The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde · Chapter
The Bread of Discontent explained
A baker with a violent temper is visited by a tiny black imp who offers to ensure his bread is never spoiled in exchange for a home in the oven.
What happens
A baker with a violent temper is visited by a tiny black imp who offers to ensure his bread is never spoiled in exchange for a home in the oven. The imp's bread tastes good but makes all who eat it discontented. The chief justice, his family, the village doctor, a young couple, and a farmer all eat the bread and become unhappy and quarrelsome. Eventually, the baker is punished by the chief justice for saying he is happy, and he drives the imp away, learning to be content with ordinary bread.
Themes in this chapter
Consequences of Deception and Greed
The baker's greed for perfect bread leads him to accept the imp's deceptive bargain, which spreads discontent throughout the village and ultimately brings punishment upon himself.
Appearance vs. Reality
The bread appears excellent and tastes good, but its true effect is to make everyone unhappy, revealing a stark contrast between outward quality and inner consequence.
Characters to notice
- the doctor
The village doctor eats the bread of discontent after successfully treating a patient, leading him to regret his work and lament his profession.
- Master Farmer
A hale, bright farmer who eats the bread while working in the fields, becoming discontented with his happy life.
Key passages
“This all comes of the oven imp... Better to have a hundred batches of bread spoiled than to be flogged for saying one is happy.”
The baker blames the imp for his troubles and decides that even ruined bread is preferable to being punished for expressing contentment.
The baker's realization that the imp's gift brought more harm than good.
“The first person who tasted the bread was the chief justice... no sooner had the justice tasted the bread than his face fell.”
The chief justice, initially joyful about an inheritance, becomes instantly discontented after eating the bread.
Illustrates the immediate effect of the enchanted bread.