Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:46
The Gingerbread Man
Run, run, as fast as you can! A cheeky gingerbread man escapes the oven and outruns everyone, until he meets a very polite fox. A bedtime retelling.
Narrator
The Gingerbread Man
The Little Old Woman
The Little Old Man
The Cow
The Horse
The FoxAbout this story
The Gingerbread Man is an American and English folk tale, first printed as The Gingerbread Boy in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1875, and a cousin of other runaway-food stories like the English Johnny-Cake and the Russian Kolobok. In the traditional ending the fox eats him. This bedtime version lets him leap free, losing only a sugar button, and brings him home to the people who made him.
What it teaches
Boasting can lead you straight into trouble, and a stranger's sweet words are worth being careful about. The people who love you are worth running towards, not away from.
Suits
Ages 2–6
Tips for telling it
- Say the run, run, as fast as you can rhyme together every time; little ones learn it fast.
- Act out the fox's swim, tail, back, head and nose, and ask what the Gingerbread Man should do.
- Bake gingerbread together and let your child decorate a runaway of their own.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Gingerbread Man?
- Pride and boasting can trip you up, and you shouldn't trust someone just because they are being nice. The fox's good manners are part of his trick.
- Does the fox eat the Gingerbread Man?
- In the traditional story, yes: the fox offers a ride across the river and gobbles him up. In this bedtime retelling the fox only gets one sugar button, and the Gingerbread Man goes home.
- Where does the Gingerbread Man story come from?
- It was first printed as The Gingerbread Boy in the American children's magazine St. Nicholas in 1875. Similar runaway-food tales exist across Europe, including the English Johnny-Cake, the Norwegian pancake tale and the Russian Kolobok.
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