Story: Pineapple gifts |
Miraculous Pineapple |
Mum silently entered the room with a box in her hands. Her son still was sleeping.
“I shall leave all his gifts on the table,” thought Mum, anxiously looking at the pale face of her son. “Today he is going to be 10 years old, but he looks as if he is only seven…” She sighed sadly at her son who suffered from anaemia. Then she took from the box a big brownish scaly fruit with a bunch of green narrow leaves on top.
Soon the boy appeared at the doorway, hardly able to hold the heavy fruit.
“Mum, from where does such a huge, sweet-smelling fruit come from?” he asked.
“It is a pineapple, dear,” answered Mum smiling. “Your uncle has sent it to you as a gift together with a note. Here listen: ‘in this pineapple is hidden a strength of the hot tropical sun. It will tell you about the wonderful southern countries'.”
“Can pineapples speak?” the boy was surprised.
“I suppose they speak with their appearance and aroma,” Mum answered. “Your uncle too has written the letter to me, and I wish to read it to you: ‘Dear sister, pineapples contain a wonderful substance - bromelin. This bromelin is like a chimney sweep, it cleans each cell of our body. Pineapples helped me greatly – when I developed inflammation of my veins. Our doctor advised me to eat pineapples, and now I can run again like a young boy. Do not be surprised, sister, really one who has tried the curative nature of this amazing fruit on himself, never will forget it. Your loving brother'.”
 “Oh, this is really a very, very special fruit – this pineapple,” exclaimed the boy with excitement after listening to his uncle's letter. “Perhaps pineapples are the fruits of tropical pine-trees that grow right up to the sky, and they have golden flowers?”
“My dear, I'll bring you a special book about pineapples so that you can read all about them. And for now – let's try your gifts,” said Mum, tenderly petting her son on his head.
When mum cut out a couple of golden-yellow circles, the aroma coming from the pineapple filled up their room. The boy happily applauded. And for lunch his mother allowed him to eat a few pieces of pineapple instead of rice porridge. And, what a miracle! That day the boy surprisingly looked very cheerful and unusually full of energy.
 In two days the mother brought him the promised book about tropical fruits. And that evening nothing could distract him from reading the book.
“Mama, you know, pineapples do not grow on pine-trees. On the contrary, they are very small plants. On the short stem grow many hard greenish leaves which have sharp spines along the edges and pointed tips. Inside those leaves sits a pineapple!” the boy related with surprise. “Also the flowers of pineapples are not golden but bright red with a blue-violet raceme,” continued the boy. .Later on he sighed. “It is such a pity that we have already eaten up all the pineapple. We should have taken it by each spiky scales or its prongs. If one can take them out easily then the pineapple is ripe.”
“Go to sleep rather,” laughed mother. “The ripeness of our pineapple is without any doubt – see for yourself how much energy it has given you!”
“Oh Mama, why did you throw away the pineapple's top with leaves? We could have grown from it a new pineapple. It says in the book what kind of soil and what size of pot we need for that. And also it requires warm weather. Pineapples won't grow if the temperature is below 20 degrees.”
“Verily, a very unusual pineapple my brother sent me,” thought mother happily while looking at the pleasant blushing face of her son. One won't believe that just a few days ago this same boy was so pale and weak.”
From that time the boy's health started to improve tremendously. His mother everyday gives him fruits and juices. He grew up and became a student of agricultural academy.
Within 10 years in that ...
Read the whole story about PINEAPPLE
in the book
'The World of Fruits"
 TESTIMONIALS from parents & educators 
Educational project 'KIND BOOK':
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 This was fragment from the story about BANANA from the book on Healthy Food for kids: 'The World of Fruits', part I >>
For the Book II 'The World of Vegetables' visit project Talking Veggies: Vegetables-for-kids.com
For anyone interested in their child's well-being, “The Storyteller's Guide to Health” series is sure to be of value. Following each selection of delightful stories, games and activities you'll also find recipes for the vitamin-conscious kitchen. The recipes are simple, allowing children to prepare dishes themselves with only minimal supervision, and are also designed to preserve the largest possible share of vitamins and other nutrients in the final serving. Read fragments from our stories: fruits for children
© Maria Skrebtsova,
© Alexandra Lopatina,
Illustration s by Svetlana Jijina.
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