One Poor Pear

The Tale of ONE POOR PEAR Vol 1 of 3

Cinematic Audio: https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-michelle-512054365/one-poor-pear-scarytale-vol-1

Written by: Ruby N. Wolfe-Jones

A long, long time ago, in the 1920’s, there lived a family named the “Wolves”. It was a family with five members in it. There was Daddy Coy Wolve, Mama Leon Wolve and their three little Wolve children. There were two girls named Sister Dee and Sister Nell and one boy named Brother Jr.

They lived in a little two bedroom farm house that sat on lots and lots of land that caused Daddy Coy to work very, very hard. He would sometimes work from sun up to sun down. But he didn’t mind because he loved his family very, very much.

Every day when Daddy Coy got home from working the land, he would spend time with his three children and at bedtime he would tell them a fairy tale. That was the one thing they really looked forward to. He knew many fairy tales but the one they liked best and always requested is the one I am going to share with you. This fairy tale story was never forgotten. When Sister Dee, Sister Nell, and Brother Jr. grew up, they told it to their children. After their children grew up and got their own family, they told it to their children and so on and so on. I am telling you so it can be passed on and remain a legend to the Wolve Family. So here goes…

Once upon a time there lived a man named Tom and his wife, Polly. They had one little girl and they named her Sallie. Tom and Polly loved Sallie so much and protected her from almost everything. They lived in a little house in the woods. They kept their house very clean and yard safe so Sallie wouldn’t get hurt. There were trees everywhere and in the yard near the house were many, many fruit trees of all kinds. The one Sallie liked the most was the big golden pear tree that sat right by the front porch. She could pick a pear and eat it as she wished.

They had to get their water from a spring that was way in back of the house; beyond a group of apple trees and out of sight from the kitchen window that faced in its direction. Daddy went to work in the woods every day cutting down the trees to sale for lumber. He had many axes and had to sharpen them often. He loved his job but not as much as he loved his family.

Mother stayed quite busy preparing, cooking, or doing laundry. When she washed clothes, she had to carry many pails of water from the spring to fill the tin tub so she could scrub the clothes on the scrub board; then she would hang them on the clothes line to dry. Oftentimes, Sallie tagged along and helped her mother carry water in her little red water pail. Most times, Sallie’s water would spill to the ground before it made it to the tin tub. But she and her mother had fun and enjoyed laundry day.

One day Daddy came home from work and Mother was very sick. She had been in bed all day long. He had to go to town to get the doctor. The doctor said he could not do much for her so in a few days, Sallie’s mother died. That made Sallie and her father very sad and all alone in the woods. Sallie’s father couldn’t go to work because it was not safe to leave Sallie in the house; she was only six years old. After a few months, Sallie’s father decided to get married again so he could have someone to care for Sallie while he worked.

Sallie’s new stepmother was named Belinda. Belinda was nice at the beginning, but after a few weeks, she began to resent living in the woods, cooking, and cleaning but most of all, caring for little Sallie. Sallie’s stepmother started treating her very, very bad. She screamed at her, hit her, and said mean and ugly things about Sallie and her dead mother, Polly. She fed Sallie stale bread and water and made Sallie wait to eat to real food only when her father came home from work. So during the daytime Sallie went hungry. She was forced to sneak a pear or two from the golden pear tree that sat by the porch. It was the only thing that kept her from starving to death. Sallie was very careful to not let her Stepmother find out that she was sneaking and eating the pears.

Being a young child, Sallie did not know how to deal with the change in her Stepmother’s behavior. Belinda acted like the wicked stepmother in Cinderella’s life and Sallie was too afraid of her to tell her father. Belinda had threatened to harm Sallie if she told her father so Sallie’s father had no idea that Belinda was doing these mean things to her. He thought Belinda really loved his daughter, Sallie because of the nice way he treated her whenever he was home.

Sallie was 7 ½ years old now. She didn’t go to school because the school was on the other side of the woods and Sallie’s father was afraid for her to walk through the woods alone because of the wild animals, so he asked Belinda to home school Sallie. Sallie’s father didn’t know that Belinda couldn’t read or write well herself. Belinda did not believe in a good education. His plan was to let Sallie move to town with her aunt when she was 8 years old to attend school.

Belinda agreed to home school Sallie, but instead of teaching Sallie reading, writing, and arithmetic, she made her fetch buckets of water from the spring that was in back of the house. They had to have water for everything; cooking, bathing, washing clothes, dishes, and drinking; and Belinda was tired of doing all the fetching.

She was getting meaner and meaner and really wanted bad things to happen to Sallie. Belinda was very jealous of Sallie’s loveliness. Sallie was growing up to be a beautiful young girl. She was tall for her age with long golden hair, greenish blue eyes with long straight lashes and full eye brows. Belinda thought Sallie was growing to look like her mother and she hated having to look at Polly’s picture that Tom kept on the mantle.

Being young and good hearted, Sallie was still trying to figure out ways to make Belinda love her. But nothing worked or helped. Tom noticed that Sallie was not as jovial as she used to be. He would try to encourage her and remind her that she was going to get to move to town very soon and get to go to a real school with other children. Belinda hated seeing Tom making Sallie smile.

