The accidental invention

The world has seen uncountable inventions in the past millennium. Be it Newton’s law of gravity, Einstein’s contributions to physics or even Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, each of these have contributed to the evolution of the only sentient species on this planet. The origin of a masterpiece of innovation, however, was unknown until the last century. This was an invention that has simultaneously delighted the eye of the beholder as well as his gastric juices. An invention that has spread like wildfire amongst the lofty lords and the struggling masses alike. Children go ballistic when they detect its fragrance in the vicinity. Adults conveniently ignore their personal health resolutions when they view this culinary delight.

The story of the origin of Donut dates back to the time before sentience appeared on the blue haven of resources that is called “The Earth”. The time when asgardians ruled the unthinking hordes on the earth was when the Donut was accidentally invented by Loki, the lord of mischief. Loki ran into the royal kitchens to escape the wrath of his brother, Thor, as a result of a childish prank gone awry. He had first run to his father in his throne room to plead interference on his behalf when he had failed to find his mother, Fjörgyn. Odin, had simply waved him off, busy in the universal affairs that demanded his attention.

In the kitchens now, Loki weaved in and out of the huge mountains of delicacies knocking down the culinary staff in his haste. When the servants spotted the enraged Thor following in Loki’s footsteps, they bade a hasty retreat. While trying to evade the mighty Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer), Loki held up a sweet pancake freshly baked as a shield and lo! the pancake with a hole in the middle was invented. Loki inadvertently gave its name when he uttered “Donut” (“Do not hit” with a broken jaw).

The world lost this accidental asgardian foody delight, until Thor returned on a reconnaissance mission to the earth. Nostalgic of his childhood and the sweet reward of Loki’s mischief, he secretly taught the recipe to a New York chef disguised as a Dutch settler. Thor also commissioned a Parisian artist to create a donut sculpture in the early 1900’s to memorialize this rich legacy. This structure, however, acquired gruesome blood spattered arrows added to its visage just when the wet cement was drying inside the cast. This happened at sea, when it was being smuggled across by bandits, who had eavesdropped on the conversations between the artist and Thor. The thrilling chase by law enforcement at sea ended when the bandits were all shot at, with arrows and captured. The artist had refused to recreate his masterpiece upon receipt of his now bloody sculpture viewing it as an omen to leave it as is. A disappointed Thor had agreed to the pervasive arguments and had carted away the sculpture to Asgard with a little help from Heimdall, the gatekeeper.

And yet, this entire saga reserved its last surprise until Thor’s next visit to earth. Thor found that his (now long dead) Parisian artist had left him a note on deathbed. The blood that richly painted the arrows red in the sculpture belonged to the dreaded pirate Blackbeard! This was confirmed when it was finally matched with the descendants of Blackbeard via the magic of DNA testing.

As the years rolled past, humans took that which was already perfect and turned it even better adding in flavours, tastes and smells until the asgardians were forced to acknowledge the superiority of the sheer human genius that made this possible. This display of superior evolution was what convinced Thor and then Odin to protect the earth against Loki’s and the dark elves’ excesses when the war broke out to dominate all worlds in the Yrgrasil.

And that is the story of how the Donut saved the earth!

Author’s note:  I wrote this  short story as a guest post in Dipika’s blog as a part of Shalini’s blog hop in Dec 17. Reproducing it here to share in the fun spoils!