Gingerbread Man

The cook entered the kitchen ONE day to prepare some gingerbread. She combined some flour, water, treacle, and ginger before adding more water to thin it out and more flour to thicken it out. She then added a little salt and spice before rolling it out into a gorgeous, silky, dark-yellow dough.

Then she remarked, "I'm going to create a tiny gingerbread man for little Bobby." She then used the square tins to cut out some square cakes for the little boys and some round tins to cut out some round cakes for the little girls. She then picked a large, nicely rounded ball of dough for his torso and a smaller, more pointed lump for his head, which she slightly widened to make the neck. Two further lumps were glued underneath the legs and dragged out into the right shape, complete with feet and toes. Two additional, smaller pieces were fashioned into arms, replete with preciously tiny palms and fingers.

The best work, however, was done on the head, where the top was frizzed up into a gorgeous sugary hat; on either side, a sweet tiny ear was fashioned; in front, a beautiful mouth was made out of a large raisin; and two bright little eyes were made out of burnt almonds and caraway seeds.

The gingerbread guy was then done and prepared for baking. He was a very cheery little fella. When the batter was ready for the oven, the cook placed the square cakes first, followed by the round cakes, and finally, she placed the small gingerbread man in a rear corner where he couldn't flee quickly because he looked so cunning.

She then walked up to clean the parlor and continued to do so until the clock struck twelve, at which point she hurriedly dropped her broom and yelled, "Lawks! She hurried down into the kitchen and ripped open the oven door, saying, "The gingerbread will be cooked in a cinder. The gingerbread man was finished as well, nice and hard and brown, and he was standing up in his corner, with his little caraway-seed eyes sparkling and his raisin mouth bubbling over with mischief, while he waited for the oven door to be opened. The square cakes, the round cakes, and the gingerbread man were all finished as well, nice and hard and brown. Before she could say "Jack Robinson," he was running across the kitchen floor as quickly as his little legs would allow him to in the direction of the back door, which was standing wide open and through which he could see the garden path. He skipped right over the square cakes and the round cakes and the cook's arm.

"RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, RUN. I'm the Gingerbread Man, so you can't catch me!"

Old Mouser, the cat, was laying directly across the doorway, fast asleep in the sun. The old cook spun around as quickly as she could, which wasn't very quickly because she was fairly overweight and caught off guard.

She screamed, "Mouser, Mouser, stop the gingerbread guy! I want him for Bobby the kid. Mouser rolled over carelessly when the cook first called, thinking it was just someone calling in her fantasies. The cook then yelled again, "Mouser, Mouser!" The small gingerbread man deftly ducked under the old cat's tail and in an instant was trotting down the garden walk as she spun around to ask the cook what was making all the ruckus. While still too drowsy to realize what she was trying to catch, Mouser quickly turned and rushed after it. The cook then followed the cat, moving along quite slowly but still making reasonably good time.

Towser the dog was now at the bottom of the walk, dozing off against the warm stones of the garden wall in the sun.

"Towser, Towser, stop the gingerbread guy!" the cook yelled. I want him for Bobby the kid.

Towser initially mistook her voice for someone speaking to him in his dreams, so he just moved over onto his side and let out another snore before the cook shouted out again, "Towser, Towser, stop him, stop him!"

The dog finally woke up and got to his feet to investigate what he should stop doing. The small gingerbread guy, who had been waiting for the right moment, gently slipped between the dog's legs and climbed up on top of the stone wall, leaving Towser with only the cat sprinting in his direction down the walkway and the cook, who was now somewhat out of breath, behind the cat.

"RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, RUN. I'm the Gingerbread Man, so you can't catch me!"

Instantaneously, he reasoned that the cat must have stolen something and that the cook was trying to get him to stop because of the cat. If there was one thing that Towser enjoyed, it was chasing cats, so he jumped up the sidewalk with such vigor that the poor cat had no time to react or move out of the way. They collided with a great fizzing of barking, meowing, howling, scratching, and biting as if two Catherine wheels had taken a wrong turn and collided with one another.

