Once on a time there was a woman who had seven hungry
children, and she was frying a pancake for them.
It was a sweet milk pancake, and there it lay in the
pan, bubbling and frizzling so thick and good, it was
a delight to look at it. And the children stood
round about, and the old father sat by and looked
on.
“Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, dear,
I am so hungry,” said one child.
“Oh, darling mother,” said the second.
“Oh, darling, good mother,” said the third.
“Oh, darling, good, sweet mother,” said
the fourth.
“Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet mother,”
said the fifth.
“Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet, clever mother,”
said the sixth.
“Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet, clever, kindest
little mother,” said the seventh.
So they begged for the pancake all around, the one
more prettily than the other, for they were so hungry
and so good.
“Yes, yes, children, only bide a bit till it
turns itself”—she ought to have said,
’till I can get it turned,’—“and
then you shall have some lovely sweet milk pancake.
Only look how fat and happy it lies there.”
When the pancake heard all this it became afraid,
and in a trice it turned itself and tried to jump
out of the pan, but it fell back into it again, the
other side up. When it had been fried a little
on the other side too, till it got firm and stiff,
it jumped out of the pan to the floor and rolled off
like a wheel through the door and down the hill.
“Holloa! Stop, pancake!” and away
ran the mother after it, with the frying pan in one
hand and the ladle in the other, as fast as she could,
and all the children behind her, while the old father
on crutches limped after them last of all.
“Hi! Won’t you stop? Catch it!
Stop, pancake!” they all screamed out, one after
another, and tried to catch it on the run and hold
it. But the pancake rolled on and on, and in
a twinkling of an eye it was so far ahead that they
couldn’t see it.
So when it had rolled awhile it met a man.
“Good-day, pancake,” said the man.
“Good-day, Manny Panny!” said the pancake.
“Dear pancake,” said the man, “don’t
roll so fast; stop a little and let me eat you.”
“No, no; I have run away from the mother, and
the father, and seven hungry children. I’ll
run away from you, Manny Panny,” said the pancake,
and it rolled and rolled till it met a hen.
“Good-day, pancake,” said the hen.
“The same to you, Henny Penny,” said the
pancake.
“Pancake, dear, don’t roll so fast.
Bide a bit and let me eat you up,” said the
hen.
“No, no; I have run away from the mother, and
the father, and seven hungry children, and Manny Panny.
I’ll run away from you, too, Henny Penny,”
said the pancake, and it rolled on like a wheel down
the road.
