Johnny Appleseed | by Steven Kellogg

Welcome to Book Root Readings, your channel for classic, nature, and living children's books. Click the subscribe button to be notified of new readings. Enjoy the story. Johnny Appleseed, A Tall Tale, retold and illustrated by Stephen Kellogg. Love, to my friends, Lenny, Margaret, and their wonderful family, Lenny and Leah. John Chapman, who later became known as Johnny Appleseed, was born on September 26, 1774, when the apples on the trees surrounding his home in Lemonster, Massachusetts, were as red as the autumn leaves. John's first years were hard. His father left the family to fight in the Revolutionary War, and his mother and his baby brother both died before his second birthday. By the time John turned six, his father had remarried and settled in Long Meadow, Massachusetts. Within a decade, their little house was overflowing with 10 more children. Nearby was an apple orchard. Like most early American families, the Chapmans picked their apples in the fall, stored them in the cellar for winter eating, and used them to make sauces, cider, vinegar, and apple butter. John loved to watch a spring blossom slowly turn into the glowing fruit of autumn. Watching the apples grow inspired in John a love of all of nature. He often escaped from his boisterous household to the tranquil woods. The animal sensed his gentleness and trusted him. As soon as John was old enough to leave home, he set out to explore the vast wilderness to the west. When he reached the Allegheny Mountains, he cleared a plot of land and planted a small orchard with a pouch of apple seeds he had carried with him. John walked hundreds of miles through the Pennsylvania forest, living like the Indians he befriended on the trail. As he traveled, he cleared the land for many more orchards. He was sure the pioneer families would be arriving before long, and he looked forward to supplying them with apple trees. When a storm struck, he found shelter in a hollow log or built a lean-to. On clear nights, he stretched out under the stars. Over the next few years, John continued to visit and care for his new orchards. The winter slowed him down, but he survived happily on a diet of butternuts. One spring, he met a band of men who boasted that they could lick their weight in wildcats. They were amazed to hear that John wouldn't hurt an animal and had no use for a gun. They challenged John to compete at wrestling, the favorite frontier sport. He suggested a more practical contest, a tree-chopping match. The woodsman eagerly agreed. When the sawdust settled, there was no question about who had come out on top. John was pleased that the land for his largest orchard had been so quickly cleared. He thanked the exhausted woodsman for their help and began planting. During the next few years, John continued to move westward. Whenever he ran out of apple seeds, he hiked to the eastern cider presses to replenish his supply. Before long, John's plantings were spread across the state of Ohio. Meanwhile, pioneer families were arriving in search of home sites and farmland. John had located his orchards on the routes he thought they'd be traveling. As he had hoped, the settlers were eager to buy his young trees. John went out of his way to lend a helping hand to his new neighbors. Often, he would give his trees away. People affectionately called him Johnny Appleseed, and he began using that name. He particularly enjoyed entertaining children with tales of his wilderness adventures and stories from the Bible. In 1812, the British incited the Indians to join them in another war against the Americans. The settlers feared that Ohio would be invaded from Lake Erie. It grieved Johnny that his friends were fighting each other, but when he saw the smoke of burning cabins, he ran through the night shouting a warning at every door. After the war, people urged Johnny to build a house and settle down. He replied that he lived like a king in his wilderness home, and he returned to the forest he loved. During his long absence, folks enjoyed sharing their recollections of Johnny. They retold his stories, and sometimes they even exaggerated them a bit. Some recalled Johnny sleeping in a treetop hammock and chatting with the birds. Others remembered that a rattlesnake had attacked his foot. Fortunately, Johnny's feet were as tough as elephants hide, so the fangs didn't penetrate. It was said that Johnny had once tended a wounded wolf and then kept him for a pet. An old hunter swore he'd seen Johnny frolicking with a bear family. The storytellers outdid each other with tall tales about his feats of survival in the untamed wilderness. As the years passed, Ohio became too crowded for Johnny. He moved to the wilds of Indiana, where he continued to clear land for his orchards. When the settlers began arriving, Johnny recognized some of the children who had listened to his stories. Now they had children of their own. It made Johnny's old heart glad when they welcomed him as a beloved friend and asked to hear his tales again. When Johnny passed 70, it became difficult for him to keep up with his work. Then, in March of 1845, while trudging through a snowstorm near Fort Wayne, Indiana, he became ill for the first time in his life. Johnny asked for shelter in a settler's cabin, and a few days later, he died there. Curiously, Johnny's stories continue to move westward without him. Folks maintained that they'd seen him in Illinois or that he'd greeted them in Missouri, Arkansas, or Texas. Others were certain that he'd planted trees on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains or in California's distant valleys. Even today, people still claim they've seen Johnny Appleseed.