Golden apple facts for kids
The golden apple is a special item that shows up in many old stories, legends, and fairy tales from different countries. Often, a brave hero, like Hercules or Făt-Frumos, has to find or get back these golden apples. They are usually hidden or stolen by a scary monster or enemy. Golden apples also appear in Irish mythology on the Silver Branch from the Celtic Otherworld, which is a magical place.
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Greek mythology
Golden apples are important in three famous Greek myths:
Atalanta and Melanion
There was a skilled huntress named Atalanta. She was very fast and agreed to marry only the man who could beat her in a footrace. If a suitor lost, they would be put to death. Since Atalanta was incredibly fast, all her suitors died.
A man named Melanion (also called Hippomenes) wanted to marry her. He knew he couldn't win fairly. So, he prayed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, for help. Aphrodite gave him three shiny golden apples. She told him to drop them one by one during the race to distract Atalanta.
During the race, Melanion dropped the first golden apple. Atalanta, curious, stopped to pick it up. This gave Melanion a lead. He dropped the second apple, and she stopped again. Finally, he dropped the third golden apple. Atalanta paused one last time to get it. This allowed Melanion to win the race and marry her.
Later, Atalanta and Melanion had a son named Parthenopeus. Their marriage ended sadly when they were turned into lions for upsetting a god.
Paris and the Trojan War
Zeus, the king of the gods, held a big party to celebrate the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of disagreement, was not invited because she often caused trouble. Upset, she showed up anyway and threw a golden apple into the party.
The apple had words written on it: "For the Most Beautiful." Three powerful goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to decide who should get it. Zeus didn't want to choose, so he gave the task to a young prince named Paris of Troy.
Hermes, the messenger god, delivered the apple to Paris. He told Paris that the goddesses would accept his decision. Each goddess tried to bribe Paris. Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia. Athena offered him wisdom and great skill in battle. Aphrodite offered him the love of the world's most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta.
Paris chose Aphrodite's gift. He picked Helen, even though she was already married to King Menelaus. This choice led to the terrible Trojan War. In the end, both Paris and his city, Troy, were destroyed.
Hera and the Hesperides
Hera, Zeus's wife, had a special tree. It was a gift from Zeus, and it grew apples made entirely of gold. To protect these precious apples, Hera sent a dragon named Ladon to guard the tree. No one was supposed to steal them.
Irish mythology
In Irish stories, the golden apple is not as common or specific as in Greek myths. It is mostly part of the Silver Branch, or Silver Bough, which is a symbol connected to the magical Celtic Otherworld.
Apple branch
- Further information: Silver Branch and Echtra Cormaic
The sea god and Otherworld guardian, Manannán mac Lir, owns a silver branch with golden apples in the story Echtra Cormaic. However, these "apples" are actually described as "balls of red gold" that hang on a musical branch. They are not really fruits. The Dictionary of the Irish Language agrees, saying these "apples" are "musical balls."
Another story, The Voyage of Bran, mentions a "silver branch of the sacred apple-tree bearing blossoms." But this story does not clearly show golden apple fruits.
Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann
In the story Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann, the sons of Tuirenn (Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba) had to collect special items for Lugh Lamhfada. One of these items was the Golden Apples of Hesperides. These apples were said to taste like honey and have healing powers. They would also never get smaller, even if eaten. Plus, they could be thrown to do tasks and would always return to their owners.
Music
In Richard Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, the golden apples have their own special musical tune, called a leitmotif. You first hear it when the giant Fafner explains why he and his brother must take the goddess Freia away from the other gods.
In Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird (1910), which is based on Russian folk tales, the hero Prince Ivan enters a magical garden. There, he sees 13 young princesses playing with golden apples that grow on a tree. This scene is called "The Princesses' Game with the Golden Apples."
Fairy tales
Many European fairy tales start with golden apples being stolen from a king. Often, a bird is the thief:
- "Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf" (Russian)
- "The Golden Bird" (German)
- "The Golden Mermaid" (Romanian)
- "The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples" (Serbian)
- "Prâslea the Brave and the Golden Apples" (Romanian, here the thief is a zmeu, a type of dragon)
- "The Three Brothers and the Golden Apple" (Bulgarian, here the thief is a zmey, a dragon-like creature)
- "The White Snake" (German)
Modern literature
The poem "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" by William Butler Yeats includes these lines about special apples:
- I will find out where she has gone
- And kiss her lips and take her hands;
- And walk among long dappled grass,
- And pluck till time and times are done
- The silver apples of the moon,
- The golden apples of the sun.
The Golden Apple: A Play for Kiltartan Children is a play by Augusta, Lady Gregory. It's a fable based on Irish myths and folklore, written in a special dialect.
The Golden Apples is also the title of a short story collection by American writer Eudora Welty, published in 1949. The stories are connected and focus on people in the made-up town of Morgana, Mississippi.
A golden apple is very important at the end of David Mitchell's novel The Bone Clocks, which came out in 2014.
Discordianism
The modern religion called Discordianism uses the Golden Apple of the goddess Eris. This apple is also known as the "Apple of Discord." Eris used it to start the conflict among the goddesses on Mount Olympus. This happened because she wasn't invited to a party. The apple had the word "Kallisti" written on it, meaning "to the fairest." The golden apple can be seen as a symbol for a prank meant to cause confusion or disagreement.
Identity and use in other languages
Argan fruit
Some people, like Michael Hübner, have suggested that the fruit of the Argan tree might be the golden apples of the Hesperides. Argan trees grow in Morocco. He thinks the location fits the old stories of Atlantis and the Hesperides' garden. He notes that ripe argan fruits look like small golden apples and smell like baked apples. He also thinks the tree's bark and thorns might have inspired the mythical dragon, Ladon, that guarded the golden apples.
Oranges
In many languages, the orange is called a "golden apple." For example, in Greek, χρυσομηλιά means "golden apple." In Latin, pomum aurantium also means "golden apple." Other languages, like German, Finnish, Hebrew, and Russian, have words for "orange" that come from this same idea.
For a long time, people thought the "golden apples" in myths might have actually been oranges. Oranges were not known in Europe or the Mediterranean until the Middle Ages. Because of this idea, the Greek name for all citrus fruits became Hesperidoeidē, meaning "like the Hesperides' apples." Carl Linnaeus, a famous scientist, also used the name Hesperides for a group of plants that includes citrus. This is why citrus fruits are sometimes called Hesperidium.
One reason oranges might seem "magical" in stories is that they can have both flowers and fruit on the tree at the same time. Most other fruit trees don't do this.
Quinces
Sometimes, the term "golden apple" is used to describe the quince. This fruit comes from the Middle East.
Tomatoes
The tomato was unknown to the ancient Greeks. But in Italian, the word for tomato is pomodoro, which means "golden apple" (from pomo d'oro).
Popular culture
Golden apples also appear as items in video games like Minecraft, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and Hello Neighbor. In the TV series Animated Tales of the World, one episode called "The Tree with the Golden Apples" is about a golden apple tree on an island. An old man asks three brothers to sail to the island. The brother who brings him a golden apple will get to marry his daughter.
See also
In Spanish: Manzana dorada para niños
