The Little Gingerbread Man

one day the cook went to the kitchen to make some gingerbread; she took some

flour and water and treacle and ginger and mixed them all well together, and she put

in some more water to make it thin and then some more flour to make it thick and

a little salt and some spice, and then she rolled it out into a beautifully smooth, dark

yellow dough, then she took the square tens and cut out some square

cakes for the little boys, and with some round tins, she cut out some round cakes

for the little girls and then she said,

“I’m going to make a little gingerbread man for a little Bobby.”

So she took a nice round lump of dough for his body and a smaller lump for his head

which she pulled out a little for the neck; two other lumps were stuck on beneath

for the legs and were pulled out into proper shape with feet and toes all complete,

and two still smaller pieces were made into arms with dear little hands and fingers,

but the nicest work was done on the head, for the top was frizzed up into a pretty

sugary hat, on either side, was made a dear little ear that in front after the nose had

been carefully molded, a beautiful mouth was made out of a big raisin, and two bright

little eyes with burnt almonds and caraway seed, then the gingerbread man was

finished ready for baking, and a very jolly little man he was; in fact, he looked so sly

that the cook was afraid he was plotting some mischief, and when the butter was

ready for the oven, she put in the square cakes, and she put in the round cakes

and then she put the little gingerbread man in a far back corner where he couldn’t

getaway in a hurry.

Cook goes up to sweep the parlor; then she went up to sweep the parlor

and she swept, and she swept till the clock struck twelve when she dropped

her broom in a hurry and exclaiming “locks, the gingerbread will be all baked

to a cinder” she ran down into the kitchen and threw open the oven door and

the square cakes  were all done nice and hard and brown, and the round cakes

were all done nice and hard and brown, and the gingerbread man was all done

too nice and hard and brown, and he was standing up in his corner with his little

caraway seed eyes sparkling and his raised mouth bubbling over with mischief

while he waited for the oven door to be opened; the instant the door was opened

with a hop skip and a jump, he went right over the square cakes and the round cakes

and over the cook’s arm, and before she could say “Jack Robinson,” he was running

across the kitchen floor as fast as his little legs would carry him towards

the back door, which was standing wide open and through which he could see the garden path.

The gingerbread man escaped the old cook and turned round as fast as she could which

was very fast where she was rather a heavy woman and she had been quite taken

by surprise, and she saw him lying right across the doorway, fast asleep in the Sun old

Mouser the cat. “Mouser, Mouser,” she cried “stop the gingerbread man; I want him

for a little Bobby” when the cook first called Mouser thought it was only someone

calling in her dreams and rolled over lazily, and the cook called again “Mouser”,

and the old cat sprang up with a jump, but just as she turned round to ask the cook

what all the noise was about the little gingerbread man cleverly jumped under her tail

and in an instant was trotting down the garden walk, Mouser turned in a hurry and ran

after although she was still rather too sleepy to know what it was she was trying to

catch, and after the cat came to cook, lumbering along rather heavily but also making

pretty good speed, now at the bottom of the walk, lying fast asleep in the Sun against

the warm stones of the garden wall was Towser the dog and the cook called out

“Towser, Towser, stop the gingerbread man; I want him for little Bobby,” and when

Towser first heard her calling, he thought it was someone speaking in his dreams

and he only turned over on his side with another snore, and then the cook called him

again “Towser, Towser, stop him, stop him” then the dog woke up in good earnest

and jumped up on his feet to see what it was that he should stop, but just as the dog

jumped up the little gingerbread man who had been watching for the chance quietly

slipped between his legs and climbed up on the top of the stone wall so that Towser

saw nothing but the cat running towards him down the walk, and behind the cat

the cook, now quite out of breath cook takes a tumble, he thought at once that the cat

must have stolen something and that it was the cat the cook wanted him to stop,

now if there was anything that Towser liked, it was going after the cat, and he jumped

up the walk so fiercely that the poor cat did not have time to stop herself or to get out

of his way, and they came together with a great fizzing and barking and meowing

and howling and scratching and biting as if a couple of Kathryn’s wheels had gone off

in the wrong way and had got mixed up with one another, but the old cook had been

running so hard that she was not able to stop herself any better than the cat had

done, and she fell right on top of the mixed-up dog and cat so that all three rolled over

on the walk in a heap together, and a cat scratched whichever came nearest whether

it was a piece of the dog or of the cook, and the dog bit at whatever came nearest,

whether it was a piece of the cat or the cook so that the poor cook was badly

pummeled on both sides.

