The Silly Baker.
There was once a baker who baked the best bread for miles around. His shop was always full and his wife fat and happy serving content customers. One day a man said to her, she would sell more bread if she had more choice of loaves.
“Why don’t you get your husband to make a loaf with sugar in it? Then people will buy your ordinary bread, and the sweet loaf as well, and you will sell twice as much bread.”
He said that in a very clear voice as he was a very clever man.
The wife thought this was a wonderful idea and ordered her husband to try to make sugar bread.
Being a very, very good baker his first attempt was excellent. They tried the bread out at tea time, with butter on each slice, and agreed they would start selling the new bread the next day.
The baker got up extra early to start baking the new loaf and at eight o’clock when the shop opened there was twice as much bread lined up for the customers to buy.
But soon there was trouble.
“Oh my Goodness, there’s always trouble isn’t there?”
People were bringing back the bread they had bought.
Those that wanted ordinary bread had got sweet bread and those that wanted sweet bread had got ordinary bread. It took the fat wife, who was now not very happy, all day to sort out the problem.
“We can’t go like this,” said the fat wife, “otherwise I shall not be fat anymore, but worn down thin with worry.”
Then she had a brilliant idea.
“We must mark the loaves.” She said happily. “Then we will know which the sugar loaf is and which is not.”
The next day the baker began baking even extra early as he had to put marks on the loves. When the shop opened the loaves, beautifully marked, were ready for the customers to buy.
But soon there was trouble; again people were bringing back the bread they had bought.
“I wanted a sugar loaf and you gave me an ordinary loaf,” moaned a miserable old lady.
The fat wife said she was so sorry and reach another one from the shelf, but, when she looked at it, it had a large letter H stamped on the top, but so had the one the miserable old lady had given her back.
“Husband!” The fat wife yelled.
The husband who was quietly watching television in the flat above the shop groaned. When his wife shouted like that, it always meant bother.
On the counter were the two loaves both with the letter H stamped on them.
“How can I tell which is the sugar loaf and which is the ordinary loaf?” His fat wife demanded.
The baker sighed.
“It is easy,” he held up one loaf. “This has the letter H to say this loaf, has sugar.” He picked up the other loaf. “And this one has the letter H on it to say it hasn’t!”
The wife and the miserable old lady looked at each other - they had never heard anything so stupid in their life. Suddenly they each picked up a loaf, raised it above their heads and smacked the baker on the top of his head.
“And these loaves have the letter H on them,” they yelled. “To say they hurt!”
So the stupid baker changed all the H’s to S’s for Sugar. But he only put the S on the sugarloaf and everyone was happy and the stupid baker did not feel quite so stupid, even though his head was still very sore!