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As Gretel ran back to the well ready to save her brother a low, mournful voice called out to her, stopping her in her tracks. Turning, Gretel quickly located the source- the apple tree from earlier. "Please ms," the tree begged, "Shake off my fruit that burdens me so heavily and I will do you a great good deed in return." Feeling sorry for the tree and not wanting to refuse it twice, despite her time constraints, Gretel readily agreed.

"I'll help you, but I have to be quick. My brother and I are getting out of here and can't afford to be caught." the girl explained earnestly, not wanting to be rude despite her haste.

"That is fine." The weary tree told the young witch. "Just do what you can." he assured her, voice strained under the weight of his own fruit. The pain the tree was in made Gretel wince, and she regretted not helping earlier.

"Get ready." the girl told him softly. "I'm going to start shaking your branches now." Gretel then grabbed the nearest branch within her reach and proceded to shake the heavy fruit off. Moving on to the next branch, she repeated the process and then did the same for the rest of the tree. The task done, the ground littered with apples, Gretel quickly grabbed as much as she could and stuffed them in her apron for the years of starvation she endured before she had come to live with the witch had taught Gretel to always save and take a meal where she could. Besides Gretel had a feeling that she and her brother probably wouldn't know where they could get food once they escaped that place. The girl was stooped over and preoccupied with gathering fruit when she felt herself being lifted into the air by the hem of her dress. Instinctually, she went to cry out, but a leafy appendage covered her mouth, stifling the noise. Working quickly, the old apple tree nestled Gretel behind his branches.

"Tree o' mine, Tree o' mine!" Gretel heard the witches voice hoarse and irritated from behind the folliage, making Gretel's breath catch in her throat. "Have you seen that apprentice of mine, a small disrespectful girl with a big mouth, whose brother I fattened up and plan to feast?" despite not being able to see her, Gretel knew that the witch was looking at the poor old tree with the same penetrating gaze that she had always looked at her with when she was trying to catch the young girl in a lie. The young girl only hoped the apple tree would be able to withstand its intensity.

The tree took a long time to reply, as if it was thinking over its response. It was all Gretel could do to hold as still as possible and hope her act of kindness would pay off. "No ma'am. I have not seen hide nor hair of her." he told the wicked woman firmly and Gretel breathed a sweet silent sigh of relief.

"Are you sure? " the witch asked again, and the girl could feel the witch raise an eyebrow though she couldn't see it. "If you're lying to me I'm warning you I'll cut you down and use your stump for fire wood. I don't care how invaluable you have been. "

Gretel had to resist the urge to make a noise. Tensing up, the small girl wondered if she could chuck an apple at the horrible woman without getting the tree in trouble or being spotted. Ultimately deciding it was too risky, all she could do was wait for the tree to reply and hope he would not become frightened and betray her. It seemed iffy for a moment. The tree's branches swayed like they had been blown by a breeze, yet something felt unnatural about it. There had never been enough of a breeze to shake the old apple tree's branches before,  that along with the seriousness of the witch's threat made Gretel realize that the tree must be trembling. Willing him not to lose his nerve, she glared ice daggers at the crone's general direction.

"Well?"

It felt like an eternity before the tree spoke again. " I swear to you ma'am," she said in his most earnest tone of voice. There are no naughty little girls hiding here. Perhaps you should try your home?" A small smile spread across Gretel's face at the implications of what the tree had said to the old woman. Further, she was pleasantly impressed that her ally hadn't sold her out and that he had managed to lie to the witch without really lying at all. Gretal expected the witch to get angry at those words, yet she said nothing. The last both tree and girl saw and heard of her was her hunched, retreating figure. Footsteps receding into the distance. Gretal released her bated breath and the tree branches became still once more.

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