Old Misery
(Book)

"Old Misery comes by her name honestly. She has just two possessions that are worth anything to her: her cat, Rutterkin, and her apple tree. The apple tree would be something, if it weren't for the stealing. Her miserable days are spent hobbling up and down the hill, to shoo away the apple thieves. So when one day a lowly gentleman knocks at the door, asking for a meal in exchange for a wish, Old Misery is quick to accept. She wishes that whoever tries to steal apples off her tree will get stuck to it until she lets them go. Everything goes well for a long while, until there is another knock at the door. "Daisy me!" says Old Misery. It's Death come at last. But clever Old Misery has learned a thing or two in her long life. "I'm ready to go with you any time, Mr. D, only maybe you'd oblige me with one last little fancy ...?" Her only wish, she says, is to have one last sweet apple from her tree. So Mr. D climbs to the top of the tree, where the apples are the reddest and the sweetest, and chooses one. But when it comes to getting down, he finds he's stuck fast! He dangles there all that autumn, all of winter, into spring, and well into summer. And then one day, Old Misery says to him: "I'll tell you how it's going to be, Mr. D. You can come down if you let me live forever. Yep, forever. And you can do the same for old Rutterkin here, too." And Mr. D has no choice but to grant her wish. Now, you might think immortality would cheer her up, but it turns out it's not Old Misery who has the last laugh ... And that's how Misery comes to be the itch that can't be scratched."--,Provided by publisher.