Counting out 12 St. Nicholas cookies, Baas wrapped them in brown paper, tied them with string, and handed them to her.
She unwrapped the package to inspect the cookies and screamed: “These are not real St. Nicholas cookies. These are not nearly as well decorated as in the past. You have cut back in the best ingredients. You stingy old man, you are cheating me!”
“Vel, den,” said the baker, “you may go to the duyvel.”
The old lady pointed her long and crooked finger at Baas and said, “You are a cheap and stingy man and you can keep your St. Nicholas cookies!”
The old lady threw down the St. Nicholas cookies and stomped out of the store. At the door she hesitated and turned and said; “I have been generous in letting you use me for your benefit, but that will not continue! What you have gained from me will be taken away until you deserve it!” This was a complete mystery to Baas since he had never seen the woman before in his life and hoped to never see her again.
From this time on, the baker and his wife were made miserable by unseen hands. His sewant disappeared during the night. Cookies and cakes disappeared; bread either rose out of site or sank into the earth. Their famous huge brick oven cracked and crumbled, the falling bricks landing on Baas. Worst of all, his St. Nicholas cookies turned to stone, they could not be eaten without breaking a tooth. No one wanted them; even the Indians wouldn’t buy them. The Dutch of Beverwyck started a new tradition of making fruit cakes to replace St. Nicholas cookies.
【Baker's dozen?】相关文章:
最新
2020-09-15
2020-08-28
2020-08-21
2020-08-19
2020-08-14
2020-08-12