Miserly Kronk
In The village of Trimble, at the end of the street, in dirty old house, lived a grumpy gnome called Kronk. He was mean, miserly, and the unfriendliest old gnome you ever did see.
At the other end of the village, lived an elf called Peter. He was one the friendliest elves you could ever meet and he lived in a neat little, white painted, house.
One day as Peter was passing by, he noticed that the apple tree in the field at the end of the lane was full of fruit. Now the tree really belonged to everyone in the village, but miserly old Kronk had claimed it for himself, built a fence around it and padlocked the gate. Peter sighed, he really would like an apple pie and he knew the other villager would like one too.
So on his way back home he opened Kronk’s gate walked up the path and knocked on the door. A few moments later the door opened and Kronk growled, ‘What do, you want?’
‘Excuse me, Mr Kronk I noticed your tree was full of apples, and I wondered if you might let me have one or two.’
‘No, go away, elf, I’ll be picking them all tomorrow and taking them to the market,’ said Kronk.
It wasn’t fair, thought Peter, as he walked home, those apples really belonged to everyone, I’ll have to think of a way to get some for the whole village.
Early next morning when Kronk was picking the apples and placing them in a sack, Peter turned up and offered to help.
‘You can help if you want, but I’m not giving you any apples,’ said Kronk.
Oh, he is greedy, thought Peter, but he smiled and said, ‘That’s alright, I’ll still help you.’
They had only picked three-quarters the apples and Kronk’s sack was full, so Peter went to get him a bigger one from home.
When he arrived back, Kronk inspected the sack carefully in case Peter was trying to trick him. When he found nothing wrong he poured the other apple in and threw away the old sack. Later when there were no more apples on the tree and the big sack was full, Peter helped lift it on Kronk’s back and as he did so, he cut a slit in the bottom.
Peter waited until Kronk set off for the market, then picking up the other sack; he followed behind, picking up the apples as they fell out one by one. Once the sack was full he went around the village sharing them out.
Imagine Kronk’s surprise when he got to the market and there were only a few apples in the sack, and imagine the big surprise he got, when he came back to find the village filled with the aroma of freshly baked apple pies.
If you too would like to smell the pies, why not try the recipe below.
Apple Pie
Short crust pastry
6oz flour, white or wholewheat ¼ teaspoon salt 1½ oz lard 1½ oz butter 1½ table spoons water
1½ lb cooking apples 2 table spoons sugar 1 table spoon cornflour
Pie dish, 7 inch diameter, 1¼ inches deep.
Pastry Mix flour and salt, rub in lard and butter and mix to a firm dough with the water. Allow it to rest while you see to the filling.
Peel, core and slice your apple place a good layer in the bottom of the pie dish (approx half the apple) Mix sugar and cornflour together, sprinkle over the apple inj the dish, then cover with the rest of the apple.
Using a floured board roll out the pastry until it is half an inch bigger than the pie dish. Cut a ½ inch wide circular strip from the out side of the pastry, damp the edges of the pie dish and press the pastry strip on.
Next damp the strip, place the pastry lid on, press to seal, and trim around. Flute edges using the back of a fork. Cut 3 small slits on top of the pastry lid, brush with water and sprinkle on a little sugar.
Bake in a oven Gas mark 6 /400°F – 200°C for 30 minutes, reduce heat to Gas 4/ 350°F 180°C for a little longer until fruit is cooked. To check use a skewer through one of the slits
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