ONCE ON a time there was a good housewife who had seven hungry children. One day she was busy frying pancakes for them, and this time she had used new milk in the making of them. One was lying in the pan, frizzling away — ah! so beautiful and thick — it was a pleasure to look at it. The children were standing1 round the fire, and the husband sat in the corner and looked on.
"Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, I am so hungry!" said one child.
"Ah, do! dear mother," said the second.
"Ah, do! dear, good mother," said the third.
"Ah, do! dear, good, kind mother," said the fourth.
"Ah, do! dear, good, kind, nice mother," said the fifth.
"Ah, do! dear, good, kind, nice, sweet mother," said the sixth.
"Ah, do! dear, good, kind, nice, sweet, darling mother," said the seventh. And thus they were all begging for pancakes, the one more prettily2 than the other, because they were so hungry, and such good little children.
"Yes, children dear, wait a bit until it turns itself," she answered — she ought to have said "until I turn it" — "and then you shall all have pancakes, beautiful pancakes, made of new milk — only look how thick and happy it lies there."
When the pancake heard this, it got frightened, and all of a sudden, it turned itself and wanted to get out of the pan, but it fell down in it again on the other side, and when it had been fried a little on that side too, it felt a little stronger in the back, jumped out on the floor, and rolled away, like a wheel, right through the door and down the road.
"Hallo!" cried the good wife, and away she ran after it, with the frying pan in one hand and the ladle in the other, as fast as she could, and the children behind her, while the husband came limping3 after, last of all.
"Halloo, won't you stop? Catch it, stop it. Halloo there!" they all screamed, the one louder than the other, trying to catch it on the run, but the pancake rolled and rolled, and before long, it was so far ahead, that they could not see it, for the pancake was much smarter on its 'legs' than any of them.
When it had rolled a time, it met a man.
"Good-day, pancake!" said the man.
"Well met, Manny Panny," said the pancake.
"Dear pancake," said the man, "don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you."
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, I must run away from you too, Manny Panny," said the pancake, and rolled on and on, until it met a hen.
"Good day, pancake," said the hen.
"Good day, Henny Penny," said the pancake.
"My dear pancake, don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you," said the hen.
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, and from Manny Panny, I must run away from you too, Henny Penny," said the pancake, and rolled on like a wheel down the road. Then it met a cock.
"Good-day, pancake," said the cock.
"Good-day, Cocky Locky," said the pancake.
"My dear pancake, don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you," said the cock.
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, from Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, I must run away from you too, Cocky Locky," said the pancake, and rolled and rolled on as fast as it could. When it had rolled a long time, it met a duck.
"Good-day, pancake," said the duck.
"Good-day, Ducky Lucky," said the pancake.
"My dear pancake, don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you," said the duck.
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, from Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, I must run away from you too, Ducky Lucky," said the pancake, and with that it fell to rolling and rolling as fast as ever it could. When it had rolled a long, long time, it met a goose.
"Good-day, pancake," said the goose.
"Good-day, Goosey Poosey," said the pancake.
"My dear pancake, don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you," said the goose.
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, from Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, and Ducky Lucky, I must run away from you too, Goosey Poosey," said the pancake, and away it rolled. So when it had rolled a long, very long time, it met a gander.
"Good-day, pancake," said the gander.
"Good-day, Gander Pander," said the pancake.
"My dear pancake, don't roll so fast, but wait a bit and let me eat you," said the gander.
"When I have run away from Goody Poody and the husband and seven squalling children, from Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, and Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Poosey, I must run away from you too, Gander Pander," said the pancake, and rolled and rolled as fast as it could. When it had rolled on a long, long time, it met a pig.
"Good-day, pancake," said the pig.
"Good-day, Piggy Wiggy," said the pancake, and began to roll on faster than ever.
Nay4, wait a bit," said the pig, "you needn't be in such a hurry-scurry; we two can walk quietly together and keep each other company through the wood, because they say it isn't very safe there."
The pancake thought there might be something in that, and so they walked together through the wood; but when they had gone some distance, they came to a brook5.
The pig was so fat it wasn't much trouble for him to swim across, but the pancake couldn't get over.
"Sit on my snout," said the pig, "and I will ferry you over."
The pancake did so.
"Ouf, ouf," grunted6 the pig, and swallowed the pancake in one gulp7, and as the pancake couldn't get any farther — well, you see we can't go on with this story any farther, either.
