Week 13 Story: The Cake That Came to Life

Johnny-Cake. Source: Wikipedia.

    There was once an old man and woman who lived in a little house with a garden on top of a small hill. One day, they had their little grandson over and wanted to bake his favorite cake for him. The old woman put all of the ingredients together and put the cake in the oven to bake.

    

    She looked at the little boy and said, "You stay inside and watch the cake while I go help your grandfather in the garden."

    

    The little boy nodded in agreement. Like most little boys, the grandson did not have a very long attention span. He couldn't sit and watch the cake in the oven for very long at all. He was playing with some of his toys when he heard a noise coming from the kitchen. He approached the oven and saw that the cake had sprouted a pair of legs along with a face. One of the cake's eyes blinked, and the boy jumped back in fear. With one eye open, the little boy took another glance into the oven, but this time the cake had stood up and was smiling at the boy through the oven door. Startled, of course, the little boy fell backward. The oven door then swung open, and the cake let out a little giggle.

    

    "Oh my!" said the little boy.

    "My name is Johnny-Cake. See if you can catch me!" yelled the cake.

    Up for the challenge, the little boy took off after the cake who ran towards the open door of the house. The little boy tried to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too fast and made it outside. The grandparents saw the cake on the move and decided to join in on the chase. However, Johnny-cake was too fast and outran all three of them. The little boy and the grandparents decided to sit down and take a rest, and Johnny-Cake was out of sight before they knew it.

    Johhny-Cake came across two children who were playing in their front yard down the street.

    The children looked up and called out to Johnny-Cake, "Where are you going Johnny-Cake?"

    He said, "I just outran two grandparents and a young boy, and I bet I can outrun the two of you!"

    Up for the challenge, the two children took off after Johnny-Cake. However, they did not know what they were up against. Johnny-Cake was quick, and they soon began to become very tired. Nearly out of breath, they had no choice but to lay down and rest.

    A little further down the road, Johnny-Cake encountered two construction workers.

    "Where are you going Johnny-Cake?" they asked.

    "I just outran two grandparents, a young boy, two children, and I bet I can outrun the two of you," he responded.

    "I don't know about that," said the construction workers who threw down their tools and took off after Johnny-Cake.

    The two workers ran as fast as they could, but they were no match for Johnny-Cake. They thought they could catch him but realized they didn't stand a chance. Both men plopped down alongside the road and took a rest.

    Johnny-Cake continued on and stumbled upon a stray dog near the town square.

    "Where are you going Johnny-Cake?" barked the dog.

    "I just outran two grandparents, a young boy, two children, two construction workers, and I bet I can outrun you too!" said Johnny-Cake.

    "You'll be wishing you never challenged me," uttered the dog. The dog ran after Johnny-Cake and used all his might to try to catch him. The dog came close, but Johnny-Cake left the dog eating his dust. With Johnny-Cake completely out of sight, the dog simply gave up and laid down to stretch his legs.

    By now, Johnny-Cake was feeling great. He knew nothing could catch him and continued down the road until he encountered a baker down the way.

    "Where are you going Johnny-Cake?" shouted the baker.

    "I just outran two grandparents, a young boy, two children, two construction workers, a stray dog, and I bet I can outrun you too," shouted back Johnny-Cake.

    "I didn't hear you," said the baker. "What did you say?"

    Johnny-Cake took a few steps closer and again shouted, "I just outran two grandparents, a young boy, two children, two construction workers, a stray dog, and I bet I can outrun you too!"

    "I still can't hear you," responded the baker. "I need you to come closer to me!"

    Johnny-Cake approached the baker and shouted, "I SAID, I JUST OUTRAN TWO GRANDPARENTS, A YOUNG BOY, TWO CHILDREN, TWO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, A STRAY DOG, AND I BET I CAN OUTRUN YOU TOO!"

    "We'll see about that," said the baker, who then grabbed Johnny-Cake with a quick motion. The baker swallowed him whole and let out a laugh as he began walking back to his bakery.

Author's Note: I kept my story very similar to the original story. In the original story, Johnny-Cake has six different encounters with characters throughout the story with the last one being when he gets eaten by a fox. In my story, there were only five different encounters with different individuals, which I thought was just as impactful. The characters in the original story are different from my characters besides Johnny-Cake. I also changed the part where Johnny-Cake was escaping from the oven in the first part of the story. In my story, I decided to have the little boy have some more interaction with Johnny-Cake as he is coming alive inside of the oven. In the original, the little boy heard a noise and then saw Johnny-Cake run out of the oven. The plot of the original story and my story are pretty identical, and both stories end with Johnny-Cake being eaten by a character. The original had a fox trick Johnny-Cake into coming closer, and my story had a baker who tricked him.

Story Source: "Johnny-Cake" from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).