1.6 How Daddy threw his bread on the floor
A bedtime story from 'When Daddy was a little boy' by Alexander Raskin
A story from a dad’s childhood, narrated to his daughter, written in 1961. Read the introduction below.
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HOW DADDY THREW HIS BREAD ON THE FLOOR
When Daddy was little he liked everything that was tasty. He liked salami. He liked cheese. He liked meatballs. But he didn't like bread, because he was forever being told: "Don't forget to eat your bread!"
But bread wasn't tasty. It was no fun eating bread. That's what silly little Daddy thought. And he hardly ever ate his bread at dinner or at breakfast. Or even at supper. He would roll his bread into tiny little balls. He would leave the crusts. He would hide his slice under the tablecloth. He would say that he had had his bread already. But that was not true. He decided that when he grew up he would never eat bread. And he would never make his children eat bread, either.
"How wonderful it'll be when I don't have to eat bread!" silly little Daddy thought. "I'll say: 'What do we have for breakfast today? Cheese? We'll have it without any bread.'"
And no bread with the salami either! How tasty dinner will be without bread! No bread with our soup or our meat. What a life that will be! No bread for supper, either. How nice it will be to go to bed and know that you won't have to have any bread the next day! That's what little Daddy thought and he couldn't wait till he was grown up.
Grandpa and Grandma and many other people told him that he was wrong. But he wouldn't listen. They said bread was very good for him. They said that only a bad and silly boy would not eat his bread. They said that if a person would not eat the good brown bread he would get sick. They said he would be punished for not eating his bread. But still, he did not like it.
Once a terrible thing happened. Little Daddy had an old, old nanny. She loved Daddy very much, but would get very angry when he fussed at the table. One day Grandma and Grandpa were out. Little Daddy was having his supper alone. As usual, he didn't want his bread.
Nanny said: "Eat your bread, or I won't give you anything else!"
"No I won't!" little Daddy said.
And he threw his bread on the floor. Then Nanny became so angry she couldn't say a word. It was worse than if she had scolded. She kept looking at him in silence.
Finally, she said: "You think you just threw a piece of bread on the floor? Well, you're mistaken. I'll tell you what it was. When I was little I had to tend a flock of geese for a whole day just to get a little piece of bread. One winter we had no grain left at all, and my brother, who was no older than you are now, died of hunger. If someone had given him a piece of bread he would not have died. They teach you how to read and write, but they don't teach you where bread comes from. People work hard to grow grain and make bread, and then you throw it on the floor. Shame on you! I don't even want to look at you!"
Little Daddy went to bed. But he slept very poorly. He had terrible nightmares. When little Daddy woke up the next morning he was told that he was being punished and would not get any bread the whole day. Daddy was often deprived of his dessert. Sometimes he even had to go to bed without supper. But this was the first time in his life he was not allowed to have bread. It was all Nanny's idea.
And a very good idea it was. Daddy had a cheese sandwich without bread for breakfast. It was very tasty and only took a minute to eat. But when he had had his breakfast he was still hungry, for he had had no bread. Daddy could hardly wait till dinner-time. But a meatball without bread was not very filling. He was hungry for bread all day long. He had scrambled eggs for supper. It tasted awful without bread.
Everyone laughed at Daddy. They said he would not have any more bread for a whole year. But they gave him a slice of bread the next morning. It was very tasty. No one said a word, but everyone watched Daddy eat it. Little Daddy felt very much ashamed. From then on he always ate his bread. And he never threw it on the floor again.
THE END
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