A little moral tale for kids.

There was once a young girl who had the most beautiful hair you ever saw. Gold, it was, like a hillside of corn bathing in summer sunshine, with strands like long streams of open sand and others light as lemonade. It was strong and graceful and fell like the waves of a gentle sea as it comes to reach the land.
The girl lived in a cottage on a hill and every day she would go into the village and be greeted with smiles and hellos from all the people there. They would give her combs, ribbons and flowers to put in her hair. Some would offer her rich oils, lotions and soap to wash it and make it shine even more lovely. They did this for they longed to look upon it also. And she knew. She knew that she could get most anything she wanted as her hair made all the people happy. She would accept compliments and gifts and she thought she deserved it. She did have the finest hair for miles around, why shouldn't she get what she could because of it. What else did she need?

One cold, stormy evening the girl was brushing her hair as she always did. She was halfway through her 500 brushes when there was a knock at the door. Now, normally the girl would ignore it as there was nothing in the world more important to her than her hair, but tonight she decided not to. She'd had a long day, looking after her hair but had got no trinkets from the villagers. Maybe this was someone who had something for her.
She got off her stool and opened the door. There on the step was a tiny old lady. She asked the girl if she could come in for a moment to get dry. The girl nodded and showed the woman to the fire place. There she noticed that there was a pan of soup on the boil. Could she have just a cup of soup? Then she would be on her way. The girl, who was now back to combing her hair tutted. She had been looking forward to having all the soup and now would she have to share it with this crone?
"What would I get in return?" the girl asked the woman. "What do you have for me?"
"What can you need from me," the woman replied. "You seem to have everything you want, youth, beauty."
The girl frowned. "Most people would give me something for my beautiful hair," she said. "What do you have in your basket?"
"You really want something from my basket? And then can I have some soup?"
"Certainly, replied the girl.
"Well, let me see what I have for such a generous girl as you." The old lady reached into the basket and pulled out a small bottle. "Ah, this is just the thing for one such as you - the perfect thing to put on your hair."
The girl opened the bottle and sniffed the lotion inside. It smelled of apples, fresh, sweet apples. She nodded and poured the old lady her soup, still brushing her hair with her other hand. And stood there watching as she ate her soup. Finally the old lady had finished, and got up to go to the door. Outside the winter rain and the wind still battered the countryside as if in revenge for a summer full of sunshine.
"I hope the lotion does the trick for your hair, said the old lady as she left. "I think it's what you really wanted."
"I'm sure it is," said the girl. "Goodbye."
And with that she shut the door behind her.

The girl couldn't wait to try the hair lotion. She had so wanted to get rid of the woman that she would have let her take all the soup with her had she asked, but now she was on her way, she could wash her hair with the lotion. It smelled so wonderfully - like orchards at the end of a lovely afternoon. She washed her hair and still the smell pervaded the cottage. Sweet and clear. Fresh and calm.
The girl fell asleep and dreamed of apples.

The next morning the girl woke up and she couldn't wait to see what the lotion had done to her hair. What effect could such a beautiful lotion have? So the first thing she did was go to the mirror and comb her hair. But what was this. There was - something - making her hair all tangled. She pulled her comb down through her locks and the most incredible thing happened. An apple fell from her hair. She combed again and another fell. And another. What was this? Apples growing in her hair? How could this be? Had anyone heard of such a thing? They were big red round apples too, not tiny mean little ones. This was extraordinary. What had suddenly happened to all her lovely hair?

She had to find that old lady. It had to be the lotion she had given her last night. Yes, that was it. She must be in the village somewhere - that was where had been heading in the storm. So the girl got dressed and put a scarf around her hair just so nobody could see how it was now full of apples and made her way down to the village. Now she had always been used to getting attention - people know when they are receiving admiring looks. But today nothing. Most of the men and women who would always greet her and offered her combs and ribbons for her hair looked straight past her and those that did recognise her didn't greet her with smiles, but with oddly frowned faces. They asked her what was wrong with her hair. Why was she covering it with such a dull scarf? But she shrugged off their requests. And they had no answers for her - they had never seen the old lady and they couldn't tell her where she might have gone.

The girl went home and sat down on the floor of her cottage. She took off her scarf but for once she didn't feel like brushing her hair. Thump. An apple fell and rolled over to the far wall. Thump there went another. The girl was miserable. Her beautiful hair that everyone had once loved, with which she'd enjoyed life was gone forever and what was she left with? Thump. Another apple fell, but this time into her lap.
The girl looked at it. It was round and red and shiny. She felt it and it held it up to the light. She could see her face in it, and around her face her apple endowed hair. What would it taste like? She thought for a second - she would have scratched her head but then that would have knocked another one out. She bit into the apple she had grown and it was incredible. Sweet and cold and crisp. Like every good apple she had ever tasted. She ate the whole thing quickly, then put her scarf back on and went out in search of the old lady again, refreshed and eager for the quest.
All day and most of the evening she looked and asked after the old lady, but to no luck. That night she fell sound asleep and dreamed again of orchards.
The next day she woke and found her hair was even more full of apples than it was the previous day. Some fell, others she picked, but soon she had a whole basket full. Thinking she ought to make the best of a bad lot, the girl made a decision. She wrapped her hair up again and took the basket down to the village. There she set up a stall and began to sell the apples. At first she only sold a few but customers would return and they would tell their friends and they would tell their friends and soon everyone knew where to get the best apples. People loved them. Soon she had sold every single one and while a few people asked her to take her scarf off so they could see her beautiful hair, most people had forgotten about it. From now on she would just be the girl who sold the best apples in the village.
And every day after that she went to the market to sell her apples. She became a dull and plain woman who would never let anyone see her hair again. Nevertheless, everyone knows great apples and though noone ever saw her beautiful hair, eventually she became happy in the knowledge that she was responsible for such lovely fruit.

The moral is - the value of our talents is only in their appreciation by others. Only by sharing ourselves do we gain our true wealth.

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