"PAT-A-CAKE, pat-a-cake, baker's man!
So, I will master, as fast as I can:
Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with a T,
Put it in the oven for Tommy and me."
(Traditional Nursery Rhyme)
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There was once a man, named Bill, who worked at a bakery. Bill didn't do well under pressure, so the new job as a baker posed its fair share of challenges. Bill was not quick with his hands, so when the bakery was crowded with people lined up out the door wanting cakes, they would become furious! One day, the line at the bakery was much longer than normal, and customers were getting mad left and right. One day, a man named Tommy, and his son, were next in line for a cake and after waiting over 30 minutes for their cake, they began to yell and scream at Bill to make it faster. This was very stressful for Bill and he soon became very discouraged. After that day, Bill decided it was time to make a change... he was going to learn how to bake fast under pressure! Days and weeks went by and no progress was made by Bill, and he was soon to be fired if he didn't improve quickly. He was about to give up until one day he realized that he had a genuine love for baking cakes and that he wasn't going to let being under pressure take that away from him. In order for that to happen, Bill created a simple pattern to make every cake with the same details and preciseness. He would pat each cake, prick each cake, mark each cake with a "T", then put it in the oven, and serve it to be enjoyed by all! Once Bill got used to this pattern he created, he began to bake cakes faster and faster each time. By the next time Tommy and his son came into the bakery for a cake, Bill had mastered baking cakes in record time all while being under pressure. Once he saw Tommy and his son though, horrific memories of being embarrassed and discouraged came flooding back, but Bill shook those memories away, patted the cake, pricked the cake, marked it with a "T", put it in the oven, and then served it to Tommy and his son to enjoy! They were so please with how fast their service was and how delicious the cake was that they praised Bill, and came back every week since!
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Authors note: I created this story based on the nursery rhyme, "Pat-a-cake", from The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and released in 2008. This nursery rhyme does not have much of a meaning behind it, but rather it was created for pleasure. Traditionally, children clap their hands together when saying this rhyme. When writing my story, I wanted to add a meaning behind this rhyme. The meaning I chose to display with my story is that hard work pays off, and to never give up something you love when you are faced by a challenge.
What a cute story, Alyssa - this is great! The nursery rhyme prompt is something new, and it looks like it is the one people are choosing the most (so far) for the storytelling. And I'm not surprised: it gives you very specific details to work with in building a story... but the story is still all yours! And what is really cool is how the story then kind of hangs on to the rhyme, like a shadow or something... so now whenever I hear that rhyme (and yes, I am the kind of person who reads nursery rhyme books for fun!), I will think about your very happy story of Bill happily baking cakes, while doing it his own way! And this is a really fun rhyme to begin with because it is also a clapping game: did you play that game when you were little? I went to check at Wikipedia because I remember playing this game and sure enough, there it is!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat-a-cake,_pat-a-cake,_baker's_man
As fast as you can: that makes for a fun clapping game! :-)
Hey, Alyssa! Great story- it was simple yet creative, and very relatable in today's world. The world demands for things to be done faster and faster, so reading this story reminded me of the harsh reality that there is probably a "Bill" in this world feeling the same pressure. Also, I like how you incorporated the rhyme into the story- I felt tempted to sing the rhyme while reading and it helped add a lighter element to the tale.
ReplyDeleteThe word "baker" really stuck out to me - it's my mom's maiden name and it is also the name I hope to give to one of my son's someday! Another funny something - my uncle (my mom's brother) is named Bill. Quite unusual! However, onto the story. I'm glad you chose a nursery rhyme - they are always deeper than we thought as children. I like that you chose pat-a-cake. I wouldn't have ever thought of that.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, it was awesome how you were able to write over three hundred words form just reading four small lines. That really is skillful. Other than that I thought the story was amazing and encouraging to those who don’t perform well under pressure, especially because everything in the workforce today require speed and efficiency or someone is probably going to get fired.
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