The Little Red Swan...A Twisted Fairytale

Once upon a time there was a little red swan. She always had a desire to make her own bread. One year for Christmas, her parents and in-laws went in together to get the little red swan and her family a wheat grinder. Very excited about her new treasure, the little red swan wanted to make some bread right away. "But first I must read the directions." she thought to herself. She turned to her signets (baby swans) and asked, "Who will help me out by taking a nap, so that I may read they directions to our wheat grinder to make us some bread?"

Well the first little signet thought he was too big for taking naps. He would much rather spend the afternoon interrupting his mother with a million questions than take a nap. So that's what he did.

The second signet usually took really good naps. But today he had a nasty runny nose, and felt like whining and asking his mother to hold him, instead of napping. So that's what he did.

The third signet wasn't on a normal schedule anyway, so today she decided to jump in her jumpy chair rather than napping.

Well the little red swan could see that this project was going to be a lot tougher than she imagined, without getting any help. But she so much wanted to make bread, that she sat down in the middle of all the chaos and read the directions to her new wheat grinder.

After reading the directions the little red swan realized that she would need to go and get the wheat kernels out of the back closet so she could grind them into flour. So again she asked her signets, "Who will sit here nicely in the kitchen while I go in the back and get the wheat kernels?"

The first signet decided that he was too big to sit nicely. He waited until the little red swan was out of the room, and then he started pressing the toaster button up and down to make the toaster hot.

The second signet couldn't bare to be parted from his mother, so he followed her to the back room and pulled cans and boxes off the shelves while his mother was trying to get the wheat kernels out.

The third signet was cranky because she hadn't taken a nap yet, so she cried and screamed for the duration.

Once again without any help the little red swan when and fetched the wheat kernels to be ground in the wheat grinder. Then she unplugged the toaster before it caught fire, picked up all the cans and boxes and put them back on the shelves and feed her crying little baby and put her to sleep. Then she managed to grind her wheat into flour. Her wheat grinder worked beautifully!!

All that was left was to make the bread. "Now," said the little red swan, "who will please take a nap so that I may make some bread for our dinner?"

The third little signet was already asleep, and decided to remain so.

The second little signet gave a sleepy little yawn, and said, "Bed!" So the little red swan took him to bed.

The first signet, still thinking himself much too old for nap time, decided that he would compromise and play nicely at the kitchen table while his mom made her flour into bread.

Gratefully, the little red swan quickly made her flour into bread. And pretty soon there was a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen.

"I want some bread!" said the first little signet.

"Want bread!" said the second little signet.

"Ah-goo." said the third little signet.

But because they hadn't been much help all day, the little red swan made them wait until Daddy Swan came home from work. When Daddy Swan stepped through the door, he said, "Wow it smells fantastic in here!" And the whole Swan family sat down to dinner and ate the delicious whole wheat bread.

The End

*The author may or may not have taken some artistic liberties in the retelling of this story.