Lili, The Potato, Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Once upon a time, there was a little potato named Lili. She lived in Mr Bertrand’s garden with all his family and friends. One day while she was playing in the soft earth, a big, cashewed, weeping voice moaned: “They’ve taken everything from me, everything! my poor little potatoes, never again will you be cuddled like I cuddled you. Mrs. Pomme Dusol, Lili’s mother got scared and shouted at the little potato to come home immediately.
For several days, Lili’s family stayed in their house deep inside, out of the hands of the man. Lili could not stand it anymore, and ran away from the little root house… She went to her favourite place: the soft earth near the carrots, hoping to find her friend Georgette the potato there. Once there, everything was deserted and Lili started to play leek charm all by herself, when suddenly a big hairy hand came to pull her away from her beloved land ! “A potato with carrots ! ! Never seen that before ! This man hadn’t read his mind ! Never mind ! ” The man cried, before Lili ran away in a big bag full of carrots,
Lili was knocked unconscious for a few days. She woke up in the middle of a supermarket in a bag of carrots on sale. An old carrot said to her in an unpleasant tone: “Ah, you’re finally awake, you’re taking up all the space, big potato! “At these words, Lili rebelled, saying loud and clear that she was not a potato, but a high-class potato … much better than a carrot! But the damage was done, the carrot had hit her in the heart. In the days that followed, all the young carrots made fun of her and strengthened the complex that was getting inside Lili’s head.
Then one day the bag was bought by a nice mother who wanted to make vegetables for her children. The vegetables from Mr. Bertrand’s old vegetable garden were shaken around before landing on the kitchen table. Mrs. Dupont washed each carrot carefully, and when she came across Lili, she exclaimed, “What are you doing there! Good with the other potatoes ! You won’t be too much, I’m going to make fries, the kids love that ! “At these words, Lili no longer felt, her mother had often explained to her that the worst death for a potato was to become French fries, the pain was excruciating.
Mrs. Dupont put her in a large wicker basket, with lots of other potatoes inside. She rolled away, buried under the mass, when a little light voice made her heart beat wildly : her mother’s voice ! She ran towards it and huddled up against her little darling mother who cried with happiness.
When the reunion was over, Lili announced to the crowd that they had to run away before being made into French fries for the next day’s lunch. Amazement swept through the ranks. A leek alerted by the rumours jumped into the potato basket and organized the escape. Some potatoes decided to stay, declaring that the god of vegetables wanted them.
This was not the case for Lili’s family, however just before leaving Lili hesitated: “If I become a French fry, I could finally become as thin as a carrot!? “Her mother grabbed her and told her that she was very well proportioned.
At nightfall, the potatoes, preceded by the leek, rappelled down the wall of the kitchen dresser with a kitchen string. They went through the cat flap before reaching the garden and burying themselves in the damp earth. They plunged far, far away, making sure they would never be found.
Lili married the leek and they had a pretty little earthen hammer that had nothing to envy the carrots. And they all lived happily … except poor Madame Dupont who was left without fries !