Week 12 Story: The Cookie Jar

The Cookie Jar

There it was. The great golden egg. The container of dreams. The genie's bottle.

The cookie jar.

Cookie Jar Clip Art from Pixy

Mom had put it up on top of the fridge last week after she caught me with my "grubby little hands" inside, fishing around for the holy food. Well, it slowed me down. It wouldn''t stop me.

It's simple really. I'm a child. That jar has cookies. Children eat cookies. I was going up there to get that jar.

I went into the garage to grab the ladder. It wasn't there. I looked outside for it. There it was leaning up against the wall, wet with the day's earlier rain. No climbing that.

So, I went to get a towel, to dry off the ladder, to climb to the cookie jar. For some reason the towel cabinet was locked.

I went to dad for the key to unlock the cabinet, to get the towel, to dry the ladder, to climb to the cookie jar.

Dad said he'd only give me the key if I brought him a cup of tea.

So, I went to make a cup of tea for dad, to get the key, to unlock the cabinet, to get the towel, to dry the ladder, to climb to the cookie jar.

Naturally, I needed to fill the kettle with water to make the tea. I went to the sink but the faucet was broken. I looked under the sink. The pipe was loose and leaking.

So, I went to get a wrench from the toolbox in the garage, to fix the sink, to fill the kettle with water, to make the tea for dad, to get the key, to unlock the cabinet, to get the towel, to dry the ladder, to climb to the cookie jar.

After a moment, I found the wrench.

I fixed the sink, filled the kettle with water, made tea for dad, got the key, unlocked the cabinet, got the towel, dried the ladder, and used it to climb to the cookie jar.

What do I find when I finally get up there?

IT'S EMPTY!

Author's Notes

    In the original story, there are two characters picking berries. One of them keeps eating the other's berries as he picks them. So the victim of this horrible crime decides to hang the perpetrator. I decided to simplify this a bit into a kid getting a cookie jar. The man goes out to get a rod to make his device for hanging but the rod tells him he needs an axe to chop him down. The axe says he needs a whetstone to sharpen him. So on and so on. Eventually, the man gets everything done and when he gets back the other guy has burst from eating too many berries. I changed all of the things that the guy has to find and do to more modern household things. I changed the ending to an empty cookie jar. I thought this still had that same disappointment punchline style.

Bibliography. Munachar and Manachar from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892)