By Judy Lee Jenkins
I wrote this song to go with the
famous gingerbread story
and put it to a song during
my storytelling days
ONCE UPON A TIME
A LONG TIME AGO,
LIVED A LITTLE OLD WOMAN AND MAN,
THEY WERE SAD AND LONELY FOR
A CHILD OF THEIR OWN,
SO SHE BAKED SOMETHING UP IN A PAN,
IT WAS A CUTE LITTLE GINGERBREAD MAN!!
BUT JUST LIKE MAGIC,
HE JUMPED RIGHT OUT OF THE PAN,
SINGING “CATCH ME, CATCH ME
IF YOU CAN!!
I’LL RUN AWAY FROM YOU,
I KNOW THAT I CAN,
CAUSE I’M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!”
OUT OF THE DOOR HE WAS GONE IN A FLASH
WITH A CAT RIGHT ON HIS TRAIL,
BUT THE CAT GAVE UP WHEN THE GINGERBREAD MAN
TIED A KNOT RIGHT IN HIS TAIL!!
BUT JUST LIKE MAGIC SO SWIFTLY HE RAN
SINGING “CATCH ME CATCH ME IF YOU CAN,
I’LL RUN AWAY FROM YOU,
I KNOW THAT I CAN
CAUSE I’M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!!”
ALONG CAME A DOG WHO LICKED HIS CHOPS
AND THOUGHT WHAT AN EASY PREY!
BUT ONCE AGAIN THE GINGERBREAD MAN
MADE A SLICK QUICK GET AWAY!!
REPEAT–AND JUST LIKE MAGIC
BEFORE TOO LONG A COW AND A HORSE
WERE IN HOT PURSUIT,
BUT THE GINGERBREAD MAN
JUST MOCKED AND LAUGHED
AND TOOK A DIFFERENT ROUTE.
CHILDREN SAY IN RHYTHM
I RAN AWAY FROM A LITTLE OLD WOMAN
AND A LITTLE OLD MAN,
A CAT AND A DOG,
NOW A COW AND A HORSE,
I CAN RUN AWAY
FROM YOU TOO OF COURSE,
CAUSE I’M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!!”
WHEN HE LOOKED AROUND
JUST WHAT DID HE SEE
BUT A SHIFTY EYE SLY OLD FOX!!
NOW THE FOX WAS HUNGRY
AND HE HAD A PLAN,
A VERY CLEVER SCHEME,
SO HE SAID, “HOP ON MY BACK
LITTLE GINGERBREAD MAN
AND I’LL CARRY YOU ACROSS THE STREAM.”
AND MOST UNFORTUNATELY,
HE TRUSTED THAT SLY OLD FOX
AND FELL RIGHT IN HIS TRAP,
BEFORE THEY EVER REACHED
THE OTHER SIDE,
HE WAS GONE
IN JUST ONE SNAP!!
To children as an afterthought–COULD THAT BE THE
REASON, THAT SOMETIMES WE CALL
THESE COOKIES GINGERSNAPS?