The dog and cat got tangled up, but the old cook was running so fast that she was unable to control herself any better than the cat had, and she landed square on top of them. As a result, all three of them rolled over on the sidewalk in a heap.

The dog bit at whatever was closest, whether it was a piece of the cook or a piece of the dog, and the cat scratched whatever was closest, causing the poor cook to have severe bite wounds on both sides.

The gingerbread guy was watching the game while standing on top of the garden wall with his hands in his pockets and laughing till his small caraway-seed eyes started to tear up and his raisin mouth started to bubble with joy.

"RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, RUN. I'm the Gingerbread Man, so you can't catch me!"

The cat finally managed to free herself from under the cook and the dog after a little struggle, and what a sad-looking, crumpled-up animal she was. She returned to the kitchen in the shadows to fix the damage after tiring hunting gingerbread men.

The dog, who was furious since his face had been severely scratched, let go of the cook and finally made a break for the garden wall after spotting the gingerbread man. The cook stood up, and despite having a badly scratched face and a ripped dress, she was adamant about seeing the chase through to its conclusion. This time, however, she pursued the dog more slowly.

The gingerbread man leaped down on the opposite side of the wall as he saw the dog approaching and started sprinting across the field. A tree was now in the center of the field, and Jocko the monkey was lying at its base. Because monkeys are never sleeping, when he spotted the little man rushing across the field and heard the cook yelling, "Jocko, Jocko, stop the gingerbread man," he immediately jumped up and down. As fate would have it, he jumped so high and far that he cleared the gingerbread man and landed on the back of the dog Towser, whom he had previously missed because he had been too busy scrambling over the wall. Towser was startled, but he swiftly spun around and bit off the end of the monkey's tail, prompting Jocko to leap back off and jabber his outrage.

At the bottom of the tree, the gingerbread man was thinking to himself, "Now, I know the dog can't climb a tree, and I don't suppose the old cook can climb a tree; and as for the monkey, I'm not sure, because I've never seen a monkey before, but I am going up."

He then lifted himself using both hands till he reached the highest branch.

"AS FAST AS YOU CAN, CLIMB. I'm the Gingerbread Man, so you can't catch me!"

However, the monkey was already at the top of the tree after leaping with one spring onto the lowest branch.

The gingerbread guy climbed out to the branch's furthest point and hung there by one hand, but the monkey swung beneath and dragged the gingerbread man in with his long arm. The small raisin's mouth then started to pucker at the corners as he held him up and peered at him with such hunger. The caraway-eyes seed's also started to well up with tears.

What do you suppose happened after that? Why Bobby the kid himself came charging up. Tiny Bobby, little Bobby! Kept being called in his dreams while he was enjoying his midday sleep upstairs. Finally, he woke up startled and was so certain that someone was calling him that he immediately raced downstairs without even pausing to put on his shoes.

As he descended, he could see the cook, the dog, and the monkey through the window in the field beyond the garden. He could also hear Towser and Jocko chatting and barking in the distance. As Jocko was supporting the helpless little gingerbread guy, he scrambled down the walkway, his tiny bare feet pattering on the warm gravel. He then climbed over the wall and quickly arrived under the tree.

Bobby said, "Drop that, Jocko," and Jocko complied since he always had to keep an eye on Bobby. Bobby's lifted pinafore caught the gingerbread guy when he dropped it so precisely.

The small raisin mouth puckered down lower than before when Bobby raised him and stared at him, and the caraway-seed eyes immediately began to cry.

Bobby, however, was too hungry to care about the gingerbread tears and took one large bite, swallowing both legs as well as a portion of the body.

The gingerbread man exclaimed, "OH, I'M ONE-THIRD GONE!"

Bobby took another bite before finishing the rest of the body and the arms.

I'm halfway gone, the gingerbread man exclaimed.

Bobby took a third mouthful before swallowing the head.

The gingerbread man exclaimed, "OH, I'M ALL GONE!"

The story comes to an end with him becoming what he was.