During the Great Depression, his large family could never afford luxuries, so one time at school, he begged a bite of his friend's apple.
My dad said:
"Please give me a bite, nothing more,
Or maybe the core, I implore."
But his friend kept on chewin’
And said; "nuthin doin"
"Cos there ain’t gonna be any core!"
Prompted by Magpie Tales
Great story, Stafford. Charming, yet also sad. And a beautiful historical insight :)
ReplyDeletegreat piece on the Great Depression - my father still tells the stories...bkm
ReplyDeleteI dub thee Sir Stafford, of Ditties. This one's just too cute.
ReplyDeleteThat's one sweet apple ditty.
ReplyDeleteMay I add one that my father used to entertain me with?..............oh crap.
ReplyDeleteI forgot it.
Seriously.
Here I sat, all 60 years of me and it happened again. Instead of heading off into the sunset, I decided to publicly proclaim "I"m losing it".
boy..and I bit on this one
ReplyDeleteI thought I was going to get a real heart jerker
but instead I got an opening smile as I read
Sir Stafford of Ditties..that's with a D
...made you laugh
The sound of this, rather than fight with the message within, only seems to underscore it,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Yes, so many views. So cute....prefect!
ReplyDeleteThanks for cheering me up Stafford - todays prompt was difficult.
ReplyDeleteYes, nice one, Stafford. Although, the thought of eating the core.......yuk.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of apple as luxury ~ the Great Depression made it so. As always, I love your Magpie.
ReplyDelete(I'm jetting off again in one week ~ this time to St. Louis ~ I need a holiday from my holidays!)
Hungry enough I've eaten the core and was sad when there was no more.
ReplyDeleteI love it Stafford...somehow I have a feeling you can sing as well! :-)
ReplyDeletePrince of Ditties, with a D, yes,
ReplyDeletethis piece has depth disguised
as something lighter. That is a
difficult prompt this week.
I could not get the film out
of my head, and my poem
wormed its way around the
celluloid experience; as does
my life I fear. I like your courage
and creativity.
Yuck - couldn't eat the core (well maybe if I spat the seeds out). My grandma had great depression stories.
ReplyDeleteA nicely constructed poem with a sad message about the depth of the depression. So many had so little. Good job with this
ReplyDeleteI would have given him a bite of my apple...what's the harm...?
ReplyDeleteNice one, its hard to imagine an apple being a precious commodity.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that not even a core was left during such hard times.
ReplyDeleteI once knew someone who'd eat everything but the stalk! Must have had tough teeth...
ReplyDeletethe rhyme is quite effective, speak so much of the context the poem implies.
ReplyDeleteThe first time we took our son to the apple orchard, he was about 2, he grabbed an apple off the tree and ate the entire thing!
ReplyDeleteApple cores were never wasted. Nice Magpie!
ReplyDeletenice tale!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with the guy... there wasn't going to be any core left ;)
I love your take on the theme.
there is none to waste...nice little tale stafford...
ReplyDeleteThis brings me to what we have become today.
ReplyDeleteWaste waste waste everywhere you look.
Cute post - but if you look deeper, all sorts of lessons from our childhood comes to mind.
great and charming story - nicely told
ReplyDeletehere's my magpie
An apple or an orange was a true gift in those times. Great Magpie!
ReplyDeletegreat reminder,
ReplyDeletecute tale...
apple is a rich inspiration!
My grandmother revered oranges for the same reason. She never used to eat them but kept them in a glass fruitbowl like trophies. This poem reminded me of her stories of the Depression and World War II. We don't know how lucky we are with all the produce we have available today.
ReplyDeletewith prices going so high, you never know the history might repeat itself.
ReplyDeletecuteness. I think this, eat the core and all, attitude was totally a great depression thing. my Grandfather grew-up then and always ate the cores of his apples. He was awesome and i wanted to be like him when i was little, so when i found out he did that, i started to do it too (funny how kids worship their heroes). They actually dont taste that bad,kinda super fresh.
ReplyDeleteAs usual a great magpie... Love your work stafford.. It was sad,humble,cute and factual.. all encapsulated in few lines.. Brilliant work !!
ReplyDeleteGod, what's one lousy bite among friends!? No wonder everyone was depressed back then!*tssk*
ReplyDelete*smiles*
I can't help but think of two dogs sitting side-by-side, one drooling in hopes of getting a bite. The alpha dog letting the other know there will be nothing left.
ReplyDeleteOh, I feel bad for your dad. what a sweet little rhyme though, but I'd have given him the core!
ReplyDeleteWell, that was fun! And it reminded me of the stories about early America when kids might hope for just one orange as a Christmas surprise. What different times...
ReplyDeletePoor Dad! Stafford
ReplyDeleteApples Red!
Apples Green!
Apple Pies
Apple Dumplings!
Apple Tea Cake!
Apple Muffins!
Apple Slice
Apple Perfume!
Hot, Cold,
Fresh Not Old !
Apples Anyway!
For Young and Old!
Keeps Doc Away Too.
As You Do Eh??