This is a retelling of the American classic fairy tale 'The Gingerbread Man' (sometimes called 'The Gingerbread Boy'), which first appeared in the May 1875 issue of the St. Nicholas Magazine.
The story tells of a Gingerbread Boy who runs away from the little old lady who bakes him; 'I shall make a little boy out of gingerbread. I shall make his eyes from two fat currants. I shall make his nose and mouth from bits of lemon-peel. I shall make his coat from sugar'' she tells her little old husband.
She cuts out the pastry and proceeds to make her gingerbread boy and puts him in the oven. When it is time for her to take him out, she hears a cry of 'Let me out! Let me out!' coming from within the oven. She opens the oven door and the gingerbread boy pops out and, sensing freedom, immediately runs away.
He is chased by the little old lady and her little old husband but they are unable to catch him as he runs swiftly and chants, 'Run, run, run as fast as you can, / You can't catch me, / I'm the gingerbread man!' And they don't catch him.
As he runs he passes a cow and a horse and they join the chase but they, too, are unsuccessful at catching the gingerbread boy, who continues to taunt them with his chant. Then he meets a sly old fox who tells him that he does not want to catch him, merely to talk to him. And the gingerbread boy stops when he comes to a river that he knows he will be unable to cross.
At this point the fox catches up with him and he asks the fox, 'What shall I do? I cannot cross the river.' The fox offers a solution and the gingerbread boy accepts and is ferried across the river first on the fox's tail, then on the fox's back and finally on the fox's nose. He reaches the other side safely ... or so he thinks.
It is then that the fox shows his true colours, he tosses the gingerbread boy into the air, catches him in his mouth and begins to eat him. 'Oh dear! I am one quarter gone!' cries the gingerbread boy. Then he cries, 'I am half gone!' followed by 'I am three-quarters gone!'
Sadly, after that he says nothing more as the crafty fox has eaten him ... what a sad ending to a fairy tale ...