Fairy Tale Angle of Vision

Gingerbread Man

NOW you shall hear a story that somebody's great-great-grandmother told a little girl ever so many years ago:¹

There was once a little old man and a little old woman,² who lived in a little old house³ in the edge of a wood.⁴ They would have been a very happy old couple but for one thing -- they had no little child, and they wished for one very much.⁵ One day, when the little old woman was baking gingerbread,⁶ she cut a cake in the shape of a little boy,⁷ and put it into the oven.⁸

Presently she went to the oven to see if it was baked. As soon as the oven door was opened, the little gingerbread boy jumped out,⁹ and began to run away as fast as he could go.¹⁰

The little old woman called her husband, and they both ran after him. But they could not catch him.¹¹ And soon the gingerbread boy came to a barn full of threshers.¹² He called out to them as he went by, saying:

I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
And I can run away from you, I can!¹³

Then the barn full of threshers set out to run after him. But, though they ran fast, they could not catch him. And he ran on till he came to a field full of mowers.¹⁴ He called out to them:

I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
And I can run away from you, I can!

Then the mowers began to run after him, but they couldn't catch him. And he ran on till he came to a cow.¹⁵ He called out to her:

I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
And I can run away from you, I can!

But, though the cow started at once, she couldn't catch him. And soon he came to a pig.¹⁶ He called out to the pig:

I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
A cow,
And I can run away from you, I can!

But the pig ran, and couldn't catch him. And he ran till he came across a fox,¹⁷ and to him he called out:

I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
A cow and a pig,
And I can run away from you, I can!

Then the fox set out to run. Now foxes can run very fast, and so the fox soon caught the gingerbread boy and began to eat him up.

Presently the gingerbread boy said, "Oh dear! I'm quarter gone!"¹⁸ And then, "Oh, I'm half gone!" And soon, "I'm three-quarters gone!" And at last, "I'm all gone!"¹⁹ and never spoke again.

Citation: Heiner, Heidi. "SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Annotated Gingerbread Man." SurLaLune Fairy Tales. Jan 1,2004.SurLaLune Fairy Tales. September 9, 2004.

Angle of Vision: Scared Gingerbread Man

There once lived a little old man and a little old woman in a cottage in the woods, which is where they chose to live so they could isolate themselves. They would have been happy, but the fact that they never had a child made them bitter and desperate. One day while the old lady was baking gingerbread she came up with the sick and twisted idea of cutting the gingerbread into the shape the body of a young child. She stared at it for a while and then became so angry that she had no child that threw it into the blazing oven as if it were a voodoo doll.

The gingerbread boy could not stand the torture of his captivity; being locked into an inferno with no way out. As soon as the old lady opened the oven slightly, he escaped for he knew his life was in danger! He ran as fast as his little legs could take him because if he had stayed he thought he might be mutilated and eaten alive!!

When the little old evil woman saw him run away she called her husband for backup and they chased after the gingerbread man because they didn't want to let him get away, but the gingerbread man ran as fast as he could to get away from them now that there were two people chasing him .When the gingerbread man came to the barn of threshers he called out to them "I've run away from a little old woman, and a little old man," people were still chasing him though and by this time he was frightened and sweating from fear, but he motivated himself and kept telling his chasers "I can run away from you, I can!"

Angle of Vision: Little Old Lady

There once was a little old lady and her husband who lived in a small house in the woods. They chose to live there because they wanted to live where not many children lived, for it would be torture to them because they were never able to have their own. Not having children was especially hard on the little old lady and so she always wished that one would be brought into her life. So one day while she was baking gingerbread, she decided to lift her spirits a little by cutting the gingerbread into the shape of a little boy. She treated it as if it were a real live son of hers. She even dressed him in a red jacket with buttons made of gumdrops and gave him all the features of a real person...eyes, nose, mouth,etc. With joy she was anxious to finish so she quickly put her little gingerbread boy into the oven. She was so excited and eager that she kept checking the oven to see if he was ready yet. Finally when she thought it was ready, she opened the oven , but to her shock her little gingerbread child ran out the door. Well after all the hard work she had done and all the joy it had given her, she was heartbroken , but she didn't give up. She called her husband to help her and they ran after her little gingerbread child, but he was too fast for the old couple. He was gone. The little old woman wept because she knew that someone out there would capture him, kill him, and eat him especially since they were in the woods. She watched worriedly as the gingerbread boy passed by a barn of threshers. She worried that they would catch him.