Apples from the Bottom of the Sea

The tale of our apples is very old and it begins with an unusual friendship between the Sea and the Wind.
In ancient times, when the territory of today’s Vojvodina was covered by endless blue waters, the Sea and the Wind were inseparable friends. They made big waves together and, with them, they splashed the sunbathed sandy shores.
Their friendship lasted very long, until one day the secretive Pannonian Sea flowed out to the east leaving endless plains behind it.
Wind was very sad. It blew angrily and, for thousands of years, looked everywhere for its friend. It searched through half of Europe. Wherever it came from, the Wind brought sand and laid it carefully at the bottom of the former sea.
When the first people came into these parts, they found a marshy plain.
Wind grew to love the people. It was not alone anymore. The Wind stopped blowing so strong and decided to let the people settle in the magical place it made while searching for its long-lost friend.
During the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa generations of our ancestors succeeded, with their labor, plows, and sweat, to drain out the marshlands and turn our Vojvodinian land into one of the most fertile regions in Europe.
The people worked hard.
They planted tall and slender Vojvodinian poplar trees, orchards, and vineyards. They lived off them for centuries.
With pride, they took care of the sand-rich land gifted to them by the Wind and the Sea. The land rewarded them with the most beautiful and delicious apples and grapes.
Centuries have passed and a lot has changed, only the hard-working farmers from the north of Vojvodina still grow and nurture the juiciest fruits in the world keeping the memory of ancient friendship and the secret of the apples from the bottom of the sea.