Nick Ribbeck of Ribbeck of Havelland

Nick Ribbeck was a simple soul whose chief delight was to watch his garden and his fruit trees through the seasons, and especially his favorite pear tree. For in the fall of the year, he filled his coat pockets with ripe pears, and gave one to every boy or girl he happened to meet. But he grew old, and knew that his end was near. His last request was that a ripe pear be buried in his grave. When he died, he was mourned by his friends, but he was missed more by the children. Nick Ribbeck’s son and heir was a stingy, narrow-faced little man who never let the children into the garden, and never shared the glowing fruit, preferring to see it fall to the ground rather than given away. But in a few years’ time, there in the churchyard grew a wonderful pear tree above Nick Ribbeck’s grave, giving its golden fruit freely to every passing child.