Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales, Part B

In the story, "Johnny-Cake," a mother and father live with their young son. The mother puts a Johnny-cake in the oven to bake and tells her son to watch it while she and his father hoe potatoes. The little boy, however, does not watch the oven and hears a noise before seeing the oven door pop open. The Johnny-cake jumps out of the oven and rolls out of the house, down the stairs, and into the street. The little boy tries chasing after the Johnny-cake and his parents hear him yelling and join in the chase too. They all run out of breath and have to sit down. The Johnny-cake keeps running and finds two well-diggers. They ask him where he is going and he replies that he has outrun an old man, an old woman, and a young boy, and can outrun them too. They take on the challenge, but cannot keep up and have to sit down. The Johnny-cake finds to ditch-diggers and the exact same thing happens. He then comes upon a bear who asks him where he is going, and he says he has outrun an old man, an old woman, a young boy, two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers and he can outrun the bear too. He loses the bear and comes upon a wolf, where the same scene unfolds. The Johnny-cake finds a fox that is laying down in the corner of a fence. The fox asks where he is going and the Johnny-cake gives the same response. The fox tells Johnny-cake he cannot hear him and asks him to come closer. Johnny-cake yells louder and goes closer, but the fox says he still cannot hear him. Johnny-cake gets even closer and finishes the same reply with his typical "I can outrun you, too-o-o!" The fox replies, "You can, can you?" before eating Johnny-cake.

Gingerbread from Artsybee

Story Source: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

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