It was now the Fall Season and the leaves on the trees were turning red, yellow and brown. They were beautiful and inviting. Lots of fruit from the many fruit trees had already fallen to the ground. The trees would always bear very good fruit. At the end of the day, while waiting for her father to come home from work, Sallie enjoyed sitting on the porch playing with her rag doll and counting the juicy sweet pears that hung from the tree. Sallie noticed that there was only one golden pear left and it was hanging high up in the tree.

Earlier that day, Belinda made Sallie haul over 12 large buckets of water from the spring. It was a nice sunny day for Fall and a good day for the laundry to hang on the line. While Belinda scrubbed the clothes on the scrub board, Sallie sat on the 3 steps her father had built that led to the porch and front door. She was very, very hungry. Sallie played with her doll pretending not to be hungry as she noticed that there was only one big golden pear left on the tree. She thought it should be hers; but as Belinda scrubbed the clothes with evil in her mind, she would make sure Sallie would not get the last pear. She saw Sallie looking at the pear and said, “Don’t you bother or even think of eating the last pear on that tree. It is for me! When I’m ready I will climb the ladder and get it for myself.”

Sallie felt confused. Belinda knew she was the one who loved golden pears. Belinda never liked pears before. That is the last pear and it was beautiful. It was prettier than all the others. Sallie thought to herself, “I am the one that loves pears. When did Belinda even look at the tree? She always cursed the tree and suggested for father to chop it down; now she wants the last and prettiest pear for the whole year.”

Belinda watched Sallie and Sallie watched the pear. But while Belinda’s back was turned hanging clothes on the line, the pear dropped to the ground. Sallie ran and picked up the big sweet juicy golden pear from the ground. It was the biggest pear she had ever seen. When Sallie bit into the pear, it was the juiciest and sweetest pear she had ever tasted.

When Belinda turned around and returned to the tin wash tub she noticed that the pear was not hanging from the tree. She yelled, “Sallie, Sallie did you eat that pear?” Sallie replied, “Yes, it fell from the tree and I picked it up and ate it. After all, I am the one who loves pears and you hate them. Why shouldn’t I have the last pear? Father always saves the last pear for me!”

Belinda was furious. She screamed, “I can’t take this any longer. I am fed up with you.” She ran and got one of Tom’s sharpest axes, pushed Sallie to the ground, dragged her over to one of the chopping blocks and chopped off Sallie’s head. Belinda buried Sallie’s head under the three steps that lead to the front door of the house. Then she took Sallie’s dead body and left it in the woods so the wild animals would eat it up.

Belinda felt relieved. She was over being bothered with or even looking at that girl she thought. Belinda planned what she would tell Sallie’s father when he got home. She thought it out and finally had her made-up story ready. She thought it was perfect.

So when Tom gets home and does not see Sallie waiting on the porch to greet him, he will ask me where she is and I will say, “Sallie went in the woods to get some water from the spring and never returned.” Then Tom will go look for Sallie. He will find her body and think that the animals attacked and killed her. Then, I will be alright and Tom and I can live happy ever after. Yeah, that’s right; yeah.

Later, when Tom came home from work, he was surprised that Sallie did not run out to greet him as she usually does. He asked Belinda, “Where is Sallie?” Belinda said, “I don’t know. I washed clothes today and Sallie wanted to help by going to the spring to get water. But after going to get the second pail she did not come back. Maybe she went for a walk or started playing in the woods and an animal got her.”

Needless to say, Tom was very, very upset. He got his rifle and went searching in the woods for Sallie. After a few hours he came home without Sallie. He was very sad. He took off his work boots that were covered with mud and leaves from his trip in the woods. He had gone deep, deep, deep into the woods looking for Sallie. As he was getting ready to go inside the house he stepped on the first stair step and it sounded like he heard his daughter’s sweet little voice singing…

“Father, oh Father, you’re pulling my hair; stepmother has killed me for one poor pear…”

He was spell bound and wasn’t sure of what he heard, so he took another step and heard the same song…

“Father, oh Father, you’re pulling my hair; stepmother has killed me for one poor pear…”

Tom looked at Belinda who was standing in the front doorway. He stepped on the third step and it became crystal clear on what the song was saying and whose voice was singing it… He was certain that it was his sweet little Sallie’s voice singing…

“Father, oh Father, you’re pulling my hair; stepmother has killed me for one poor pear…”

Tom lost control and began screaming at Belinda for an explanation. He grabbed her by her arms, shaking her with disbelief. “What have you done? Where is my Sallie?” He cried.

Belinda tried to lie again but she kept getting her story twisted. Finally, she confessed and told Tom everything. He knew it was wrong, but he did the same thing to her that she did to his little sweet Sallie; only he buried Belinda’s body in the woods. He didn’t want her near Sallie.

Tom had a hard time getting over what Belinda had done and what he had done to Belinda. He was sad and all alone, again. But after many months he met a very nice lady and they got married and moved into a new home he had built. Every once and awhile, Tom would visit his old house and try to go in, but when his foot landed on the steps he could still hear his little girl’s sweet singing voice…

“Father, oh Father, you’re pulling my hair; stepmother has killed me for one poor pear…”