The Baker of Fakin

The Baker of Fakin

As dawn crept up over the hills, the sleepy town of Fakin was slowly revealed. Although most of the shops on the high street had not shaken off their slumber with the day’s activity, there were two showing some signs of life. These were Johnson’s News Store and the old bakery owned by Mr Faith.

Now Mr Faith was a long tall thin man with a long thin chin, which at times seemed to almost touch the floor, and his thin pursed lips always seemed to be about ready to pronounce judgement about something or another.

Throughout the town of Fakin, Faith’s fresh bread, fine rolls and pastries were well known. Indeed Faith himself was known as a righteous man, he was full of the sense of rightness of things and if he found a lack in anything was not afraid to open his mouth and say so. This very attitude used to force people away making them feel quite uncomfortable at times. This led to Faith feeling a little sad but it seemed hard for him to change.

Faith was married to a lady called Helen, she was as round as Faith was thin and wiry. People seemed drawn to her warmth and she also seemed to find time for them somehow, her cheerfulness the exact opposite of her husband's precise nature.


Now although Helen’s nature was very different from that of her husband she loved him and thought well of him and carried on with her work serving in the shop. However, although she did her best to hide it, as time passed Helen felt sadness in her heart. Because Faith was so strict all the time and always so sure that he knew best.


Things went on in much the same way until one day Faith finished kneading the dough and made it ready for the ovens much quicker then usual. So as he wondered what to do he thought to himself, “I know! I’ll go back to the house and surprise Helen."


So Faith shut up his bakery and headed home. He found himself smiling as he walked up the path. He opened the door and ran upstairs only to find Helen in bed in another man’s arms. Faith was deeply shocked and knowing the way Faith thought on such matters Helen expected to be thrown out of the house. Instead, Faith turned to her and said he forgave her. She for her part tried to explain how and why she’d felt sad in her heart and had somehow ended up taking comfort in another mans arms.


Although things were difficult at first eventually a sort of normality returned. However, anger lurked deep within Faith's heart. To a great extent Faith was able to hide these feelings, but inside Faith's heart the anger grew unchecked, bit by bit. Every time he looked at her or heard her once pleasant chatter fed and watered the anger more and more.


In the heavens God was sad at this and gave one of His angels some instructions. He said yes to his Master and came alongside Faith.


And still every time Faith saw Helen he grew angry inside. Each time the angel saw this rising anger he knew what to do. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pebble and dropped it into Faith's heart. At first these little pebbles were hardly noticeable and Faith could easily fool himself thinking all the bad feeling he had towards Helen had been dealt with.


One day Faith went into the bedroom and looked for what seem ages at Helen lying there sound asleep. Faith’s mind was instantly taken to that day and as he remembered the fullness of what he saw anger swelled up like a torrent in him. So great was the feeling that the angel was forced to let the pebbles drop deep into Faiths heart. This time Faith felt the weight of them causing a pain to tug at his heart. Steadily this pain grew and he began to be weighed down with it. He had to arch his head up just to see.


Faith began to be both sad and more than a little frightened. Then one day as he was almost bent double, he cried out, “Oh what is going on here? Why am I in so much pain? How can I get rid of all this?”


When he heard this heart cry, the angel looked with compassion in his heart and came alongside Faith. He gently spoke into Faith’s troubled heart; showing him how he might, at long last, free himself from all this torment.


The angel told him how what he needed was some “Magic” eyes.


“Magic eyes?” replied Faith. “What do you mean “magic”? What do they do”?


“Oh with these, you can see right past the surface right deep within a person's very being”, smiled the angel.


The instant he heard the angel say this, Faith knew that he must have these eyes


So with his Master's bidding, the angel stroked his hand across Faith's eyes as he blew upon them. Faith flinched a little at this, however when he opened his eyes once more he felt slightly different.


As he looked, instead of seeing someone was self-seeking, dishonest and who’d gone out of her way to hurt him, he saw someone who felt lost, confused and a little lonely. He began to feel more and more love towards her as he saw her, wanting to stretch out his hand in compassion.


The angel smiled and reach in to Faith’s heart and began to take the pebbles away one by one, making Faiths heart lighter until once more he stood tall and erect.


One day along the busy high street an old man went walking. As he came to the little baker's shop he looked up and saw Helen smiling and chatting to Faith and smiled to himself. As he walked on he reached into his pocket and pulled out some pebbles. He looked at them for a moment then slipped them back into his coat and went on.