The Little Gingerbread Man

THE LITTLE GINGERBREAD MAN ONE day, the cook went into the kitchen to make some gingerbread. She took some flour, water, molasses, ginger, and mixed them all together. She then rolled it out into a beautiful, smooth, dark-yellow dough. She took out square and round pans to make cakes. Cook said, “I’m going to make a gingerbread man for little Bobby.” She took a nice round lump of dough for his body, and a smaller lump for his head, which she stretched a little for the neck. Two other lumps were stuck on beneath for the legs and were stretched into the right shape with feet and two more smaller pieces were made into arms with hands. Cook’s best work was done on the head, ears were added and a nose was carefully molded, a mouth was made of a big raisin, and two bright little eyes were made with burnt almonds and caraway seeds. The gingerbread man was now ready for baking, and he was a good-looking gingerbread man. In fact, he looked so good that the cook was afraid he was going to cause trouble. She put the square and round cakes in the oven and then she put the gingerbread man in the far back corner, where he couldn’t get away in a hurry. Then cook went to sweep the living room. She swept, and she swept till the clock struck twelve. Cook dropped her broom in a hurry and said Oh no! the gingerbread will be burned. Cook ran into the kitchen and threw open the oven door. The square and the round cakes were all done, nice, hard and brown. The gingerbread man was all done, nice, hard and brown too but he was standing up in the corner. His little caraway-seed eyes sparkling, and his raisin mouth bubbling over with laughter as he waited for the oven door to open. As soon as the oven door was opened, he jumped right over the square and round cakes, over the cook’s arm, and before cook could do anything he was running across the kitchen floor, as fast as his little legs would go. He ran towards the back door, which was wide open. The cook turned around as fast as she could, which wasn’t very fast, for she had been taken by surprise. She saw lying across the back doorway old Mouser, the cat fast asleep in the sun. “Mouser, Mouser,” she cried, “stop the gingerbread man! I want him for little Bobby.” Mouser thought it was only someone calling her name in her dreams, and she simply rolled over until cook called her name again, “Mouser, Mouser!” The old cat jumped up, but just as she turned round to ask the cook what all the noise was about, the little gingerbread man cleverly ran under her tail, and in an instant was out the door. Mouser turned in a hurry and ran after the gingerbread man although she was still sleepy and did not know what she was trying to catch. The cook came running behind the cat also trying to catch the gingerbread man. At the bottom of the walk, was Towser, the dog lying fast asleep in the sun against the warm stones of the garden wall. Cook called out: “Towser, Towser, stop the gingerbread man! I want him for little Bobby.” When Towser first heard her calling he thought someone was speaking in his dream and with a snore he turned over on his side. Then cook called his name again “Towser, Towser, stop him, stop him!” The dog woke up and jumped to his feet to see who he was supposed to stop. But just as the dog jumped up, the gingerbread man, who had been waiting for the chance, quietly ran between the dog’s legs, and climbed up on the top of the stone wall, so that Towser saw nothing but the cat running towards him and the cook running behind the cat. The dog thought at once the cat must have stolen something and that the cook wanted the dog to stop the cat. Towser liked nothing better than going after the cat, so he jumped up so fast that the poor cat did not have time to stop herself or to get out of his way, and they crashed together with a lot of barking, meowing, howling, scratching, and biting. The poor cook who had been running so fast behind the cat also did not have time to stop and she fell right on top of the dog and cat and the three of them rolled about in a heap together. The cat scratched whoever was closest whether it was the dog or the cook, and the dog bit whoever was closest whether it was the cat or the cook, so that the poor cook was badly attacked from both animals. Meanwhile, the gingerbread man stood on the top of the garden wall with his hands in his pockets, looking at the heap of cook and animals laughing till the tears ran down from his little caraway-seed eyes and his raisin mouth was bubbling all over with fun he had caused. After a while, the banged-up cat managed to get out from under the cook and the dog. She had enough of hunting gingerbread men, and she crept back to the kitchen to lick her wounds. The dog who was mad because his face was badly scratched, let go of the cook, and finally saw the gingerbread man. Towser ran to the garden wall to catch him. The cook picked herself up off the ground, her face was badly scratched too and her dress was torn and dirty but she was determined to catch the gingerbread man so she followed after the dog at a much slower pace than before. When the gingerbread man saw the dog coming, he jumped down from the wall and began to run across the field. In the middle of the field was a tree and at the bottom of the tree lay Jocko the monkey. Jocko was not sleeping, he saw the gingerbread man running across field towards him and he heard the cook calling his name “Jocko, Jocko stop the gingerbread man!” He stood up and at once jumped towards the gingerbread man. But he jumped so high and so far that he went right over the top of the gingerbread man and landed on top of Towser the dog who was so surprised that he turned and bit the end of Jocko’s tail right off. Jocko quickly jumped off the dog, chattering his displeasure. Meanwhile, the gingerbread man ran to the bottom of the tree, and said to himself: “Now, I know the dog cannot climb a tree, and I don’t think the cook can climb a tree; and as for the monkey I’m not sure if it can climb a tree because I have never seen a monkey before, so I think I will climb up the tree.” So the gingerbread man pulled himself up hand over hand until he had got to the branch at the very top of the tree. But the monkey jumped with one spring onto the lowest branch, and in an instant he also was at the top of the tree. The gingerbread man crawled out to the end of the branch, and hung by one hand, but the monkey swung himself under the branch, and stretching out his long arm, he grabbed the gingerbread man and pulled him in. Then Jocko held the gingerbread man up and looked at him so hungrily that the gingerbread man’s little raisin mouth began to turn down at the corners, and the caraway-seed eyes filled with tears. What do you think happened next? Little Bobby himself came running up to the tree. He had been taking his nap upstairs, and in his dream he kept hearing people call “Little Bobby, little Bobby!” until finally he woke up and was so sure that someone was calling his name that he ran downstairs, he did not even stop to put on his shoes. As he came down the stairs, he could see the tree through the window with the cook and the dog looking up at the monkey. Little Bobby could even hear the barking of Towser and the chattering of Jocko. He ran down the walk, his little bare feet stepping across the warm gravel. He climbed over the wall, and in a few seconds was standing under the tree, just as Jocko the monkey was holding up the poor little gingerbread man. “Drop it, Jocko!” cried Bobby, and Jocko dropped the gingerbread man so it fell right into Bobby’s outstretched hands. Bobby held up the gingerbread man and looked at him. The little raisin mouth turned down even lower in the corners and tears fell out of the caraway-seed eyes. Bobby was too hungry to notice the gingerbread man’s tears, and he took a big bite, and bit off both of his legs and a piece of his body. NO! said the gingerbread man, “I’M ONE-THIRD GONE!” Bobby took a second bite and bit off the arms and the rest of the body. NO! said the gingerbread man, “I’M TWO-THIRDS GONE!” Bobby took a third bite and ate the head of the gingerbread man. NO! said the gingerbread man, “I’m all gone!” That was the end of the gingerbread man…..THE END!