Once upon the time there was a village called Wootton Major. People who lived there were famous for being skillful in many crafts, but most of all in cooking. There was the Kitchen in the village, and the Master Cook, whose responsibility was to cook for all the occasions. One of these occasion was feverishly awaited, and was called The Feast of Good Childred. It was celebrated once in 24 years, and only 24 children were invited to this feast. The most important Cook’s responsibility was to make the Great Cook.
Today’s Cook has decided to take a vocation, and when he returned he brought an apprentice with him. Every Master Cook took an apprentice, and would pass to him the responsibilities of a Master Cook over time. But this one was too young to be an apprentice, and nobody in the village treated him seriously.
Few years passed, and the Master Cook went on another vocation, but said that he would never return. All the villagers felt indignation at his leave, as the Cook had not appointed a cook who would take after him. Though the young apprentice had learned to cook effectively, he was still too young to take the position of the cook. The villagers chose the cook among themselves, and it was Nokes. Nokes had helped the Master Cook for several times and eagerly took the position. In seven years next Great Cake should be cooked, so he was sure he would learn everything within these years.
When the time came Nokes made the Great Cake. He decided to astonish children and put into the Cake different things: little trinkets and silver coins. He also put in there a little star which he had found among the things of the former Cook. Young apprentice warned Notes not to put the star, as it was from Faery, but Nokes did not listen to him.
During the Feast everyone enjoyed the Cake, and children were happy to find those trinkets in their slices of the Cake, but none of them found the star. The Cook thought that is was not made of silver, and must have melted in the Cake. But it had not, one of the boys had swallowed it without noticing. Years passed, and the day when the boy turned ten years old, the star came out of his mouth. He was astonished when saw her, and put it on his forehead, where it clung. Since that time the boy showed great abilities in singing.
He was a son of the Smith, and when his father died he took his place. The young Smith became more and more handsome with every day, and all the people loved him both for his skilfull crafts and for his singing. Smith really was a master of iron and made great things out of this metal. While forging he always was singing.
Though nobody noticed the star on the Smith’s forehead he himself was always aware of it, as he knew that this star gave him an ability to enter Faery. He used to go for the walks to this magical country, and each time he discovered there something new, and each time the picture in front of his eyes was different and never repeated. He was warriors coming to the strand from a ship, or dreadful big trees, or beautiful valleys. Once he witnessed wild wind which wanted to take him away. A little birch helped Smith, but the Wind took all her leaves and she was sadly crying standing before Smith naked. She asked him to leave and never return. Smith had not entered Faery for many years since then.
But Smith’s curiosity won over time and he again entered Faery. There he met dancing maidens and one of them gave him a flower. Smith somehow managed to take this flower home, where is was kept in a special casket, and it never withered. Soon Smith went to Faery again, and met there the Queen. Their conversation was warm and long, and she asked Smith to pass a message to the King. Smith was surprised as he did not know any King, and the Queen said that he would know. The message was: “The time has come. Let him choose”.
On his way home Smith met a man in a hood, and when the man took off his hood Smith recognized Alf the Prentice, who now was already the Master cook in Wootton Major. The Cook said Smith that the time came to give the star back, and this year he, the Cook, would put it again into the Cake. Smith was not eager to part with the thing so dear to his heart, and had a hope that it would pass to his granddaughter, but she was yet too young to attend the Feast of the Children.
The Cook let Smith decide who would receive the star the next, and Smith chose a boy named Tim. At the Feast Smith saw Tim swallow his piece of cake, and noticed how the boy changed – became merrier and radiant. Thus, the journey of the star and its new owner began.
