In the middle of nowhere, planted in the desert as if by magic, was the Big Apple. It WAS an amazing apple, yes; but above all, it was very big. Imagine it – it was as tall as a house! It had a blue door and two windows. Its skin, reddish in color, glowed when the sun shone on it.
This strange and big apple was so far off the normal path that, for a long time, no one knew about it, until a Bedouin traveler, riding his camel, saw it in the distance. It was so hot outside, and the Bedouin was sweltering so much, that he assumed it was a hallucination.
“How treacherous is the desert! How it tricks the senses! My eyes are lying. I will continue on my way.”
The Bedouin passed by at a distance and did not approach the Apple.
Some time later a merchant carrying spices came across it. He was curious and thought about knocking on the door, but he was afraid:
“Who is living inside? I think it might be a sorcerer and perhaps he will get mad if I bother him.”
The merchant turned around and left the way he had come.
Finally, a young adventuress who was crossing the desert in a hot-air balloon saw the Big Apple from the sky. She was very brave and used to having adventures traveling from one place to another. She descended in the balloon and knocked on the door. No one answered.
Curious, she opened the door and stepped inside. Inside the Big Apple was a bed, a chair and a table. On the table were pitchers of water, tea and lemonade, as well as pasta dishes, fruit, salads and delicious cakes.
The young woman took the opportunity to drink and eat, and she soon realized that no matter how much she drank and ate those delicacies, they never ran out. They reappeared in the pitchers and on the plates, which always remained full.
“Unbelievable! What a place! I’m going to live in the Big Apple!” exclaimed the young woman.
Days, months and years went by. The young woman was happy, and she had many adventures, traveling with her beautiful balloon to far away places. After each trip she returned to her house, the Big Apple.
The young woman was no longer young; she became old. Her skin became wrinkled and so did the apple’s.
One mild summer night the old woman died in her bed, inside the Big Apple. That same night, already parched, the Apple also died. The desert mourned its loss with an unusual storm. It rained as much as in the jungle, and a strong wind covered everything with sand. Inside the Apple, the water made a seed germinate – a seed that grew bright, young and strong in the middle of the desert. It is already as tall as a house, it has a blue door and two windows. It is waiting for someone brave to see it, open the door and step inside.