When Adam and Eve were driven from Paradise, Eve carried along the branch on which the forbidden fruit was hung, and planted it, “for she had no coffer to keep it in”.
It grew into a tree that remained white as snow as long as Eve remained a virgin, but when God bade Adam “know his wife fleshly as nature required” and they lay together begetting children under this same tree, its wood turned green.
Later Cain slew Abel under the tree’s branches, and its wood became red. When Solomon’s wife made a carpenter take enough wood from the tree to make the spindles, the tree bled on being cut.
Using the natural colors of the wood, the carpenter was able to fashion a white, a green, and a red spindle.
See also
Solomon of Israel | The Legend of King Arthur
Solomon’s Ship | The Legend of King Arthur