New Year’s cake and the fake coin

"A New Year’s Cake like me deserves nothing less than a coin fit for Kings!", the cake exclaimed with arrogance. To make sure she wouldn't end up with any of the cheap coins, she quickly gave them away to children who knocked the door to sing Christmas carols. She, then, wore her scarf and walked the streets of Athens in search of expensive coins to her liking.

She found lots of coins on the counters of street vendors at the Flea Market of Monastiraki, some of which were copper, other silver and other golden. Yet the one that caught her attention was  a big one with a hole in the middle. "It's a coin made for Kings!", the street vendor told her, and sold it to her without giving her much time to think. The specific coin, however, was nothing more than an inexpensive piece of metal from old times, and our good New Year’s Cake gave half her fortune to get it without suspecting anything.

On the way back, however, she started wondering. She took the coin out of her pocket to check it in sunlight and accidentally dropped it down the drain. "My precious coin...", the cake cried over the sewer grate, until at some point the silverware that were on sell on the counters gathered around her to give her consolation. With much effort, they managed to persuade her that the coin she had bought was worthless and that she, anyway, deserved something better. So, she stopped crying.

A golden pound then caught her attention. "I'll give all my money to buy it", the New Year’s cake told the street vendor and gave him the rest of her fortune. To spare herself from a second embarrassment, she gave the coin a good look at sunlight. So amazed was she by its sparkle that she felt she had finally found what she was looking for. She bought it, and then went straight back home, placing herself at the top of the baking - pan so the housewife would take quick notice of her.

The housewife was amazed by the mysterious coin that was placed next to the New Year’s cake. "A... counterfeit ‘golden’ pound!", the housewife exclaimed as she weighted it with her hand, and the Christmas ornaments burst into laughter to hear it.  The cake, on the other hand, felt sad for spending all her fortune on not just one, but rather two useless coins, and burst into tears.

"It will be bad luck to use a counterfeit coin", the housewife told the New Year’s cake. She then went to the chest inside which she had placed her precious dowry, and took out an authentic golden coin that she had been keeping safe for years, which she placed inside the cake.

So, our good New Year’s cake took her lesson, to be very cautious of how she spends her money so as not to be fooled  again.