"Can you stand, young man?" asked the old man.

The stranger shook his head and looked around him. He turned to the old man and asked, "Where am I? What am I doing outside? What's with this cliff?"

The old man pulled the stranger to his feet and said, "Oh, the place doesn't matter very much. What matters is you're here. So allow me to give you an orientation on what you will soon be doing from now on."

The stranger didn't feel like arguing and just followed. "What will I be doing?"

The old man went into the house and beckoned for the stranger to follow. "You will be helping us take care of that tree you see over there."

The stranger turned around and felt his jaw drop. What he thought at first to be a cliff was a tree bigger than any mountain he had ever seen. Yet, its branches stooped so low, he could see strange spheres among them.

"Come, come, hurry now. We don't have all eternity," said the old man. The stranger turned around and quickly followed.

"What is that?" asked the stranger. The old man handed him some clothes and gardening tools.

"That is my greatest treasure. A beautiful tree like no other. I planted it myself, and have looked after it ever since then," replied the old man. He led the way outside, and began moving around the branches. "Everyone in my house helps take care of this tree and its many branches. And it's not easy work, mind you."

The stranger looked at one of the spheres and asked, "What is it?"

The old man replied, "That is the fruit of the tree. It is a mysterious fruit that holds endless wonders, and not one fruit is ever the same."

The stranger looked over to the old man and asked, "Why is that?"

The old man replied, "It keeps things interesting." He looked at one and said, "If every single fruit on this tree looked the same, then this tree would just be another ordinary tree. But thankfully, it isn't."

The stranger watched as the old man began spraying water onto a fruit that looked dimmer than the one he was looking at. "What's wrong with it?"

The old man, not looking up from his work, replied, "Oh, nothing. She's just feeling a little down. A little sprinkle will cheer her up for sure."

After that, the old man went over to a fruit that was as black as the night. "Now this fella here needs help." He sprayed it the same way he sprayed the other fruit and left.

Curious, the stranger asked, "Why didn't you spray it some more if you said it needed more help?"

The old man replied, "Unlike normal fruit, the fruit from this tree can choose whether or not to receive the water I spray onto it. Take this one for example." He sprayed one of the fruits, and touched its skin. "Dry as a rock in the sun, yet still so gray. Every fruit reacts differently to the water. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the one spraying."

The stranger looked at the black fruit and asked, "Then why continue spraying this one if it refuses the water?"

The old man replied, "For the simple reason of you never know. Besides, it would be a terrible waste of fruit if I gave up on it just as it was about to change its mind."

The stranger moved closer and asked, "So when will this fruit ripen?"

The old man replied, "Every fruit on this tree is ripe the moment it appears. They just choose when to drop down so I can pick them up."

The stranger kept his eyes trained on the dark fruit and asked, "So what happens if they drop like this?"

The old man replied, "The darker they are, the bigger the mess I have to clean up. The lighter they are... oh!"

The stranger turned to where the old man was looking and saw that a bright fruit was falling slowly. The old man quickly made his way towards it and said, "He's a new arrival, kid."