Once upon a time there was an old woman and her husband who lived alone in a little house in the forest. The couple had no children and sometimes this made the old woman feel lonely. So one day she decided to make a boy out of gingerbread.

She carefully mixed the batter, rolled the dough and cut out a very nice gingerbread man. She added sugar icing for his hair, mouth and clothes and used chocolate chips for buttons and eyes.

When she was finished the old woman looked at what she had made and thought to herself, ‘What a fine looking gingerbread man I have created’.

The old woman then put him in the oven to bake and while she waited, she had a little rest.

After not too long he was ready. Slowly she opened the oven door to see what he looked like when suddenly, up jumped the gingerbread man and in an instant he was off. With great speed he ran out the house saying:

“Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me!
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The old man and woman ran after him as quickly as they could but he was too fast for them and they could not catch him. And so the Gingerbread Man ran and ran until very soon he was a long way away from the little house.

While he was running, he met a cow. “Moo,” said the cow. “You look very fine! Fine enough to eat!” And the cow started to chase the little man. But the Gingerbread Man ran faster, saying,

“I ran away from an old woman,
I ran away from an old man,
And I can run away from you!
I can!”

And he laughed,

“Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me!
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

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

The Gingerbread Man kept running, and soon he met a horse. “Neigh,” said the horse, “You look mighty tasty. I think I would like to eat you.” “But you can’t!” said the Gingerbread Man.

“I ran away from an old woman,
I ran away from an old man,
I ran away from a cow,
And I can run away from you!
I can!”

And so he ran away singing,

“Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me!
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The horse ran after the Gingerbread Man, but he could not catch him.

The Gingerbread Man ran and ran, laughing and singing. While he ran, he met a chicken. “Cluck, cluck,” said the chicken, “You look fine enough to peck for dinner. I’m going to eat you Mr. Gingerbread Man.” But the Gingerbread Man just laughed.

“I ran away from an old woman,
I ran away from an old man,
I ran away from a cow,
I ran away from a horse,
And I can run away from you!
I can!”

And so he ran away singing,

“Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me!
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The chicken ran after the Gingerbread Man, but she could not catch him.

The Gingerbread Man was proud that he could run so fast. “Nobody can catch me,” he thought. So he kept on running until he met a fox. Feeling very clever he just had to tell the fox how he ran faster than all the others who had tried to eat him.

“Mr. Fox,” he said,
“As tasty as I appear to be,
I cannot let you catch and eat me.

I ran away from an old woman,
I ran away from an old man,
I ran away from a cow,
I ran away from a horse,
I ran away from a chicken,
And I can run away from you!
I can!”

But a few minutes later the fox said, “You are too heavy for my back. Jump onto my nose.” So the little Gingerbread man did as the fox asked. Finally just as they were about to reach the other side the sly fox tilted his head back and tossed the Gingerbread man high into the air as he opened his mouth.

SNAP!

“Yum yum” thought the fox, he was very tasty after all. And that was the end of the Gingerbread man.

The end