The Gingerbread Man

Once upon a time, an old woman and her husband lived alone in a little old house. The old woman and the old man were hungry. So, the old woman decided to bake a gingerbread man. 

She carefully mixed the batter, rolled out the dough and cut out a very nice gingerbread man. She gave him currants for eyes and cherries for buttons. Then she put him in the oven to bake. 

In the meantime, she begun to hum soundly. When he was fully baked, she slowly opened the oven door. What a fine looking gingerbread man he was!

Up jumped the gingerbread man and he ran out of the door saying, "Run, run, as you can! you can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

The old woman ran after him but she could not catch him. "Stop" the old woman yelled but the gingerbread man did not look back. 

The gingerbread man ran on saying, "Run, run, as you can! you can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!" 

The gingerbread man ran into the garden and passed the old man. "Stop!" the old man called out, "I want to eat you." But the gingerbread man ran even faster, chanting, "Run, run, as you can! you can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

 The gingerbread man ran through the yard and passed a cow. "Stop! Stop!little man," called the hungry cow, "I want to eat you." Again., the gingerbread man ran too fast. 

A little further on, he met a horse. "Stop! little man," called the hungry horse,"I want to eat you." But the gingerbread man ran even faster.
The gingerbread man passed three farmers in the field. They shouted, "Stop! Stop! we are hungry. We want to eat you." But he ran even faster, saying, "Run, run, as you can! you can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!" The three farmers too joined the chase. 

The gingerbread man laughed and laughed, until he came to a river. "Oh no!" he cried, "They will catch me." A sly fox came out from behind a tree. 

The sly and hungry fox saw the gingerbread man and said, "I can help you cross the river. Jump onto my tail and I will swim across."

"You won't eat me, will you?" said the gingerbread man.
"Of course not," said the fox,
"I just want to help."

The gingerbread man saw the crowd chasing him. He said to the fox, "Hurry up, otherwise animals and people chasing me would catch and eat me up." 

Saying so, he jumped on the fox's tail. Soon they started across the river

Halfway across the river, the fox yelled, "You're too heavy for my tail; jump onto my back." So the gingerbread man jumped onto the fox's back.

Soon, the fox said, "You're too heavy for my back; I am tired. Jump onto my head." So the gingerbread man jumped onto the fox's head.

As soon, as they reached the riverbank, the fox flipped the gingerbread man into the air. The fox opened his mouth and came the sound 'Snap!' That was the end of the gingerbread man.

* The End *

Source: Kids Board Fairy Tale 

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