The Little Boy's Pastry Dream

Little Ali used to pass in front of the pastry shop on winter evenings. What wasn't there behind the glass: strawberry cakes, cream cookies, chocolate eclairs, birds made of sugar. Since Ali had no money, he had never gone inside. He just pressed his nose to the glass and looked.

The owner of the shop, Master Nuri, saw this. But he said nothing.

One night it was snowing. Ali was at the window again. Master Nuri opened the door: "Come inside, you're cold." Ali went in timidly. The master gave him a hot milk and said: "Let me tell you a secret. There is a way to eat these cakes: in your dreams. A cake eaten in a dream is free, and it doesn't give you a stomach ache."

"How?" said Ali.

"Before you go to bed, you decide which cake you want. You close your eyes. And you think about it: its color, its smell, its taste. When you fall asleep, it comes into your dream."

Ali went home that night. He got into bed. He thought about the strawberry cake: red, pink, white; the cream cold, the strawberries sweet. He fell asleep. And in his dream he was in the middle of the pastry shop, in front of an enormous strawberry cake. He ate and ate and ate. Master Nuri was saying, "One more slice?"

When he woke in the morning, there was a taste of strawberries in his mouth. Really.

Years later Ali grew up and became a pastry cook. He hung a small sign in the window of his shop: "Cakes eaten in dreams are free. A cookie for every child who presses their nose to the glass."

What would you like to eat tonight? Decide. Think of its color, think of its smell. Close your eyes. Enjoy your meal.