Fruit appears in myths from around the world. Often it is a symbol of abundance, associated with goddesses of fruitfulness, plenty, and the harvest. Sometimes, however, fruit represents earthly pleasures, gluttony, and temptation. Specific kinds of fruit have acquired their own symbolic meanings in the myths and legends of different cultures.
|
Apples play an important part in several Greek myths. Hera, queen of the gods, owned some precious apple trees that she had received as a wedding present from Gaia, the earth mother. Tended by the Hesperides, the Daughters of Evening, and guarded by a fierce dragon, these trees grew in a garden somewhere far in the west. Their apples were golden, tasted like honey, and had magical powers.
|
Myths about the origin of the breadfruit are found in several myths in Polynesia and Hawaii. According to Hawaiian folklore, in one version, a devastating famine seizes the island of Waiakea and takes the life of a man named Ulu. When Ulu dies, priests tell his family they should bury him beside a stream. A tree grows from his grave overnight, and in the morning his family finds it bearing fruit. The fruit, in turn, feeds those he left behind and sees them through the rest of the famine.
|