The Wrong Ingredient

It was the Dragon King's royal wedding and he was marrying a beautiful princess from far away. He was a proud young king who had to have the best! For his perfect bride, he must have the perfect everything including the most perfect wedding cake! Now there was only one special baker in the entire kingdom who could make this perfect wedding cake. A middle aged man sat happily in his kitchen icing his favorite macaroons. He smiled. Finally after all that work he sat back and admired his lovely desserts, what a work of art they were!

He clapped his hands together and thanked his father for all the amazing secrets and baking skills he had taught him, his father who was no longer of this world. He thought of the little black and withered recipe book sitting safely in his pocket. Generations of special recipes secretly passed down in this little black book and now it was his to keep safe and eventually pass down.

“Ah I should save a few of these for my Maria!”

He thought of his darling and her lovely freckled and rosy cheeks, her always smiling face. He placed a few macaroons into a little box for her. Time to dig in! He excitedly took the double chocolate macaroon and just as he was about to take a bite, there was a sharp knock at the door. He stopped with the macaroon oh so close to his mouth. Should he answer the door first? Nah he thought, just take a bite first, then get the door.

'Knock, Knock, Knock!'

He looked at his delicious chocolate macaroon and sadly put it down. He sighed and dragged his feet to the door. What a surprise! A royal soldier awaited him.

The soldier cleared his throat, “A-a-ahem, a-ahem.” cough, cough, “Ahem!”

The baker raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

“Are you said baker, Samuel Maple Brownsugar? Descendent of Mr. Maple Brownsugar the First, and the Second and so on? A-ahem, a-a-ahem,” cough, cough.

“Why yes I am he, how may I be of service?” Samuel Maple Brownsugar, the infamous baker, bowed over his belly that he was oh so proud of.

He filled that belly with the most delectable desserts, oh yes he did! The soldier revealed a scroll and unrolled it to read its contents.

“A-a-ahem!” cough, cough, “A-ahem! It has been requested by royal decree, that His Highness the Dragon King, King Percy Perfect Percillion of the Kingdom of Ecstalia, hereby orders said baker Samuel Maple Brownsugar, to make the special traditional wedding cake, as has been done so by the Maple Brownsugar family for generations.”

Samuel smiled broadly, what an honour! This would be his first wedding cake for the royals! His mind began to fly through all the lovely possibilities but it was the 'special cake'.

“A-a-ahem! You have two days.” the soldier rolled up the long paper in mere seconds.

Samuel's face turned ghostly white, “Two days?! I beg your pardon sir but that isn't nearly enough time!” he pleaded.

The royal soldier shook his head, “A-a-ahem,” cough, cough, “You have two days, the Dragon King is very demanding. My apologies Samuel, good day!” the soldier nodded, spun around and marched back toward the palace.

Samuel stood frozen in the doorway, watching the palace guard disappear into the distance. Two days he thought...two days. Well he supposed he had everything he needed, here in his little bakery. He might have to run to the market to buy some milk perhaps, that wasn't so bad. However, this was the 'special cake'. Now you see, the 'special cake' was a most luscious delectable design of many flavors and layers but it was one single ingredient that did it. Throughout this layered cake were these special strawberries. It was a secret strictly kept between the Maple Brownsugar family and the Royals.

They looked like normal strawberries but the seeds on these special fruits were dark purple. They prolonged life and assured good health and fortune to those who ate them. They definitely weren't the same as their cousin strawberry with the dark green seeds...those were dangerous. He checked his special cellar.

“Ah thank goodness, I have plenty of those strawberries! Good thing I stocked up on my last adventure out there.” Samuel thought about the far journey. He carefully removed the entire drawer as it was full and brought it out to the counter. “Well I better go buy that milk and tell Maria about the cake!” Samuel hurried out the door excitedly.

He left without locking the door, he would only be a few minutes anyway he thought. Suddenly a towering lanky cloaked villain appeared out of the shadows, invaded the shop and swapped the good strawberries for the bad ones. Thereafter he disappeared. Samuel just turned the corner and was heading back.

“Hurry, hurry, I must hurry!” but the baker smiled as he went.

He had stopped by to see his darling Maria quickly and deliver the good news. Delighted she sent him on his way with a sweet kiss.

It was finally his turn to make the 'special cake' and he would make it the grandest of them all! Samuel took out the little black book from his pocket and flipped throughout looking for the special recipe.

....

....?

Samuel frowned. He flipped through the old black book a few more times. No special wedding cake recipe? Then at last something kept brushing against his thumb at the back of the book. There was a folded up paper inside the back? He carefully and gently tugged out the old paper. It gave way and slipped through his fingers, falling to the floor. It had been folded over many times. Slowly he opened it up to reveal another smaller paper hidden inside and a delicate hand drawn picture of a glorious cake with many tiers and a recipe in fine print alongside it on the first paper.

“Ah so here you are!” Samuel laughed to himself. “But what is on this other paper?”

