This was a popular legend of North Korea, and it was supposed to teach us two things. First, that the desires of the rich are cruel and unrealistic, so unrealistic that they demand summer fruit in the middle of winter. Second, that a child’s devotion to her parent, if strong enough, can work miracles. The bond between North Korean parents and children, we believed, was stronger than in the corrupt West, where the young dumped their aging parents in old-age homes like so much rotted firewood.
