The sweetest

loaf of breadTravelling around the world through tales

Primary school of Liti, Hellas,2014

The sweetest

loaf of bread

The sweetest

loaf of bread is a classic Greek tale. The tale is

about a king who was sad and sick. His sickness was

a lack of appetite and an old man cured him. The

question is…how? Once

upon a time…

The sweetest loaf of bread

Once upon a time there was a rich nobleman who had whatever he asked

for , in his life.One day he started to ache all over his

body, he started losing weight and became skinny .

-Oh no I ache all over!!!Phew…phew!!!Cooks from the east and the west

cooked the most delicious food and pastries for him. But…

-No I don’t wont anything…go away!!! , he told everyone.

One day an old man who was passing outside the house was selling and yelling…

-I sell wild herbs for toothaches! I sell wild mushrooms for headaches! I sell a lot of

medicines; they do miracles.A maid told the king about the old man.

-Call him in. I want him to give me his opinion.The guards took the old man and brought him in

the nobleman's house.-How can I help you my lord ?

-I need your help. My body aches all over and I don’t know what to do.

-O.K. Can I ask you something?-Of course .

-Do you have any problems with your servants, my lord?

-No, I don’t care about anyone. -Do you work a lot?

-No, old man! Don’t you see me? I relax all day on my bed.

- Do you wish for something that you couldn’t have?

-That never happened to me, I have everything that

I’ve ever wished for.

The old man thought for a moment

and then, he advised the king to

order his cooks to make “the

sweetest loaf of bread”.

The cooks of the palace tried to find

the purest products to cook the

“the sweetest loaf of bread” . Pure

honey, fresh milk, caster sugar,

almonds and flour .

They made a lot of loaves of bread

which smelt really good, but the

king couldn’t put a bit in his mouth.

The king’s advisor sent the army

to find the old man and punish

him if he doesn’t find another

solution.

The old man came to the palace

again and said to the king:

-Let’s go to my shack and if I

don’t make the sweetest loaf of

bread in 3 days, you can punish

me.

The king took the decision to

follow the wise man to his

shack.

They had been walking for

hours until they arrived to the

shack. When they arrived, the

old man said to the king:

-Take my scythe and go to the

fields to reap the wheat,

because I’m too old to do it.

The king heard the old man

and under the hot sun reaped

the wheat all day. When he

finished, he went exhausted

to the shack and went to

sleep. Both of them hadn’t

talked about food.

The next day the king woke up

really cheerful and he had

really good mood. The old man

happily told him:

-Good job, yesterday you

worked a lot!

The king heard the old man

and until the night he had

finished. When he went to the

shack he felt hungry for the

fist time! But he was ashamed

to ask for food, so he went to

bed on an empty stomach,

really hungry.

The next morning the old man

found another job for the king.

Until noon the king was really

hungry. When the went to the

shack, he said to the old man:

-I’m hungry!

The old man said him to turn

on the oven and he started

kneading the bread.

3 times the king shouted “I’m

hungry”, but the old man

asked him to be patient.

After a few hours the king

smelt the delicious loaf of

bread and he started eating

it as it was still hot.

-Well done old man! This is

the sweetest loaf of bread

that I have ever eaten!

After that the old man

explained to the king that

the sweetest loaf of bread is

that we make ourselves,

after a hard day’s work;

that’s why we like it.

The other day the king

went back to the palace.

From that day on, he

cared about his servants

and helped all the people

of his kingdom, making

big projects.

Answer the questionsAnswering these questions will give you summarize the content of the

tale :

What problem has the hero got?

What solutions was he given initially ?

Who comes as an assistant and what advice does he give the king ?

Did the king follow the advice - trial and how?

Q. What was the result of the test for the hero to the original problem

?

2 One feature of popular narrative is that it takes place in front of an

audience which the folk narrator takes care to touch , teach and

entertain . Find in the tale signs to verify this observation .

3 Describe two human characters of the tale , the king and the elder .

What similarities and what differences they identified?

Staring

Billy Toumbelis as “The king”

Vaggelis Toumbelis as “The old man”

John Papageorgiou as “The king” no2

Chris Lazaridis as “The old man” no2

Actors

Stefanos Sloukas

Themis Thomaidis

Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos

Jim Thomoglou

Sotiris Tilis

Alexandros Soilemetzidis

Panagiota Gaitani

Mary Taki

Evdokia Raspaskou

Elina Louka

Technical lights

Eugene

PowerPoint

Presentation

Jim Follas

Backstage help

Anastasis Tsimpouktsoglou

John Stangos Thanasis Skaras

Anastasis SeretoulisCatherine Moukalari Eleftheria Avokatou

Marievi Voutsa

Translated originally by Ms Louvari Maria

Adapted by Jim Follas, student of the 6th grade

Music

Anastasia Rouvoli

DirectorMary Louvari, Sophia

Eleftheriadou