Unknown writer

Pomona’s Best Gift

Summary


Pomona's Best Gift is a short harvest rhyme that speaks straight to an old apple tree, urging it to stand fast at the root and bear well at the top. Each twig and bough is called on to deliver big apples, until hats, caps and sacks overflow. The chant builds in rhythm and cheer, and ends with a hearty shout to the boys waiting beneath the branches, ready to gather the harvest.

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Here stands a good old apple tree;
Stand fast at root,
Bear well, at top;
Every little twig
Bear an apple big;
Every little bough
Bear an apple now;
Hats full, caps full;
Threescore sacks full!
Hullo, boys, hullo!

Boys with caps and sacks gather apples beneath a heavily laden old apple tree in Pomona's Best Gift
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Credits

This traditional rhyme comes to us from Unknown Writer, as one of many anonymous folk verses handed down by word of mouth. Its chant-like rhythm recalls old English orchard customs, where villagers sang to apple trees to wish them a bountiful year. The title nods to Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees.