Simon’s birthday was coming on Sunday. He wanted to call some of his friends and have a party. But he wanted a special cake. “What kind of a special cake, Simon?” asked his mother.
“Just special. Something on it that no one else has!” explained Simon.
Now Simon’s mother was in a fix. There were cakes with roses, trains, teddy bears, houses, gardens, aeroplanes. How could she find something which no one else had? Simon went with his mother to the market to buy all that would be needed for the birthday party: balloons, streamers, party hats, gifts, games, some chips and juice, and a few other things. When she went into the bakery, she looked around for suitable decorations for the cake.
Then her eyes fell on a strange-looking chocolate creature that stood on one of the shelves. It was neither an elephant, nor a bear, nor a fish nor a rooster! “What is this peculiar creature?” she wondered in surprise.
When she looked at the shopkeeper, he had a wide grin on his face.
“Madam, I am sure you are trying to guess what this animal is,” he said.
“Yes,” she said, “It seems like a thoroughly confused creature that has not decided what it wants to be!”
The shopkeeper laughed. “Madam, I’ll tell you what happened. That shelf is my chocolate shelf. There was a rooster on the top shelf. One day, it was very hot, so the rooster melted. He became a big dollop of chocolate but his red crown fell off onto a chocolate elephant that stood on the shelf below. That fellow was also melting. So when the crown fell, it got stuck on his head.
“The rest of his body melted faster and dripped on the pineapple bear below. The bear was covered in chocolate and suddenly the head of the elephant landed on it, so it had an elephant’s head and a rooster’s crown. But that was not the end. The elephant’s chocolate was like a river flowing down and it took the teddy bear with it. He landed on the strawberry fish on the bottom shelf and got a fish’s tail. That’s how we have ended up with this peculiar creature!”
Simon’s mother burst out laughing. “Sir,” she said, “I’ve been looking for something new for Simon’s birthday cake. Could you give me this creature, please?”
“Oh, yes, madam. I will pack it immediately.”
“How much should I pay you for this?” she asked.
“Nothing,” smiled the shopkeeper, “This is my birthday-gift to Simon!”
