The Cookie Swan
The Cookie Swan
'Will there be jam and cakes for tea?' Sallie asked her mother.
'You can have some strawberry jam, and I will make you a cookies swan,' said her mother. Sallie was pleased. Her mother could make lovely cookie swans, white, with a black currant eye each side. They swam upright on a cake-plate and looked very grand indeed.
The cookie swan that day was the nicest and best you ever saw. It was so good that when Mother put it upright on a blue dish, the teapot and the jug both cried out in admiration.
'You are just like a real swan!' said the teapot, in a steamy voice.
'You are beautiful,' said the milk jug, in a creamy voice.
'I am a swan,' said the cookies swan, and he actually spread out his wings.
'You're not a real swan,' said the teapot. 'You are only a cookie swan.'
'There's no difference,' said the foolish swan. 'A swan is a swan no matter what it is made of.'
'Ah, but there is a difference,' said the milk jug, in its rich voice. 'A real swan only lasts a day.'
'How do you mean, only lasts a day?' asked the cookie swan in surprise.
'Well, you are made to be eaten,' said the teapot and milk jug together. 'When Sallie comes in with her friend they will eat you.'
The cookie swan opened his currant eyes wide with fear when he heard this. He had thought himself very grand indeed, and it was dreadful to be told that he was only made to be eaten.
At that moment Sallie and her little friend came running in. Sallie looked at the tea-table and when she saw the big cookie swan swim- ming proudly on its blue dish she gave a squeal of delight.
'Look!' she said. 'Mother has made us a beautiful cookie swan. You shall eat the head and tail, Lizzie, and I will eat the middle.'
But this was more than the cookie swan could bear. He suddenly flapped his wings and flew straight off the table. When he got to the floor he found his legs and tore off as fast as he could. Sallie shouted when she saw him go.
'Cookie swan, cookie swan, come back and be eaten!'
But the cookie swan only went all the faster, and although Sallie ran after him at top speed he was soon out of sight. He used his wings as well as his legs, and as he went he muttered: 'I won't be gobbled up, I won't, I won't!'
He ran out into the yard where there were many brown and white hens pecking at the ground. They the big cock rushed after him, seeing he was a cookie.
'Cookie swan, cookie swan, come back and be eaten!' he crowed.
But the swan only went all the faster, and no matter how fast the cook ran, he couldn't catch the swan. 'I won't be gobbled up, I won't, I won't!' cried the swan as he went down the yard.
He slipped under a gate and came to the pig-sty. The pig was there, rooting in his straw.
When he saw the cookie he raised up his snout and sniffed. It smelt good. The pig trotted up to the cookie, who was standing panting for breath by the gate.
The swan saw the pig just in time, and opening his wings, he flew up to the third bar of the gate just out of the pig's reach.
'Cookie swan, cookie swan, come back and be eaten!' grunted the pig.
But the swan wouldn't. He flew up into the air and flapped his way into a dark stable, crying, 'I won't be gobbled up, I won't, I won't!' Inside was a horse, chewing hay from a manger. The swan settled beside him trembling. The horse stopped his chewing and looking in surprise at the swan. A smell of cookie reached his big brow nose and he put back his upper lip to snatch at the swan. But the swan flew down to the ground and ran between his big shaggy hoofs to the door.
'Cookie swan, cookie swan, come back and be eaten!' neighed the horse, disappointed. He tried to go after the swan, but the lower part of the stable door was shut and the lower part of the stable door was shut and he could not go out. He stood looking over the top at the cookies swan who was flapped about outside.
'I won't be gobbled up, I won't, I won't!, screeched the cookie swan, as he flapped his cookie wings.
The swan didn't know where to go. Every-where he went there seemed to be creatures that wanted to eat him. It was dreadful.
Then, away in the distance he saw the duck pond. There were white ducks on it, swimming and diving. It all looked very peaceful and pretty.
'That's the place for me,' said the cookie swan to himself. 'I'll go to the pond and swim about with the ducks. That is what a real swan does, and I will be a real swan. I will not be a cookie swan, made to be eaten!'
So off he went, half running, half flying to the duck pond. He flopped into the water and tried to swim, but cookie swans are not really meant to swim, and he found himself gradually falling over on one side. Splash! He could not raise himself upright no matter how he tried.
'Help, help!' he cried, as he struggled. A big duck came swimming up at once.
'What's the matter?' she asked.
'I'm a swan. And I've come to swim here,' said the cookie swan. 'But I've fallen on my side, and something horrid is happening to me.'
So there was. He was slowly falling t bits in the water. Poor cookie swan!
'If you like, I'll put my beak into the water and you can climb on to it,' said the duck.
Oh, thank you,' cried the swan. So the duck put her beak into the water and the poor cookie swan scrambled up on it. Then the duck lifted up her beak and began to swim to shore with the swan balanced carefully across it.
But the order ducks saw that this duck was carrying something and they swam after her, quacking loudly. They tried to snap the cookie swan away, and the duck, opening her mouth to quack angrily, found the cookie swan falling down her throat. Oh, what a delicious mouth-ful! The duck swallowed joyfully, and the cookie swan disappeared.
But as he went, he cried: 'I won't be gobbled up, I won't, I won't!'
And, you know, he never knew he was, so he was quite happy to the very last moment!
