The Little Round Bun

Once upon a time, an old man and an old woman lived in a cottage. One day the old man said, "If only we had a little treat to eat with tea." The old woman replied, "We have no flour… but perhaps I can scrape together enough." She scraped the flour-box and swept the pantry, and managed to collect a handful of dough. She mixed it with cream and fried a small bun – a Kolobok (little round bread) – until it was golden. She set the kolobok on the windowsill to cool.

But the kolobok – being a magical little bun – suddenly opened its eyes. It looked around, then jumped down! It rolled off the sill, out the door, and down the garden path. By the time the old woman noticed, her freshly made bun was escaping. "Kolobok, stop!" she cried, but the kolobok rolled away, singing:

"I was scraped from the box and swept from the floor, Baked in the oven and cooled by the door; I've escaped Grandmother and Grandfather too, And I'll escape, Hare, from you!"

Soon Kolobok rolled right into a Hare. "Kolobok, I'll eat you!" said the hare. But Kolobok sang its jaunty song: "I'm a little round bun, scraped from the box, swept from the floor, grandma baked me and grandpa cooled me… I ran away from them, and I can run away from you, Bunny!" Before the hare could snatch him, Kolobok rolled off quick as a whisk.

Further along, Kolobok encountered a Wolf. "Little bun, I'll eat you!" growled the wolf. But Kolobok sang:

"I ran away from Grandpa, I ran away from Gran, I ran from the Hare and I'll run from the Wolf if I can! I'm Kolobok, look at me go – You won't catch me, no, no!"

✦An illustration from the tale of The Little Round Bun✦

And before the wolf could lunge, Kolobok was already a good distance away.

Down the road Kolobok rolled, feeling very proud of himself. Next he came upon a Bear. "Kolobok? I'm going to eat you in one gulp!" roared the bear. But Kolobok was not afraid. He sang his cheerful verse about escaping everyone, adding for the bear: "I ran from the Wolf and I'll run away from you, big clumsy Bear!" The bear swiped at him, but Kolobok deftly rolled between the bear's legs and off into the forest.

Finally, Kolobok rolled up to a Fox sitting by the road. The fox eyed the little bun slyly. "Hello, Kolobok, what a lovely song you sing! But I'm a bit hard of hearing. Could you sing it again, closer?" The Kolobok, flattered that the fox found his song pretty, rolled onto the fox's nose and began to sing: "I'm Kolobok, kolobok, and I ran away from–" Suddenly, snap! – the fox gobbled up Kolobok in one bite.

And so the vain little bun's journey ended. The fox licked her chops and trotted home. Meanwhile, the old man and old woman sighed over their lost kolobok and settled for simple tea. The moral? Children, beware of strangers who flatter you – and perhaps don't run away from the loving home where you're meant to be eaten (especially if you are a bun)!