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Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Jill. She was six years old, and already in first grade, and very proud of her achievement. Now, the family was poor, but she'd always been taught that she could do anything if she put her mind to it.
One day, she found a penny on the ground. She picked it up and ran home.
"Mommy, Daddy! Look what I found!" She showed her family the penny. "I'm gonna plant it and grow a nice big tree, and give us lots of money."
"That's very nice, Jill," said Mommy, "but pennies don't grow. They aren't seeds."
"It certainly won't grow," agreed Daddy.
Big Brother said something as well, something Jill couldn't understand in the least. Humph! Just because he was a big boy, already thirteen years old, doesn't mean he could clobber her with big words that she couldn't understand. After all, she could do anything if she put her mind to it.
She went to the backyard, dug a small hole, and buried the penny in the ground.
Every day before school, Jill watered the seed with water. Every day after school, after changing out of her school dress, she watered the seed with milk, and nourished the seed with honey. After all, she learned in Sunday School that the ancient Israelites were promised a Land of Milk and Honey.
Once, Jill overheard Big Brother telling his friends, "She's still watering that penny, thinking it will grow." She fumed at their laughter, but refused to let it daunt her.
And then one day... a sprout appeared, a sprout made of copper just like the penny. The sprout grew and grew. It grew big, thick, and tall. The tree was in full bloom by the time Jill graduated from first grade, and became a big-big copper tree.
The tree had leaves of money -- one-dollar bills, five-dollar bills, ten-dollar bills, and on up even to the occasional 100,000-dollar bill. The tree was bountiful with its fruit, of pennies, nickles, quarters (both eagle-backed and statist), half-dollars, Eisenhower dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars, and even gold dollar coins. The tree produced other coins that Jill had never seen before.
The family lived happily ever after, because nobody could distinguish between these and authentic Federal Reserve notes and minted coins.
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Comments
Have you got an idea
Have you got an idea from the site you had mentioned a couple of days before?
Goodreads?
This site? I didn't get the idea from that, no. Three things:
The saying, "Money doesn't grow on trees," didn't hurt either.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Anyway
Anyway, you wrote an enticing and cute story.
Thanks
Thanks.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Ever seen the 1952 movie "It Grows on Trees"?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044758/
Janice
No, never heard of it until
No, never heard of it until just now. The plot outline says something about a logical issue. So this wasn't fully a fairy-tale ending?
I remember this slight anachronism as well: "In this life, one thing counts. In the bank, large amounts. I'm afraid these don't grow on trees,..."
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
I tried
I tried that even planted by my septic tank, alas nothing grew accept weeds. I at least tried. CUTE story
Oh well.
Maybe try something a little different. Who knows? That may work out. Glad you liked the story.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Inspired by Clifford Simak?
Just a guess...
Not Knowingly
Not knowingly. I might have read something of his as a youngster, but I didn't recognize the name. One "inspiration" was the summary of an old story in the comments of this story: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/83253/ye-canna-break-... .
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
He has a story called "The Money Tree".
In "Venture Science Fiction", 1958. Though his take on the idea is very different.
It is really hard to find a topic that someone hasn't described yet. :)
I hope she planted some razor
I hope she planted some razor wire and chain link around the tree.
Maybe a fence charger and insulators too.
Hugs!
Rosemary
Dad
That's probably the first thing Dad did, once the copper tree appeared. Except for the planting. 6yo Jill didn't think of that, of course.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
The Pipe To Our Septic Tank
We didn't even have to plant anything, but half-way along the pipe to our septic tank a tomato plant appeared and produced the biggest, rosiest tomatoes that you ever saw. We were never quite game enough to eat them.
Did you mean?
Did you mean that you didn't quite have the courage to eat them? I read somewhere that tomatoes are part of a family of fruit that is poisonous.
Maybe you were nervous about eating food fertilized by your poo and pee?
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Yes. Potatoes are related to
Yes. Potatoes are related to tomatoes, but the potato fruit are "somewhat toxic"
https://www.cultivariable.com/potato-what-you-should-know-ab...
Tomatoes
It was the fact that they grew so juicily out of our defecations!
Rich pickings
However, they must be careful to pick the bills and coins at the right time. Too large or small (sizewise) bills just might be a problem, not to talk about over-ripe coins.
Cute story.
Indeed
That's a serious issue there. Although I suspect that when the "leaves" fall to the ground, they will be withered and faded, but otherwise valid bills. I wonder what an overripe coin would be like.
Glad you liked it.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Looking at your "Other Keywords"
I realised that if ever I write a music story I will have to remember that Al is a good conductor.
At Least
At least he won't be a Boron.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Parody aside
Parody aside it could be a very sensual love story. Anyway, it's a cute one.
I knew it!
Dad was wrong, money does grow on trees. Loved this story, especially liked all the denominations you listed that it provided.
Thanks!
Kay
Dad
Was that one of your Dad's old traditional sayings? Or are you referring to Jill's Dad?
About the denominations, I forgot to mention the trillion-dollar platinum coin -- although it could have come under the ones Jill had never heard of.
Glad you liked it.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Could be difficult to use that coin
Mark Twain wrote about that problem in The Million Pound Bank Note.
Exactly One Thing
In the USA, the trillion-dollar coin would have been good for exactly one thing: depositing into the Federal Reserve to eliminate the Federal debt hold of certain factions over the political process. Actually, there might be a second thing the coin would have been good for: educating the public about what money means to a currency-creator (in its own currency at least).
Maybe I should write a story with it.
In the (distant?) past, the Federal Reserve created huge ($100,000? $1 million?) notes solely to be used by member banks, to facilitate the transfer of funds in payment of checks.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)