Once upon a time, there was a talented baker who lived in a small village. He and his wife had their own bakery, which was famous for having the best baked goods in town. Every morning, the villagers would line up outside to purchase his bread, muffins, and sweet rolls when they were fresh from the oven.
Even though he never received a complaint about his selection, the baker thought it was time to give his customers a little variety. He found a recipe to make gingerbread cookies and purchased the needed ingredients. He brought them back to his bakery and mixed them into dough.
The baker cut the dough into the shapes of little men and spread them over a cooking tray. Using frosting, he painted eyes, mouths, vests, buttons, pants, and little shoes on the cookies and put the tray into the oven. Soon the entire town was filled with the sweet scent of freshly baked gingerbread. Before he knew it, there was a line of hungry villagers outside the bakery’s door.
What the baker didn’t know at the time was that he had accidentally purchased flour that had a pinch of magic in it. So when the cookies were finished baking, he opened the oven—and one Gingerbread Man leaped off the tray and ran around the bakery.
“Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man!” the cookie sang.
The baker made a mess in his bakery trying to seize the enchanted cookie, but it was too fast to catch. The Gingerbread Man ran out the door and through the village, laughing hysterically as he went.
“Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man!” he sang to taunt the villagers.
The cookie looked delicious, so all the villagers chased after the Gingerbread Man, with the baker leading the charge. The Gingerbread Man was faster than all of them.