Then winter came, with frost and snow. The old dog lay all day under the stove in the parlour. The crab-apple-tree stood outside in the snow, with the queer stone under her branch.
When spring returned, the dog, one day, came jogging round the fence.
THE OLD DOG STOOD ON HIS HIND-LEGS AND BLINKED WITH HIS BLIND EYES
It took longer than last year and he was now almost quite blind in the other eye as well. But he found his way to the apple-tree and rubbed himself, so that she saw that he still had those fleas.
"All going as usual, Dog?"
"Yes, Apple-Tree.... Same with you?"
"Well, I'll tell you," said the tree. "I daresay you remember that stone the blackbird brought me? Well, look here, some time ago, I felt a most curious pricking and itching and aching just where it was."
"Then it must be a flea," said the dog.
"Now listen," said the tree. "It was a most unpleasant sensation. And then my branch swelled up at the place where the stone was...."