1. Gingerbread Biscuits of Torun

2. MOTHER BARTLOMIEJ BOGUMIL KATARZYNA Once upon a time, in a beautiful town of Toruń, there lived a famous baker, Bartłomiej, known in the whole neighborhood for his delicious cakes. The truth, however, was that it was his apprentice, young and good-looking Bogumił, who made the tasty delicacies. Bogumił was in love with Bartłomiej’s beautiful daughter – Katarzyna. Katarzyna’s parents did not want him as a son-in-law because he was poor. They preferred an ugly, old but rich widower, Pankracy.

3. After work Bogumił liked walking in the forest and thinking there about his beloved Katarzyna. One day he was walking along a narrow path and suddenly saw a small clump of blue forget-me-nots next to a pond. He bent over to look at them closer and saw that there was a big bee in the water. Its wings were wet and it was about to drown. Bogumił passed a leaf towards the bee and helped it out of the water. The sun soon dried the wings and the bee flew away.

4. Suddenly, Bogumił heard some strange noise. He looked around and saw the queen of the dwarfs who was sitting on a Snowball tree shrub. She spoke in human voice, thanking Bogumił for saving the bee queen. The dwarf queen gave him a recipe for cakes and gingerbread biscuits as delicious as noone had ever eaten before. The secret lay in adding honey to the dough, which the bees promised to provide.

5. Bogumił came back to town and saw a big commotion. it turned out that the king was supposed to come to Toruń the following day. All bakers started baking gingerbread biscuits. Bartłomiej was really angry with his apprentice that he had been missing for such a long time. He told him to get down to work immediately. Bogumił, while kneading the dough, remembered the forest conversation and – not telling Bartłomiej – added some honey. Then he put the dough in baking tins and baked delicious, brown gingerbread biscuits.

6. At around noon the king arrived in the city, accompanied with the queen and young princes. He started tasting the bakeries. At one stall the princes started jumping and screaming that they had just found the most delicious cakes. The king and queen rushed to that stall to try for themselves. The cookies were truly exceptional – and – as you probably have guessed – these were Bartłomiej’s delicacies.

7. The king was delighted and gave the town of Toruń a special privilege, according to which its bakers could bake gingerbread cakes and cookies and sell them in different towns, cities and villages.

8. He also allowed Bogumił to marry Katarzyna. Bogumił was so happy that he made a lot of heart-shaped biscuits and called them “Katarzynki”, to honour his beloved wife. And until now, “Katarzynki” gingerbread cookies are well-known all over Poland and maybe in other countries, too.