1.Three hundred years ago,says an old writer,cherries were very scarce in Germany.A strange disease came upon the fruit-trees,and the greater number of them died.But a rich merchant of Hamburg,named Wolff,who had a large garden in the middle of the city,had managed to keep his cherry trees free from this disease.
2.He had in his garden all the best kinds of trees then known,and he was able to sell his fruit for any price he liked to ask.His cherries were almost worth their weight in gold,and he soon made a fortune out of them.
3.One spring-time,when his favourite trees were in full blossom,and gave good promise of a fine crop of fruit,a great war broke out.The German armies were defeated,and now Hamburg was besieged.The leader of the enemy vowed that,as soon as he had taken the city,every man,woman,and child in it should be put to death.
4.While the people fought bravely against the enemy without the walls,a more terrible enemy appeared within;for food began to get scarce.In a few days more,the citizens must open their gates to their conquerors,or die of hunger.
5.But while those within the walls suffered from hunger,those encamped without were dying of thirst.The summer was very hot,and every spring and brook near their camp was dried up.The soldiers suffered much from want of water,while they had to endure the heat and smoke of battle,and often the pain of wounds.
6.Wolff,the merchant,returned slowly to his house one morning.Along with the other merchants of the city,he had been helping to defend the walls against the enemy;and so constant was the fighting,that for a whole week he had worn his arm our day and night.And now he thought bitterly that all this fighting was useless,for on the morrow want of food would force them to open the gates.
7.As he passed through his garden,he noticed that his cherry trees were covered with ripe fruit,so large and juicy that the very sight of it was refreshing.At that moment a thought struck him.He knew how much the enemy were suffering from thirst.What would they not give for the fruit that hung unheeded on the trees of his orchard?Might he not by means of his cherries secure safety for his city?
8.Without a moment's delay he put his plan into practice,for he knew there was no time to lose if the city was to be saved.He gathered together three hundred of the children of the city,all dressed in white,and loaded them with fruit from his orchard.Then the gates were thrown open,and they set out on their strange errand.
9.When the leader of the enemy saw the gates of the city open,and the band of little,white-robed children marching out,many of them nearly hidden by the leafy branches which they carried,he at first thought that it was some trick by which the townspeople were trying to deceive him,while preparing for an attack on his camp.As the children came nearer,he remembered his cruel vow,and was on the point of giving orders that they should all be put to death.
10.But when he saw the little ones close at hand,so pale and thin from want of food,he thought of his own children at home,and he could hardly keep back his tears.Then,as his thirsty,wounded soldiers tasted the cool,refreshing fruit which the children had brought them,a cheer went up from the camp,and the general knew that he was conquered,not by force of arms,but by the power of kindness and pity.
11.When the children returned,the general sent along with them waggons laden with food for the starving people of the city;and next day he signed atreaty destroy.
12.For many years afterwards,as the day came round on which this event took place,it was kept as a holiday,and called "The Feast of Cherries."Large numbers of children in white robes marched through the streets,each one bearing a branch with bunches of cherries on it.But the old writer who tells the story is careful to say,that on these occasions the children kept the cherries for themselves.
13.Every age of the world's history has its tales of war,and bloodshed,and cruelty,of wild struggles between nations,and of great victories;but nowhere among them all do we find the story of a more beautiful victory than that which was won by the little children who saved Hamburg.