The Core of Johnny Appleseed - Swedenborg Foundation

Spring Blossoms or Autumn LeavesThe births of legendary people, whether real or fictional, areoften shrouded in folklore. It is said, for example, that when thefictional hero Paul Bunyan was born, he was already so big thatit took five storks to deliver him to his parents. The Buddha issaid to have been born under a cascade of falling blossoms. Lateron, wherever the baby Buddha walked, lotus flowers sprung upin his footsteps.There is a similar story surrounding the birth of JohnnyAppleseed. On the day that Johnny Appleseed was born, it issaid, apple blossoms, gently blowing in the April breeze, reacheddown and tapped on his bedroom window. Delighted by nature’swelcome, little Johnny spontaneously reached up and tried totouch the beautiful flowers. 1Even the most basic information about Johnny’s origins isconfused and contradictory. Some said he was born in Springfield,Massachusetts. Others favored Boston. One source calledhim “a stray Yankee from Connecticut.” 2 According to somereports, he hailed from Pennsylvania. However, Maryland andOhio were also strong contenders for his birthplace. The surprisingthing is that most of these claims were reported in reputablenewspapers and magazines.Another uncertainty that troubled early Appleseed scholarswas the question of his ancestry. Some claimed simply that hisparentage was unknown; others said that his father was a settlerand his mother an American Indian (or vice versa). And in one18 The Core of Johnny Appleseed