The Wee Bannock

Once upon a time, a little old man and a little old woman lived in a cottage in Scotland. One day, the old woman baked two wee bannocks, which are round, flat oatcakes, and set them by the fire to toast. The old man came in and ate one bannock, and then he reached for the other. But the wee bannock jumped up and rolled out of the door, away down the hill! The old man and the old woman ran after it, but they could not catch it.

The wee bannock rolled and rolled until it came to the tailor’s house. The tailor and his helpers were sewing by the window. “A bannock for our lunch!” they cried, and they jumped up to catch it. But the wee bannock rolled under the table and out of the door, and away it went.

Next, the wee bannock rolled into the house of a weaver. The weaver’s wife was spinning wool, and she reached out to grab it. But the wee bannock was too quick, and it rolled around the spinning wheel and out of the door.

Then it rolled into a farmhouse, where a woman was churning butter. “Come here, wee bannock, for I have cream to go with you!” she said. But the wee bannock just rolled faster, out of the door and over the field.

Then it came to a little house where a man was stirring a pot of soup and his wife was knitting. “Catch that bannock, for it would go nicely with our soup!” said the man. The wife threw her ball of yarn at it, but the wee bannock rolled right past.

At last, the wee bannock rolled into a den in the hill, where a fox lived. The fox had not had anything to eat for three whole days. “Come in, wee bannock, come in and sit by me,” said the fox in his sweetest voice. The wee bannock rolled a little closer, and then it saw the fox’s sharp white teeth. “Oh no, you don’t!” said the wee bannock, and it spun around and rolled away as fast as it could. Snap went the fox’s jaws, but he only caught a mouthful of air.

Down the hill rolled the wee bannock, through the heather and far, far away. And if you ever walk in the hills of Scotland and see something wee and round rolling by, you will know what it is.