He carefully opened the next folded paper. A strange surprise awaited him this time. It was a note:

To the next Maple Brownsugar in line,

Alas I owe Jackson Maple Brownsugar

a great debt! He saved me darling lass

Rosie's life! It is with regret at this

time I am unable to repay him for his

kindness because me pot of gold has been

stolen! It could possibly take a

lifetime to retrieve it from me nemesis.

This note was only meant to appear if

I had stolen back me pot of gold victoriously.

If ye are by chance reading this note,

all ye have to do is say Brownsugar thrice

when yer ready and ye will arrive at me

humble abode, I will reward ye with gold

from me pot! Ah and bring this note here

with ye as proof.

Cheers! Begrundlerzin

Was today his lucky day? Samuel could not believe his eyes, Jackson was his father! With that gold he would definitely ask for Maria's hand in marriage and build a better bakery!

Samuel shook his head back and forth. “Get ahold of yourself man! Make the cake first and then go seek out this Be-Be-grunder—whatever his name is.”

He tirelessly worked on the royal cake and just as the recipe called for, there were sliced special strawberries all throughout the layers of this cake. (Rather the evil bad strawberries unbeknownst to our poor Samuel). The strawberries also decorated the top and sides of the cake which greatly towered over himself. Poor Samuel did not sleep one wink in two days and just as he placed the last strawberry on this masterpiece, there was a loud knock on the door.

'Knock, knock, knock!'

Samuel opened the door.

“A-a-ahem!” cough, cough, “A-ahem! Brownsugar have you completed the royal wedding cake as has been ordered by King Percy Perfect Percillion?”

A very tired Samuel reluctantly stood aside to show his completed work of art. A beautiful white towering cake with seven tiers, stood tall and majestic in the middle of the bakery. It was dusted in gold and decorated with elegant swirly pastel hues and beautiful little roses and of course, the 'special' strawberries placed neatly all around.

“Yes Sir, I have finished the royal wedding cake.” Samuel answered sleepily.

“Marvellous!” cough, cough, “Ahem! I will be taking this now then, I bid you good day!”

So the cake was taken away to the palace for the wedding festivities.

“It would have been nice to know how well they enjoyed my cake.” he sighed.

The hour was now quite late and Samuel passed out hard across his bed. It wasn't long however before sun beams gleamed into his eyes from his bedroom window, hadn't he just gone to bed? Or so he thought, the night had passed too quickly. Samuel rolled toward his bedside table and spied the little black book along with the note from that leprechaun. He sat up with renewed excitement.

“The gold!”

He was so excited that he didn't even bother to get out of his pajamas. He jumped out of bed and remembered the instructions.

With the note in hand he repeated three times, “Brownsugar! Brownsugar! Brownsugar!”

Suddenly he was whisked away to a little cabin far away in the mountains, appearing in the middle of a living room. Silverware dropped behind him. Samuel blinked a few times and refocused. He turned around to meet the sound. A plump little woman had dropped her silverware on her plate, staring at him with a surprised open mouth.

Then her face turned sour, “Begrundlerzin! I thought I told ye to have yer guests come through the front door!” she fumed and hobbled off leaving Samuel alone and quite confused.

“I have guests?!” a very excited little leprechaun hobbled into the room.

“Welcome!” Begrundlerzin shook Samuel's hand excitedly. “Who are ye? Ye must have gotten one of me notes?” he asked eagerly.

Samuel smiled back, “My name is Samuel. Samuel Maple Brownsugar.”

“Oh! Well this be exciting eh?! Now as I seem to recall one of yer forefathers did some good deed fer me, now what was it?” Begrundlerzin stroked his beard in thought.

Samuel spoke up, “I have this note sir?”

“Ah! May I see it?”

Samuel passed the note over to the leprechaun.

“Ah yes! Come! Follow me lad!”

Samuel was grinning from ear to ear as he followed the leprechaun into a cozy little room that held the famed pot of gold. Samuel stared open mouthed at the beautiful cauldron overflowing with gold and jewels.

Begrundlerzin grinned. “Ah young man, yer a lucky one ye are but this is well deserved. I wouldn't have me darlin' wife if it wasn't fer yer father.”

He reached into the gold and filled Samuel's arms.

“Wow! What will this be worth in dollars would you know?” Samuel almost drooled.

“Well I believe it to be about twenty thousand dollars in yer currency.” Begrundlerzin said. “But just to be sure, take it to the grand bank in town to be certain.” the leprechaun winked.

“Well lad, I best have ye off before me Rosie get any more upset. T'was a pleasure lad! Close yer eyes and I'll take ye home.”

“Thank you so much!” Samuel was most joyous.

When he opened his eyes again he was standing in his bedroom with arms full of gold.

He hurried off to the grand bank to make certain. Sure enough the gold amounted to twenty thousand dollars. He found Maria immediately then and proposed. What he didn't know was that a very angered Dragon King was headed his way with a goat next to him inside the carriage. His beloved princess had turned into a goat after eating the cake. A goat! How would Samuel fair next? Stay tuned.