century, many territories still used the apples from Samnang Appleseed's trees as currency. Anyone who bit into one would be shot on the spot. Allister was inspired by these stories and confused as to why we had been so careless in the remembrance of our nation's most beloved apple planter.
It would have been easy to (or so he thought) just get any old apples and make the largest apple pie out of them, but that was not good enough. He attempted everything-even just asking the trees themselves, but to no avail. The trees were not talking and no one else knew.
Allister slept with disappointment each night and could think of nothing but Johnny Appleseed for three years. Then, one night, Johnny appeared to him in a dream. He thanked Allister for his hard work and explained to him that it would be impossible to find all his trees and make the world's biggest apple pie from their apples. There were just too many and it was too long ago and, in the end, there still might not be enough apples to feed everyone. It was a nice thought, Johnny said. But, peerhaps, just a little too ambitious.
When Allister opened his eyes, he could feel his heart and soul open as well. His project had consumed him, but Johnny's message relieved him of the duty he felt to the world and let him just be Allister Cromley. He quickly decided that a monument must be made to this man so that no one ever forgot his contributions.
Allister commissioned a statue of Johnny Appleseed, towering eighty feet and to be made entirely out of apple cores. When birds began to eat it, Allister had all the cores bronzed. Eventually, he would find and catch each bird that nibbled on the monument, charging them with treason. They would later be released on a technicality-that birds could not be held accountable for treason. Immediately after their release, the vengeful birds ate the entire statue in under two hours (bronze and all) and were never seen again.
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