Running gingerbread man surprises Santa

About this drawing

A running gingerbread man is the star of one of America's best-loved folk tales, a story so rhythmic that kids often chant along before they can read the words.

It begins with an old woman who bakes a cookie shaped like a little boy. When she opens the oven, he jumps off the pan and runs out the door. As he goes, he taunts everyone with his famous line: run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man.

One after another, the old woman, her husband, a cow, a horse and a group of farmhands join the chase, and every time the cookie repeats his rhyme. That pattern of repetition is why teachers love the story. It helps young listeners predict what comes next, remember sequences and practice reading aloud.

The ending carries a lesson. At a river, a sly fox offers to carry him across. The gingerbread man climbs on his tail, then his back, then his nose, and snap, the fox eats him. Versions of the tale were printed in American children's magazines in the 1800s, and today many retellings swap in gentler endings or send the cookie on brand-new adventures.

• gingerbread man
• folk tale
• santa
• reindeer