One suggests a withered fig tree along the road giving rise to a legend. Another thinks it was a parable Jesus told that was turned into story. Still another offers the possibility that the event happened at a different time of the year when there might just have been fruit (say in autumn when although the season was over there might have been some residual fruit) and that Jesus’ words meant that before the next fruit-bearing season the kingdom of God would have come, but the disciples misheard and