Вернуться к Russian Fairytales

The Little Round Bun

Story_Crossbun

Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman. They were very poor. So the old man said to his wife:

“Old woman! Scrape the flour box and sweep the bread bin and make a little round bun.”

She scraped the flour box and swept the bread bin and made a little round bun. She put it in the oven, baked it and left it on the window sill to cool. But the little round bun jumped out of the window and rolled away along the road.

On and on it rolled and met a rabbit. The rabbit saw the little round bun and said:

“I will eat you, little round bun.”

“Don’t eat me, rabbit. Let me sing you a song”.

“Let me hear it”, said the rabbit.

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin, I was baked in the oven and cooled on the window sill. I ran away from the old man and the old woman and I will run away from you!”

And off it rolled. On and on it rolled and met a wolf. The wolf saw the little round bun and said:

“I will eat you, little round bun.”

“Don’t eat me, wolf. Let me sing you a song”.

“Let me hear it”, said the wolf.

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin, I was baked in the oven and cooled on the window sill. I ran away from the old man and the old woman, I ran away from the rabbit and I will rum away from you!”

And off it rolled. On and on it rolled and met a bear. The bear saw the little round bun and said:

“I will eat you, little round bun.”

“Don’t eat me, bear. Let me sing you a song”.

“Let me hear it”, said the bear.

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin, I was baked in the oven and cooled on the window sill. I ran away from the old man and the old woman, I ran away from the rabbit, I ran away from the wolf and I will run away from you!”

And off it rolled. On and on it rolled and met a fox. The fox saw the little round bun and said:

“Little round bun, where are you going?”

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin, I was baked in the oven and cooled on the window sill. I ran away from the old man and the old woman, I ran away from the rabbit, I ran away from the wolf, I ran away from the bear and I will rum away from you!”

“Oh”, said the fox, “I can’t hear you. Can you come closer and sing again”.

So the little round bun came closer and sang its song again.

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin, I was baked in the oven and cooled on the window sill. I ran away from the old man and the old woman, I ran away from the rabbit, I ran away from the wolf, I ran away from the bear and I will rum away from you!”

“Oh”, said the fox, “I still can not hear. Jump onto my tongue, so I can hear you better!”

The little round bun jumped onto the fox’s tongue and started its song:

“I am a little round bun. I was scraped from the flour box, I was swept from the bread bin…”

But before the little round bun could finish its song the fox opened his mouth and swallowed it.
web-page-separator

Adapted and translated by Vera Smyth, MA, MITIA