Happy St. Patrick's Day!
~Here is a story from the
Friend for you to enjoy~
Sometimes our mistakes turn out to be something grand with just a little bit of Luck!
Hope you all have a very lucky day!
Twist of Luck
by Florence F. Ruka
The wind and snow
whirling outside the bakery became just a part of the baker’s beautiful
dream of fortune, as he dozed contentedly next to the warm brick oven.
Suddenly the
baker’s nose twitched. His eyes flew open. The front legs of the chair
he was leaning back on hit the floor with a bang!
“Ach du Lieber!” (Oh, dear me!) he exclaimed. “My pretzels! They will be burned!”
He grabbed the
long-handled baker’s peel (paddle) and hurriedly removed the pretzels
from the oven. There was a different aroma coming from the little
knotted pieces of dough he had so carefully prepared and put into the
oven a short time ago. And the appearance was not quite like the
breadlike morsels he was used to turning out for Mr. Schnitzel’s bakery.
“Ach! Ach!” moaned the little baker. “Mr. Schnitzel will be angry!”
Quickly he
gathered the hard little biscuits into a basket and put them by the back
door. Hastily he began knotting the remaining dough so that he could
get another batch of pretzels out of the oven before closing time. Mr.
Schnitzel would soon come in from the front of the bakery with his ring
of keys and say, “Well, Hermann, did you earn your money today?”
Hermann had just begun cleaning the oven after taking out the new batch, when he heard Mr. Schnitzel at the back door. Oh, dear, worried Hermann. Why is he at the back door today?
As expected, Mr. Schnitzel boomed, “Well, Hermann, did you earn your
money today?” Before the baker could answer, the owner asked, “What’s
this?” Mr. Schnitzel had noticed the basket of overdone pretzels. Anger
colored his plump cheeks. “Maybe you forgot how to make pretzels after
all this time? Or maybe you think you can improve on the old monks’
way?” (The first pretzels were made by monks as a reward for children
who learned their prayers. The pretzels were soft and breadlike, and
they were twisted to represent arms folded in prayer.)
Hermann had not
meant to offend anyone. Completely miserable, he was certain that the
price of the wasted ingredients would be taken out of his meager salary.
He sputtered and stuttered and waved his hands about but could find
nothing to say.
He watched Mr.
Schnitzel turn a pretzel over and over with disdain, sniff it, and
finally take a tiny bite. The crispy morsel broke apart in his hand. He
chewed a piece, then another. “Hmmmmmm!” he said at last. “This is not
bad, Hermann. Do you think you could make just one batch like this
tomorrow? We will see how the customers like crunchy pretzels.”
Hermann nodded
his head in disbelief as he watched Mr. Schnitzel fill his pockets with
the toasty pretzels to take home to his wife and children.
As soon as the door closed, Hermann danced a little jig. His luck had turned! He had invented something!
Crispy pretzels
became a great favorite with everyone, and today there is a wide variety
of pretzel shapes and sizes and flavorings. The pretiola of the Italian monks has become a treasured snack the world over.