A Surprise in the Oven Story ~ Canadian Folktales for KidsNo Reviews Posted.

A Story From: Canada

Read Time: ["3 to 5mins"]
For Ages: 5 to 7yrs., 8 to 10yrs.

A Surprise in the Oven A Surprise in the Oven ~ Canadian Folktales for Kids
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Once upon a time a plump old woman name Tante Adela lived in French Canada. She
lived all alone with her big grey cat and the cows in her barn.

One morning she got up very early as it baking day and there was much to do. She
took a load of wood outside to her oven.

�Now why would oven door be open?� she said. She poked a stick inside to see that
no leaves or twigs had blown in. But the stick would not go far � something was in
there!

The old woman bent over to look in. When she saw what she saw, Tante Adela slammed
the oven door shut. She ran out of her yard and down the road as fast as she could.

When she saw what she saw, Tante Adela slammed the oven door shut.

At Felix Bell�s farm, she saw the neighbor drawing a bucket of water from the well.

�Felix, Felix!� she called out. �Come quick! There is a skunk in my oven!�

�Are you sure?� said Felix. �Maybe it is your cat.�

�Of course I am sure!� said Tante Adela. �Does my cat have a white stripe down his
back?�

�I will come as soon as I draw this bucket of water,� said Felix.

Tante Adela turned and dashed back to the road. She headed for the next farm, the
farm of Louis Ross. After all, three heads are better than two.

�Of course I am sure!� said Tante Adela. �Does my cat have a white stripe down its
back?�

�Louis, Louis!� she cried, out of breath. �Come right away! There is a skunk in
my oven.�

�A skunk?� said Louis. �Are you sure it is not a scrap of old fur coat you may have
thrown away by mistake?�

�Why would I throw away a fur coat?� said Tante Adela. �Am I the kind of person
who would do that?�
�You have a point,� said Louis Ross. �I will come over as soon as I have finished
feeding the chickens.�

The old woman turned to the road and limped to the farm of Samuel Roy.

�Samuel, Samuel!� she cried out. �You must come to my farm. There is a skunk in
my oven!�

�Are you sure?� said Samuel. �Maybe you saw a shadow inside as you opened the
door.�

The old woman turned to the road and limped to the farm of Samuel Roy.

�Does a shadow have a bushy tail?� said Tante Adela. �Does a shadow grit its
teeth at me and snark? I don�t think so!�

�I will come right over,� said Samuel. �Just as soon as I finish weeding the
garden.�

So Tante Adela went from farm to farm looking for help. By the time she made it
back home, Felix and Louis were already there. Soon after, Samuel came too, and
others who had heard about the skunk in Tante Adela�s oven.

�Yep, there�s a skunk in there all right,� said Madame Ross, who had opened and
closed the door.

�I know that!� said Tante Adela. �The question is, what to do about it?�

�I will run home and get my gun,� said Felix. �That will take care of that!�

�No, no!� cried Tante Adela. �Think of the smell!�

�She will not be able to bake bread in there for a month!� said Madame Roy, and
everyone agreed.

�No, no!� cried Tante Adela. �Think of the smell!�

�And it would spoil the pelt,� said Samuel. He trapped for furs and knew what he
was talking about.

�What if we got a dog?� said Alice, the daughter of Samuel and Madame Ross. �A dog
will bark. Maybe that will scare the skunk out of the oven.�

�If the skunk gets scared,� said Tante Adela, �think of what it would do!�

�What if we get a piece of meat and tie it to a string?� said someone else. �The
skunk will come out on its own when it smells it.�

�I have no meat,� snapped Tante Adela. �And if I did, I would surely not waste it
on a skunk!�
So this plan was dropped. No one else cared to use their own meat to lure the
skunk out of the oven if Tante Adela wasn�t going to use hers.

�I have no meat,� snapped Tante Adela. �And if I did, I would surely not waste it
on a skunk!�

�Oh, woe is me!� wailed Tante Adela.

By then, everyone was getting bored
look as if Tante Adela was going to
come. Soon Felix Bell and his wife
Ross said he must get back to clean
reason to head home.
with the question of the skunk. And it did not
serve any food or drink for everyone who had
remembered they had to milk the cows. Louis
the barn. And one by one, everyone found a

At this time, Tante Adela saw Jules Martel come into the yard. The young man may
be simple-minded, she thought. Still, who else could she turn to for help?

�Jules!� she said. �Jules Martel. There is a skunk in my oven. Can you get him
out without scaring him?�

stop

What would you do to try and get the skunk out of the oven?

Jules nodded his head. He walked over to the oven. He opened the door and leaned
inside. He spoke in a low voice. No one could tell what he was saying. At last
he stepped back. Then the sharp face of the skunk stuck out of the oven doorway.
Everyone stepped back a few feet. The skunk wiggled its way over the edge, and
dropped to the ground.

Slowly the skunk made its way through the yard, holding its head high. And it
headed into the woods, where it disappeared.

Tante Adela was thrilled. All the others were amazed.

�How did you get him to come out?� said Samuel to Jules.

Tante Adela was thrilled. All the others were amazed.

�What DID you say to it?� said someone else.

�I just told him,� said Jules, swinging his arms back and forth, �that if he stayed
in the oven any more, he would begin to smell like Tante Adela�s bread. And if
that happened, none of the other skunks would come near him.�

�Who would have guessed?� Samuel Roy shook his head. �That a low creature like a
skunk cares about what others creatures like him think of him.�
�I suppose all creatures must have some sense of self-respect,� said Alice Roy, �no
matter who they are.� Alice Roy and the others nodded in silence.

end