He went on and on in his ragged clothes and his clanging hat, planting trees. Everywhere he went orchards sprang up. Where only weeds or brush had been, there was cloud on cloud of apple blossoms.

"He‘s looney, that Johnny Appleseed," some people said.

"He‘s lightheaded, that‘s certain," others agreed.

Johnny laughed, for he did not care what people said. He walked on, his bare heels kicking the leaves aside, until one day he was too tired to walk any farther.

On that day, he crawled into a small orchard near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He put one of his seed pouches under his head for a pillow. He lay there, looking up at the waving branches of apple trees and at the blue sky shining beyond.

Johnny Appleseed closed his eyes, listening to the leaves clapping together overhead. The sound faded, and the world turned dark. Then, suddenly, Johnny heard a soft whining. He thought he saw Brother Wolf standing beside him, his pink tongue hanging out as if he had traveled a long, long way. And there, hopping about among the tree roots was Mrs. Sparrow. There, too, was the big, sleepy bear Johnny had met years before in the round darkness of a hollow log. And creeping out of the orchard shadows came raccoons and foxes, bobolinks and hummingbirds, shy deer, and lame, blinking horses.

Johnny sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked at the sky again. Shimmering in the air, like a bridge of braided flowers, was a rainbow.

Johnny Appleseed leaped to his feet. He picked up all of his seed pouches and slung them over his shoulder. Then he called to the animals, "Brother Wolf, Sister Sparrow, Brother Bear..."

He started up the rainbow. The animals and the birds followed. Brother Wolf was the first, tagging at Johnny Appleseed‘s heels. Two orioles rode on the wolf’s shoulders.