Bunty Buckwheat loved looking pretty. She couldnât make herself pretty all by herself, but she lived with a girl called Gwen who loved buckwheat porridge and always decorated her beautifully when making it. Gwen liked coming up with different ideas for decoration each time. Yesterday, she decorated her porridge with strawberries, almonds and shavings of dark chocolate. The day before that, Gwen and her mother had cooked buckwheat with barley for dinner and had included so many colourful vegetables that it was a real feast for the eyes. Gwen also knew how to brighten up buckwheat noodles and all sorts of other buckwheat dishes with colourful vegetables. So Bunty Buckwheat looked pretty in a different way every day.
But today it was all quiet in the kitchen. No-one in the store cupboards knew it yet, but it was the school holidays and Gwen had gone away with her mother to visit her grandmother. Bunty Buckwheat waited and waited for the curly-haired girl to open the cupboard, take her out, cook her and decorate her. But no-one came. Bunty sat in the cupboard in her jar and sighed sadly.
From her airy corner of the fruit bowl on the kitchen worktop, Abby Apple heard her.
âWhoâs that sighing sadly in there? Whatâs up?â she asked.
âItâs me, Bunty Buckwheat,â came the reply from the cupboard. âIâm sad because Gwen isnât home and I miss her. I canât wait for her to come and cook me into something delicious and then decorate me. Sheâs very good at it, she always makes me so beautiful.â
âYes, she does,â replied Abby, âbut donât worry, her dad is still here.â
Bunty sighed. âThe thing is, when her dad cooks, he doesnât decorate me at all. I just lieâŚ