The Roll Of Bread

Summary


"The Roll Of Bread" is a children's poem that follows a simple roll of bread on a rhythmic journey from farm to kitchen. When hungry little Ted asks for something to eat, his mother hands him a fresh roll — and the story rewinds through the baker, the miller, the farmer, the rain, and the sun to show everything that made it possible. With cumulative, sing-song verses full of sound words like "clickety clack" and "shakity shake," it builds a warm picture of everyday labour and natural abundance.

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Once upon a time a little boy named Ted was very hungry.

“I wish I had something to eat,” he said;
And his mother gave him a roll of bread.
She had bought the roll that very morning from the busy baker who kept a shop at the corner.

The baker had flour so fine and so white;
Shakity shake, he sifted it light,
To make the roll of nice fresh bread
That Mother gave to little boy Ted.
The baker got the flour from the merry miller whose mill stood by the river side.

The miller was merry, and so was the mill;
Clickety clack, it never was still,
As it ground the flour so fine and white
For the busy baker who sifted it light,
With a shakity shake, to make the bread
That Mother gave to little boy Ted.
The flour was made from the yellow wheat that a friendly farmer brought to the mill.

“Get up! get up!” said Farmer Brown;
As clipety clap, he rode to town
To take the wheat to the miller’s mill;
Clickety clack, it never was still
As it ground the wheat into flour white
For the busy baker who sifted it light,
With a shakity shake, to make the bread
That Mother gave to little boy Ted.

The wheat grew in the fields that the farmer had plowed.

He plowed the fields, and he sowed the grain;
Then pitter patter, the gentle rain
Came in a hurry to help it grow;
And the sun shone down with its golden glow,
To ripen the grain for Farmer Brown,
Who, clipety clapety, rode to town
To take the wheat to the miller’s mill;
Clickety clack, it never was still
As it ground the wheat into flour white
For the busy baker who sifted it light,
With a shakity shake, to make the bread
That Mother gave to little boy Ted.
Ted sat down on the kitchen doorstep to eat the roll.

“I like a roll of nice fresh bread,
Thank you, Mother,” said little boy Ted.


Credits

Maud Lindsay was an American children's author active in the late 19th and early 20th century, best known for writing gentle, rhythmic stories and poems suited to young listeners. "The Roll Of Bread" showcases her signature use of cumulative verse — a layering technique that grows with each stanza, much like the nursery rhymes she admired and drew inspiration from.