The melomakarono and the honey-covered spaghetti

A MELOMAKARONO once loved honey so much that he couldn't stop devouring it. "I like the sweetness of it, but I guess that's why they call me melomakarono, don't they?", he used to tell the almond biscuit sweets that were sitting on the plate next to his own.

One fine day, however, he ran out of honey. As not a single drop of it was to be found on his plate, the melomakarono thought of jumping to the next plate on the table, which was filled with qurabiya sweets and sugar. Yet, the moment he stepped his foot on their plate, they stopped him: "As you said, it's honey that you like, not sugar, and that's why they call you melomakarono".

The moment they turned their eyes away, he grasped on the opportunity to try again. As soon as he tasted the sugar from the plate, however, he found the comparison with honey rather unfair. Sugar was not to his liking, it seemed. Disappointed, he thought of going to the kitchen to reach out for the honey pot. Entering the room, he came across a big saucepan, inside which a heap of spaghetti was to be found, boiling. As he had never seen spaghetti before in his life, the melomakarono got curious. "Very tasty!", he exclaimed, "if only they had the sweetness of honey, I would devour them all".

He, then, stepped out of the saucepan and opened the cupboard where he found the honey pot. No sooner had he removed the lid, than he found himself taking deep dives inside it. Then, he thought he could enjoy the best of both worlds: the sweetness of honey with the fine taste of spaghetti. So, he dragged the honey pot to the saucepan and emptied it on top of the boiling spaghetti. "What a perfect combination!", thought the melomakarono.

He, then, courageously dived inside the boiling mixture, which was filled with honey. Soon the taste of his creation filled him with disgust, however, as the honey had dissolved in the boiling water and the spaghetti was soaking in it. The melomakarono found himself drowning inside the swirling mixture and wishing for a miracle to save him. "Please help me! I'm drowning!", he shouted in vain as there was no one nearby to hear his plea.

"How did this melomakarono end up here?", exclaimed the housewife only a few moments later as she took notice of what  had happened. "And my spaghetti is filled with honey... how could we only possibly eat something like this?", she wondered and then reached out to save the melomakarono. After removing him from the saucepan, she let him dry and then showered him with fresh honey again.

"Well, I'd best not give it a try...", she said with disgust, then threw the mixture to the trash can. As for our good melomakarono? After realizing that not all tasty things can be mixed, he returned to his plate where he told the other melomakarono sweets his story, at the same time dripping with fresh, delicious honey.