Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman.
One day, the old man said to the old woman:
— Please, old woman, scrape the flour box and sweep the bin. Perhaps you can gather enough flour to bake us a little round bun.
The old woman took a feather brush, scraped the flour box, swept the bin, and gathered about two handfuls of flour.
She mixed the flour with sweet cream, shaped a little round bun, fried it in butter, and placed it on the windowsill to cool.
The Little Round Bun lay there for a while, but suddenly it rolled off the window onto the bench, from the bench onto the floor, across the floor to the door, leaped over the threshold, and ran into the hallway.
From the hallway it rolled onto the porch, from the porch down to the yard, from the yard out
the gate, and further and further away.
As the Little Round Bun was rolling along the road, it met a Hare:
— Little Round Bun, Little Round Bun, I am going to eat you up!
— Do not eat me, Hare! Let me sing you a song:
— I am the Little Round Bun,
Scraped from the flour box,
Swept from the bin,
Mixed with sweet cream,
Fried in the pan,
Cooled on the windowsill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I will run away from you, Hare, I surely will!
And it rolled away down the road — and that was the last the Hare saw of it!
As the Little Round Bun was rolling along, it met a Wolf:
— Little Round Bun, Little Round Bun, I am going to eat you up!
— Do not eat me, Grey Wolf! Let me sing you a song:
— I am the Little Round Bun,
Scraped from the flour box,
Swept from the bin,
Mixed with sweet cream,
Fried in the pan,
Cooled on the windowsill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
I ran away from the Hare,
And I will run away from you, Wolf, I surely will!
And it rolled away down the road — and that was the last the Wolf saw of it!
As the Little Round Bun was rolling along, it met a Bear:
— Little Round Bun, Little Round Bun, I am going to eat you up!
— How could a clumsy bear like you eat me! Let me sing you a song:
— I am the Little Round Bun,
Scraped from the flour box,
Swept from the bin,
Mixed with sweet cream,
Fried in the pan,
Cooled on the windowsill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
I ran away from the Hare,
I ran away from the Wolf,
And I will run away from you, Bear, I surely will!
And it rolled away again — and that was the last the Bear saw of it!
As the Little Round Bun was rolling along, it met a Fox:
— Little Round Bun, Little Round Bun, where are you rolling?
— I am rolling along the road.
— Little Round Bun, Little Round Bun, sing me a song!
So the Little Round Bun began to sing:
— I am the Little Round Bun,
Scraped from the flour box,
Swept from the bin,
Mixed with sweet cream,
Fried in the pan,
Cooled on the windowsill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
I ran away from the Hare,
I ran away from the Wolf,
I ran away from the Bear,
And it is easy to run away from you, Fox, I surely will!
But the Fox said:
— Oh, what a beautiful song! But I am hard of hearing. Little Round Bun, sit on my snout and sing it once more, a little louder.
The Little Round Bun jumped onto the Fox's snout and sang the same song a little louder.
But the Fox said again:
— Little Round Bun, sit on my tongue and sing it one last time.
The Little Round Bun jumped onto the Fox's tongue, and — snap! — the Fox swallowed it up.