A BREADFRUIT that once lived in a grocery store was very greedy and couldn’t stop eating the various delicacies from the nearby bakery. “I’m really jealous of the baker, as he can eat whatever he wants, anytime he wants to”, he used to say to the other fruit and vegetables and every time they sent him over to buy bread, he would come back carrying bags filled with sesame bagels, raisin breads, cookies, tsoureki and baguettes with cheese and salami.

“Since you like bread so much, why don’t you try baking something yourself?”, the greedy parsnip who loved sweets told him, and the other fruit and vegetables agreed. The breadfruit was excited to hear their idea, thinking of it as an opportunity. “If you buy me the necessary equipment, I’ll also bake for you”, he suggested.

“It’s a deal!”, they told him and bought everything he needed: from flour and yeast, to sieves, rolling pins and baking molds. They were even impressed to see the breadfruit wear an apron and lock himself in the kitchen. When it was time for him to knead dough, however, he felt rather weary and started sweating all over, as kneading is no easy work. After a while he thought of giving up.

“Maybe if I only made enough bread only for myself…”, he thought to himself and then kneaded only one dough, just for one loaf of bread that he would enjoy alone. He then put the mold in the oven and pretended to sieve, taking little notice of the other fruit and vegetables who were staring through the door’s keyhole. So easier was sieving in contrast to kneading, that in the end he forgot about the loaf he had placed in the oven.

“I’ve burned it!”, the breadfruit exclaimed as he took the mold out. “Well, if really you kneaded bread instead of pretending, we would have what to eat now”, the other fruit and vegetables told him as they entered the kitchen, then burst into laughter with his misfortune. The breadfruit went red with shame as he realized what had happened and apologized to them.

To make up to them, he visited the bakery for one last time and bought the loafs of bread he had promised to the other fruit and vegetables with his own money.

And so, our good breadfruit got his first lesson as a baker. Many years later, and after getting used to all the discipline and hard work required to make his own bread, he eventually opened his own bakery from which he made a fortune.

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