An old lady and an old man lived in a little house by themselves
They had no children, and they felt very lonely and sad at times
It gets to be so boring with just the two of us
You are always out in the garden, and I have nothing to do after I finish my cooking and cleaning
Well, I’m sure you can find some other ways to keep yourself occupied
Hmm...I think I will bake something today.
I haven’t done that in a long time.
That’s a good idea, go ahead and do that.
Make something interesting for dinner tonight
Now I have to head out to the garden again as there are still some more weeds to be pulled out
The old lady decided she would make some gingerbread
She got out all the ingredients she needed and kneaded the dough for the gingerbread
softly humming to herself Suddenly she had an idea
Let me do something fun I will make the gingerbread in the shape of a man
A gingerbread man My husband will be very amused I’m sure
So the old lady rolled out the dough and cut it out in the shape of a man
Let me see now
one little ball to be shaped into a mouth two little chocolate chips for eyes
and these pretty red cherries for buttons
Ah!That’s one handsome gingerbread man
I’m sure he’ll taste as good as he looks Now into the oven!
The old lady went and sat on her rocking chair knitting away
while waiting for the gingerbread man to bake
Mmmmmm!
I am starting to get the lovely smell of gingerbread
Must be done by now, let me go and check
The old lady put on her oven gloves and went to open the oven door
But as she did, the gingerbread man got up from the baking tray and jumped out of the oven
Good heavens What was that?
Before she realized what was happening
the gingerbread man ran to the open window, jumped out
and in a second was running down the garden and out into the street
Hey! Hey! Where do you think you are going?
Come right back here!
We are supposed to be having you for dinner!
Oh no no, I am not your dinner for you can’t lay your hands on me
Run, run, as fast as you can You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!
The old lady’s husband looked in surprise at his wife running after a gingerbread man
What’s happening?
Stop staring and run and catch that rogue I had baked him for our dinner
But how did he run out?
I will tell you all that later
Quick, catch him before he vanishes!
The old man starts running after the gingerbread man shouting at him to stop
The old lady cannot catch me and neither can you
Run, run, as fast as you can.You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man
Down the road ran the gingerbread man with the old man and lady running behind him
A cow sitting beside the road saw the gingerbread man and said.
Moo, moo.
You look so tasty, I want to eat you!
Ha ha ha!
The old lady and old man cannot catch me
See if you can catch me, you fat thing
Fat thing!You cheeky fellow just you wait till I catch you
The cow started running after the gingerbread man along with the old man and the old lady.
Run, run, as fast as you can You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man
Along the road they ran, with all the passers by looking at them in surprise
A little way ahead, a horse that was trotting along the road stopped to see what was happening
That sure looks like a tasty meal Neigh neigh Everyone out of my way
I am going to catch that fellow, and have him for dinner instead of hay
Oh ho!So now you also want to eat me?
Come on, you can also try, but you will have to start galloping instead of trotting
Ha ha ha.
Believe me, you will be having your hay only for dinner after all He he he he he!
So the horse also joined the old lady, old man and the cow to try and catch the gingerbread man.
The gingerbread man was having a lot of fun seeing all of them trying to catch him
A little way ahead, he stood by the roadside.
Don’t you think you should give up?
Let me tell you again.
Run, run, as fast as you can You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!
Once again the gingerbread man started running
looking back at all those chasing him with a big grin on his face
A little way ahead was a big fat pig walking along with its piglets
When it saw the gingerbread man, it said
Oink Oink That guy sure smells good should be a good treat for my little piggies Oink oink
wait wait I want to have a word with you
No you don’t, you want to make a meal of me
and that is not going to happen you stinking thing
What? How dare you, you rude fellow!
I will show you Come on piggies let’s catch him and eat him.
Oink oink, oink oink!
And so the pig and piglets also joined the rest to try and catch the gingerbread man
Up ahead there was a farm, and near the fence was a big brown hen
When she saw the gingerbread man she said
You look so yummy May I have a nibble?
May I have a nibble No you may not but you can always try.
Come, join the merry procession he he he he!
Run, run, as fast as you can.You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!
Oh, what a sight it was!
There was the old man and old lady trundling along
the cow and the pig waddling along
the horse galloping along
and the hen running and flapping her wings with a loud sound
I think I’ve had enough fun.
No way are those slow coaches going to catch up with me
so I’ll just look around for some place to rest
Phew!
has really tired me out
A little farther away, there was a river flowing gently
The gingerbread man wanted to go across to the other side
but if he fell in the water he would become all soggy!
As he was thinking of what to do he heard a voice
Want me to take you across?
The gingerbread man looked around and saw a fox sitting against a rock
You think I’m a fool?
You also want to eat me like the rest of them
Eat you A measly looking fellow like you?
You are not even enough as a starter forget a whole meal
The fox was a very, very wily fellow
He knew the gingerbread man could run very fast
and he was too lazy to run after him
Then why would you want to be so good to me?
I am not being good to you I was going to cross the river anyway
so I thought you could hop on to my back and I would take you across
Decide fast, I don’t have the whole day.
Okay.
What would you want in exchange?
I’ll tell you that when we cross over Come on, on my back
When they were half way across
the fox told the gingerbread man
I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable I think it would be better if you perch yourself on my neck
The gingerbread man crawled on to the fox’s neck.
Ah, that’s better.
After a while, the fox started moving its neck and told him
Oooh.. My neck has started paining I think it would be better if you sit on my snout.
The gingerbread thought he was very smart
but he couldn’t guess what was going on in the cunning fox’s mind
As before, it did what the fox told him to
There!
Are you okay now?
This was the chance the fox had been waiting for
As soon as the gingerbread man sat on it’s snout
the fox quickly tossed him up, and caught him in his mouth as he fell
And there ended the tale of the gingerbread man
Ha Thought he was smarter than me