The+Silver+Fir+Cone

The Silver Fur Cones Once upon a time there was a man and a woman with seven children. The man was sick with a terrible sickness and couldn’t even leave the bed. The family was very poor, and they couldn't afford to get the man a doctor. The man stayed sick for a while, and soon there was no meat in the cupboard, and no fire on the hearth. The mans wife was getting very desperate. She finally told her husband that she was going into the woods to look for some fur cones. "With some fur cones I could maybe make a fire on the hearth, or maybe even sell them to make some money. " she thought. The woman grabbed a large basket, and went off into the woods. As the woman walked, and gathered the fur cones she thought about how terrible her life was, and she sat down and started to weep. "What is the matter with you and why are you weeping?" The woman turned around and saw a small frowning dwarf. She jumped with fright and fell to her knees. She forgave the dwarf many times, and eventually blurted out her story of why she was there. The dwarf's expression softened, and he said "Troubles come to us all." "But you have to leave the fur cones here, because they are mine, but the other forest over that has much fur cones that will suit you much better. The woman put the fur cones she had gathered back and left to go to the other forest, just as the dwarf had instructed. By the time she got to the forest, she was extremely tired. She sat down on a tree stump, and soon enough the fur cones from the tree above fell down into her basket like hail.  She became very frightened, and ran back to her home as fast as she could. On the way back home, the basket became very heavy. As she reached for the door, she could no longer hold the heavy basket. She dropped it and all of the contents inside spilled out of it. She realized that in the basket were not just any fur cones, but silver fur cones! All of the fur cones that she had collected had turned into silver!  She soon realized that the dwarf that she talked to was Bob, the king of dwarves and helper of the poor. She soon went into town and sold two of the silver cones and bought everything that she needed in her house. The next day she went back out to the forest and found Bob by the same tree trunk. She thanked him many times. "I am happy to be at your service! " said the dwarf. The dwarf picked a green plant form the ground. He said to take it home and boil it in hot water, and then give it to her husband. When the woman got back home, she boiled the green plant in the hot water, then took the water that the plant boiled in and gave it to her husband. As soon as her husband ate the plant water he went back to normal. He wasn’t sick, he wasn’t bedridden, and he felt great! The family had enough silver fur cones to last them forever! The man didn't have to work and the woman didn't have to work! To this very day people in Germany keep a silver fur cone in their dresser for good luck.