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A Tale of A Good Broom Dejan Aleksić Illustrated by Boris Kuzmanović
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In
front of the Bakery
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Martha Disappears 17 A Broom has a 29 New Life
In Front of the Bakery Every morning there were lots of people in front of old Dick’s bakery. The best bread in the whole neighbourhood was made and sold there. As soon as dawn mingled with the early smells of fresh pastry, neighbours were coming to the bakery, and there were also some who rushed from remote parts of the town. It was a matter of fact that once you tried old Dick’s bread you stopped going to any other bakery. When the very last loaf ended up in the bag of a satisfied customer, the old baker would go out in front of the bakery to sweep.
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You wouldn’t believe your own eyes if you saw how much breadcrumbs mounted in front of the bakery every morning! And Dick always wanted his bakery to be neat and tidy both from the inside and the outside. He would take his broom and sang a song quietly while he swept with it. The broom didn’t sing but it certainly enjoyed the work. It had been its owner’s faithful servant for years. It even had a name, which wasn’t common in brooms. Her name was Martha. After he finished the work, the old baker would lean his hard-working broom Martha against the wall – always the same place. Every single thing had its place in Dick’s bakery. That was when a familiar married couple of swallows would fly from the eaves of a house across the street on to the broom’s end. She-swallow and he-swallow had arrived
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from the faraway south just a couple of days ago and the old friendship had to be renewed. And it was like that every spring. Between the broom’s bristles one could always find an abundance of bread and pastry leftover crumbs. This was such a feast for the swallows. While the hungry birds pecked at crumbs and tiny pieces of bread crusts from the broom, she was happy to listen to their stories about the faraway south. The
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couple of swallows told her once that they had made friends with many birds in the faraway south regions. Their best friends were the members of a flamingo family. “Flamingos?” broom Martha was curious. “What are flamingos?” “They are wonderful birds!” exclaimed the she-swallow. “They have long slim legs and wonderful pink feathers,” added the he-swallow.
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While the two of them were incessantly twittering about their adventures, Martha was dreaming about the faraway new world they told her about. She was a little sad that she never got any farther than Dick’s bakery. Martha couldn’t be happier that she such a good feast for the beloved swallows. Still one had to admit that wasn’t very popular in the brooms’ world. Brooms
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