BARNEY THE BEARD

In the town of Conn in the County of Cork there lived two bakers and both were named Barney. So, to tell them apart, the townspeople called the one Barney the Baker and the other Barney the Beard." The trouble is that old Barney the Baker would rather fish than bake, and the talented young Barney the Beard covets his title. Shaving off his beard however only earns him the name Barney the Bush, and when he then shaves his head too he's called Barney the Bald. Only after he has shut up his shop in a funk is his problem resolved, with a limousined official arriving to award the young man (now Barney the Bristle as his hair is growing back) first prize for the Carrick Castle cake competition and the title of Barney the Master Baker. A fluffy diversion, light as those drop biscuits Barney has to weigh down to keep them from floating away.