while they were toasting , her husband came in from the byre , and sat down to take a rest in his great arm - chair . presently his eyes fell on the bannocks , and , as they looked very good , he broke one through the middle and began to eat it . when the other bannock saw this it determined that it should not have the same fate , so it ran across the kitchen and out of the door as fast as it could . and when the old woman saw it disappearing , she ran after it as fast as her legs would carry her , holding her spindle in one hand and her distaff in the other . but she was old , and the bannock was young , and it ran faster than she did , and escaped over the hill behind the house . it ran , and it ran , and it ran , until it came to a large newly thatched cottage , and , as the door was open , it took refuge inside , and ran right across the floor to a blazing fire , which was burning in the first room that it came to . " if there be one thing i am fond of , it is a glass of ale and a well - toasted cake , " he cried . " so come inside here , and welcome to you . " but as soon as the little bannock heard of the ale , it turned and ran out of the smithy as fast as it could , and the disappointed smith picked up his hammer and ran after it . and when he saw that he could not catch it , he flung his heavy hammer at it , in the hope of knocking it down , but , luckily for the little cake , he missed his aim . after this the bannock came to a farmhouse , with a great stack of peats standing at the back of it . in it went , and ran to the fireside . in this house the master had all the lint spread out on the floor , and was cloving it with an iron rod , while the mistress was heckling what he had already cloven . so jock ran into the dark corner behind the chair ; but , in his hurry , he tripped and fell , and the wee bannock jumped over him and flew laughing out at the door . through the whins and up the hillside it ran , and over the top of the hill , to a shepherd 's cottage on the other side . the inmates were just sitting down to their porridge , and the goodwife was scraping the pan . " save us and help us , " she exclaimed , stopping with the spoon half - way to her mouth . " there 's a wee bannock come in to warm itself at our fireside . " " sneck the door , " cried the husband , " and we 'll try to catch it . it would come in handy after the porridge . " 
why did the bannock always run to the fire in the houses ?
it wanted to warm itself .
it was cold .