Meanwhile, the gingerbread man had climbed up on the garden wall and stood

on the top with his hands in his pockets, looking at the scrimmage and laughing till

the tears ran down from his little caraway seed eyes, and his raison mouth was

bubbling all over with fun.

After a little while, the cat managed to pull herself out from under the cook

and the dog and a very cast down and crumpled up looking cat she was, she had

had enough of hunting gingerbread men, and she crept back to the kitchen to repair

damages, the dog, who was very cross because his face had been badly scratched,

let go of the cook and, at last, catching sight of the gingerbread man, made a bolt

for the garden wall, the cook picked herself up, and although her face was also badly

scratched, and her dress was torn; she was determined to see the end of the chase,

and now she followed after the dog, though this time more slowly when the

gingerbread man saw the dog coming he jumped down on the farther side of

the wall and began running across the field; now in the middle of the field was a tree,

and at the foot of the tree was lying Jaakko, the monkey, he wasn’t asleep,

the monkeys never are, and when he saw the little man running across the field and

heard the cook call, “Jacko Jaakko, stop the gingerbread man” he at once gave

one big jump, but he jumped so fast and so far that he went right over

the gingerbread man, and as luck would have it, he came down on the back of Towser

the dog who had just scrambled over the wall and whom he had not noticed before,

Towser was naturally taken by surprise, but he turned his head around and promptly

a bit off the end of the monkey‘s tail, and Jacko quickly jumped off again, chattering

his indignation, the monkey catches the gingerbread man.

Meanwhile, the gingerbread man had got to the bottom of the three and was saying

to himself “now I know the dog can’t climb a tree, and I don’t believe the old cook can

climb a tree, and as for the monkey, I’m not sure, for I’ve never seen a monkey before,

but I am going up”, so he pulled himself up hand over hand until he had got to the

topmost branch, but the monkey had 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 furthermost end of the branch and hugged by one hand, but the monkey

swung himself under the branch and stretching out his long arm, he pulled the

gingerbread man in, then he held him up and looked at him so hungrily that the little

raisin mouth began to pucker down at the corners, and the caraway seed eyes

filled with tears, and then what do you think happened?

why!! little Bobby himself came running up; he had been taking his noonday nap

upstairs and in his dreams, it seemed as if he kept hearing people call him

“Little Bobby, little Bobby.”

until finally he jumped up with a start and was so sure that someone

was calling him, and he ran downstairs without even waiting to put on his shoes.

Bobby thought he heard someone calling; as he came down, he could see through

the window in the field beyond the garden, the cook and the dog and the monkey,

and could even hear the barking of Towser and the chattering of Jocko,

he scampered down the walk with his little bare feet pattering against the warm

travel climbed over the wall and in a few seconds, arrived under the tree just as

Jacko was holding up the poor little gingerbread man “drop it to Jaco,” cried Bobby,

and drop it. Jocko did it for he always had to mind Bobby; he dropped it so straight

that the gingerbread man fell right into Bobby’s uplifted pinafore; then Bobby held

him up and looked at him, and the little raisin mouth puckered down lower than ever

and the tears ran right out of the caraway seed’s eyes, but bobby was too hungry

to mind gingerbread tears, and he gave one big bite and swallowed down both legs

and a piece of the body,

“Oh,” said the gingerbread man, “I’m one-third gone,”

Bobby gave a second bite and swallowed the rest of the body and the arms,

“Oh,” said the gingerbread man, “I’m two-thirds gone,”

Bobby gave a third bite and gulped down the head,

“Oh,” said the gingerbread man, “I’m all gone,”

and so he was, and that is the end of the story.

The End