The Gingerbread Man

Once upon a time, in a little house, there lived an old woman and an old man. They had no children, and so sometimes they felt very lonely. One day the old woman said, "I'll make a gingerbread man." She kneaded the dough, added ginger and cinnamon, and shaped it like a man. She gave him eyes of raisins, a nose of a cherry, a mouth of candy and three buttons on his jacket. Then she put him in the oven.

When the gingerbread was baked, the old woman opened the oven door. But as soon as the door opened, the gingerbread man leapt out of the oven, jumped off the table and began to run towards the door! Out of the door he went and off down the road. The old woman and the old man ran after him: "Stop! Stop!" But the gingerbread man laughed and shouted:

"Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

And the old woman and the old man could not catch him.

The gingerbread man kept on running. On the road he passed a cow that was grazing. The cow said, "Stop, little man, I want to eat you!" But the gingerbread man laughed:

"I've run away from an old woman and an old man, And I can run away from you, I can! Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

The cow ran after him, but she could not catch him.

Then he passed a horse. The horse said, "Stop, little man, you look very tasty. I want to eat you!" The gingerbread man sang his song again: "I've run away from an old woman, an old man and a cow, and I can run away from you!" The horse galloped after him but could not catch him.

The gingerbread man passed some reapers cutting wheat in a field. The reapers said, "Stop, little man, you smell so good! We want to eat you!" But the gingerbread man laughed again: "I've run away from an old woman, an old man, a cow and a horse, and I can run away from you! Run, run, as fast as you can!" The reapers dropped their sickles and ran after him, but none of them could catch him.

The gingerbread man ran and ran until he came to a river. He had to cross the river, but he could not swim. If he got wet, he would crumble to pieces. Behind him came the old woman, the old man, the cow, the horse and the reapers, all running. Just then a fox came out of the bushes. "Hello, little man," said the fox in a sweet voice. "Do you want to cross the river? Jump on my tail, and I'll carry you across."

The gingerbread man jumped onto the fox's tail. The fox went into the river and began to swim. After a while the fox said, "Little man, my tail is sinking, and you'll get wet. Climb onto my back." The gingerbread man climbed onto his back. A little further on the fox said, "My back is sinking too. Climb onto my head." The gingerbread man climbed onto his head. A little later the fox said, "My head is sinking too. Climb onto my nose." The gingerbread man climbed onto his nose.

At that very moment the fox tossed back his head, and "Snap!" He swallowed the gingerbread man in one bite. The fox climbed out on the other bank and licked his whiskers with pleasure. "What a delicious gingerbread man that was," he said.

This tale tells us: being proud and thinking you can run away from everyone puts you in danger. Not everyone who offers help with sweet words means well; we must beware of sly foxes.