Apples

The apple is well known as the forbidden fruit that Eve picked in the Garden of Eden, and in Christian lore represents sin, temptation, and the Fall. The angel of death, Azrael, could accomplish his mission by holding apple to the nostrils. Apples were present in many Greek legends, including the Apple of Discord which Paris awarded to Aphrodite. She had promised him Helen of Troy, and thus one of the greatest wars in history was sparked. The goddess of retribution, Nemesis, was often depicted carrying apple branches to symbolize the inescapability of death.

Proverbially, Apples of Sodom symbolize a disappointment. These legendary apples found near the Dead Sea ‘be full fair apples and fair of color to behold; but whoso breaketh them or cutteth them in two, he shall find within them coals and cinders, in token that by the wrath of God, the city and the land were burnt and sunken into hell’, according to Sir John Maundeville. Another proverb remarks upon unseasonable apple blooms: ‘A bloom upon the apple-tree when the apples are ripe, Is a sure termination to somebody’s life.’

Apples are sometimes considered a fruit of the underworld. The medieval ballad of Thomas the Rhymer has the Lady of Elphame warning him against eating the apples. Elphame was the underworld, and the apples there contained ‘hell’s plagues’. It’s implied that if he ate them he’d have to remain in the underworld. Norse mythology has the dead eating Apples of Hel in the underworld.

St. Dunstan sold his soul to the devil in order to assure that his ale would be successful. He had set up a brewery in Glastonbury, where the local apple cider was exceedingly popular. Dunstan, in exchange for his soul, had the Devil cause a frost for three straight mornings which destroyed the apple blossoms for miles around and guaranteed no cider would be produced. Consequently, there is a danger the Devil will repeat this act every 17th, 18th, and 19th of May. Two other legends involving apples are The Apple of Immortality and Micah Rood’s Apples.