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The Journeycake Who Ran Away
Traditional Tale Retold by Dr. Mike Lockett, The Normal Storyteller

Not too long after Daniel Boone discovered the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains, settlers began to get the urge to move westward into what was later named Kentucky, Tennessee and other lands in the west.

The favorite food of nearly every family was journeycakes.  These were made by mixing flour, eggs and milk - along with a pinch of salt.  They looked just like the pancakes that we eat today.  However, they weren't eaten with syrrup.  No sir, they were covered with molasses and eaten with a smile.  Journeycakes cooked on an iron skillet over the coals of the fire left over from the night before warmed many stomaches at breakfast time during the journey westward.

One day, a mother made a very large journeycake over the campfire for her four hungry children.  She made it with just the right amount of sifted flour from the flour barrel.  She added just the right amount of sweet milk that came from the cow that was tied to the back of the wagon.  She mixed it with an egg from the hen the family kept in a cage attached to the side of the wagon and added a pinch of salt from the salt box.  For this special journeycake, she added a pinch of baking soda to make the mixture rise up thicker than usual when the pan was set on top of the heat.

While the batter cooked on one side, the mother added two wild blueberries she had picked to make eyes to the wet side of the batter.  She dropped a blueberry in the middle of the batter and pressed it down with the end of a spoon to make a nose.  Then, she made a curved line of blueberries right next to one another to make a smile.  Then, she gently scooped her spatula beneath the cooked side and flipped the journeycake over to lightly brown the other side.

That journeycake smelled so good and looked so delicious that the four children started arguing about who was going to get the first bite.  As the mother waited to scoop up the warm and steaming journeycake and plop it onto a plate, the face made by the blueberries began to scrunch up and look funny at the children.  The journeycake had been listening to the children and didn't want to be eaten.  As soon as it was brown on both sides, it hopped off the flat pan and started to roll away.

"Stop!" shouted the mother and her children.  "We want to eat you," they cried!  The mother and children ran after it, but the journeycake rolled away even faster.

The journeycake rolled by a hungry farmer.  "Stop!" shouted the farmer.  "I want to eat you."

"No, no!" shouted the journeycake.  "I ran away from the mother and four hungry children, and I can run away from you, I can!"  Then, down the road it rolled, followed by the mother and her four hungry children and by the humgry farmer.  On it rolled until it met a big brown hen.

"Stop!" shouted the big brown hen.  "I want to eat you!"

"No, no!" shouted the journeycake.  "I ran away from the mother and her four hungry children,  ran away from the hungry farmer, ran away from the big brown hen, and I can run away from you, I can!"  Then, down the road it rolled until it came to a large spotted cow.

"Stop!" shouted the large spotted cow.  "I want to eat you!"

"No, no!" shouted the journeycake.  " I ran away from the woman and her four hungry children, ran away from the hungry farmer, ran away from the big brown hen, ran away from the large spotted cow, and I can run away from you, I can!"  Then, down the road it rolled until it came to a small yellow duck.

"Stop!" shouted the small yellow duck!"  "I want to eat you!"

"No, no!" shouted the journeycake.  "I ran away from the woman and her four hungry children, ran away from the hungry farmer, ran away from the big brown hen, ran away from the large spotted cow, ran away from the small yellow duck, and I can run away from you, I can!"  Then, down the road it rolled until it came to a big honking goose.

"Stop!" shouted the big honking goose.  "I want to eat you."

"No, no!" shouted the journeycake.  "I ran away from the woman and her four hungry children, ran away from the hungry farmer, ran away from the big brown hen, ran away from the large spotted cow, ran away from the small yellow duck, and I can run away from you, I can!"

The journeycake rolled on unti it came to a big wide river.  There, it met a pig.  The journeycake started to roll saying. "I ran away from the woman and her four hungry children, ran away from the hungry farmer, ran away from the big brown hen, ran away from the large spotted cow, ran away from the small yellow duck, ran away from the big honking goose, and I can run away from you, I can!"

But the pig was so friendly.  "Climb onto my snout," said the pig, "and I'll carry you across the river."

The journeycake was worried about everyone chasing him and quickly agreed to climb onto the nose of the pig.  The pig swam out into the water until it was too far out for the journeycake to jump off.  Then, the pig went, "Oink!"  It tossed back its head and swallowed the journeycake with one gulp.  And that's the end of that!