Hattie came upon a small game path and followed it, “I can find my way back easily now.” Small creatures greeted her as she walked by; a family of rabbits hopped along, a squirrel jumped from branch to branch above her head, and birds chirped in a nest high in a tree. It was as if they’d never seen a little girl before, or at least one who was all by herself.

She could barely see the pink sky of the setting sun between the leaves above her, but she walked on in the ever-fading light of the game trail. She could hear the scratching of animals’ feet all around but she could no longer see the creatures they belonged to. “The sun must go down faster when you’re alone,” Hattie concluded. “I’d better turn back and go home.” Just before she turned around, however, Hattie glimpsed something shiny, high up in a tree in front of her. It was a bright red apple, glinting in the last of the sun’s rays.

“My oh my, I’ve never seen an apple so shiny and red!” Hattie exclaimed. “What a wonderful adventure it would be to climb up there and get it!” She ran to the tree and then stopped herself, recalling of her mother’s warning. “What rubbish!” she decreed, reaching out for the first of the tree’s branches, “She just doesn’t want me to have any fun!”

She continued up the tree, but it was slow going. Hattie was just too short to get from one thick branch to another. Grabbing two fistfuls of small leafy twigs, she was about to pull herself to the next sturdy limb when a creaky old voice cried out, “Ouuuccchhh!”

Hattie let go of the twigs, hugging the limb underneath her to keep from falling despite the startling voice. She looked around for whoever yelled out. “Who said that?” she asked.

“The tree you were using as a step stool,” bellowed the tree with the beautiful apple. “Why are you yanking on my delicate branches?”

“Well,” Hattie said, reaching up to twist a lock of her hair, “I wanted to get the shiny, red apple. I thought it would be a wonderful adventure.”

“If you wanted the apple,” the tree said, “you could have simply asked! How’d you like it if someone yanked on you?”

And with that, the tree lifted her under her arms and off the branch, hanging her in midair. Vines wrapped around her wrists and ankles and gave them a yank. Hattie cried out and wondered how she could escape the vengeful tree. The tree yanked her arms and legs again, and again she cried out in pain. Hattie tried to kick her legs to escape the vines but they dug even deeper into her flesh. Finally, she managed to turn her wrists around in the tree’s binds and, after another powerful yank, pulled a handful of leaves off a branch close by.

“Yowwww!” The tree lost its grip and Hattie fell to the forest floor. She ran further into the forest to escape the tree, mindful to stay on the path but far out of the reach of tree branches.