Friday Fictioneers – Baker’s Boy

~ Neil MacDonald
PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

There’s a baker’s boy. Alfred. He’s pushing his bicycle up the steep cobbled lane. Dvorak’s New World Symphony swells. And I am transported back to a simple untroubled age of honest labourers and glittering toffs.

As the boy reaches the top of the hill, one of his loaves falls from the basket and tumbles down the lane. With a sigh, he retraces his steps. The conductor mops his brow and taps his baton as the lad collects the loaf and begins his trudge back up again.

Alfred made this Abbey wall. He burned the cakes. The Danes are coming.

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As a note of explanation to non-Brits, this lane featured in a bread advert and Alfred was King of the Anglo Saxons in the late 9th Century. The story is a reflection on the way we create and recreate historical myths. Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

36 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Baker’s Boy”

    1. It seemed necessary in this case. I could have also explained that Alfred united the Anglo Saxon kingdoms in a war on the Viking invaders, and that there is a charming story of him burning the cakes he had been left to tend when he was in hiding from the Vikings earlier in his life. The goodwife who had left him to tend the cakes boxed his ears for his transgression

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  6. Though not a Brit, I an an anglophile. I think that happens a lot to people who teach history and English 🙂 Anyway, I was familiar with all the references except the bread advert. Really enjoyed your take on this picture.

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  11. Hovis – it seemed to depict all that was wholesome and good about life. I wonder what would be the appropriate symbol today. Glad you remembered the advert – i loved the music.

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  14. This is a fascinating tale, past woven into the present skillfully. Of course the context matters and it’s difficult to provide it in such a short piece. I’ve heard of Alfred (lots of documentaries about the Vikings, Lindisfarne etc. on ARTE atm.) but didn’t know he was a baker’s boy.

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    1. Thanks so much. To be clear, Alfred (the only British King to be given the labe;l “the Great”) eas not a baker’s boy. He was the son of Aethelwulf, King of the West Saxons. His legendary association with baking was while he was in hiding in the marshes from the Viking invasion. His host, a peasant woman, asked him to mind the wheaten cakes on the fire but he forgot and allowed them to burn

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