Rags to Riches - Understanding the 7 Story Types by Looking at a Girl and an Apple

Girl and her grandmother live in a two-storey house. They're very poor. It's winter, and the house is bitter cold in this early evening hour.

Grandma is sick in bed, suffering a great deal of pain. Doctors are baffled, and the only thing that seems to help her get through the day and give her some energy, even if only a bit, are apples.

'Do we have any apples left, luv?' she asks Girl in a trembling voice.

Avoiding looking at Grandma, Girl answers, 'There's one last apple left in the kitchen.'

'Will you bring it to me, deary?' Grandma asks.

The elderly woman's shaking wrinkly fingers squeeze her granddaughter's hand, and Girl feels barely any life left in them.

Saddened Girl comes down to the kitchen and picks up one last apple from an otherwise empty bowl. The fruit is half-rotten, and there's a worm peeking out of its good side.

'Oh no,' sighs Girl and, filled with anguish, is about to bin it.

'Hold it!' suddenly screams the worm in a little squeaky voice. 'Let me live, and I'll help you in return. I've suffered enough as it is in this rotten house, don't kill me. I know a place where you can get as many apples as you wish. I've heard of it from my grandmother, who heard of it from her grandfather. It's too far for me to go, but maybe you can.'

'Why should I believe you?' asks Girl, who is far from gullible despite her young age.

'Here, cross my heart and hope to die, live, I mean,' squeaks the worm, 'guess you just have to trust me…'

Girl considers, and, seeing no better choice, agrees.

The worm clambers out of the apple, and, by crawling around the dusty table, draws a map. Girl quickly memorises it and sprints out of the house while Grandma groans in pain upstairs.

As she travels through the busy city filled with blinking, shining billboards, deafening honking, and pongy fumes, Girl forgets how the map looks like. She hops from bus to tram, from underground train to bus again, losing hope and ready to return home empty-handed.

Just then, she finds herself in front of a fancy restaurant called 'The Apple' that looks just like the one the worm drew. Girl goes to the back of it, and lo and behold, there stands a giant fridge with a big note across it saying, 'WEEKLY DISCHARGE'. She approaches and pulls at the big, heavy-duty handle to reveal shelves upon shelves of apples, all in excellent condition.

Girl takes off her jumper, loads it with as much fruit as possible and rushes back home.

Upon Girl's return, Grandma is overjoyed, having been sick with worry about her disappearing. Girl shows Grandma the apples, and she immediately gobbles three in a row, which relieves her aching in an instant. Then Grandma hops out of bed and grabs Girl for a polka dance while singing her favourite folk tune, 'You Are The Apple Of My Eye'.

Girl rewards the worm with a big, juicy fresh red apple to make a new home in, and they all live happily ever after.

image by Miroslavik