A pancake jumps out of the pan and rolls away in order to escape being eaten in this traditional Norwegian tale, collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe—the Brothers Grimm of Norway. Encountering any number of creatures along the way, each of which wish him to stop and allow them to eat him, the pancake trundles on, until it meets a very clever pig...

The tale type in which a runaway pastry eludes many would-be pursuers, only to fall victim to a clever foe in the end, is quite widespread. In Russia and other Slavic countries there is the story of Kolobok, a little bun that runs aways from its creators, and is eventually eaten by a fox. Retold by Marcia Brown in her The Bun: A Tale from Russia, the story can also be found in Irina Zheleznova's Ukrainian Folk Tales, where it is known as The Little Round Bun. A German variant can be found in Carl and Theodor Colshorn's Märchen und Sagen aus Hannover, while the Euro-American version from New England, perhaps best known to American children, is The Gingerbread Man.

In any case, this Norwegian variant, originally known as Pannekaken, was collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe in their 1871 Norske Folke-Eventyr. Ny Samling ("Norwegian Folktales. New Collection"). The story is humorous and enjoyable, making good use of it repetitive structure and expanding refrain, both in the growing list of compliments paid to the mother by her hungry children, as she is making the pancake, and by the pancake itself as it refuses each animal's request that he stop and allow himself to be eaten. This presentation of the tale, illustrated by Svend Otto S., who also illustrated Asbjørnsen and Moe's The Man Who Kept House, was originally published in Denmark in 1980. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those familiar with other variants of this tale type. ( )