In the beginning of the story, a little old woman baked a gingerbread man. When she took him out of the oven, he ran away. The little old woman and her husband, the little old man, chased the gingerbread man, but they could not catch him. The gingerbread man said, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."

The gingerbread man passed the pig, who wanted to eat him, but the pig could not catch him. He passed a hungry cow and then a horse, but the gingerbread man easily ran away and said, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."

When he comes to a river, the gingerbread man stopped -- he could not swim. A sly fox offered to help him across the river, "I won't eat you," the fox said, "Just hop on my tail." The gingerbread man climbed onto the fox's tail and the fox started to swim across the river. Soon, the fox said, "You are too heavy, climb onto my back." So the gingerbread man did. Then the fox said, "You are too heavy, climb onto my nose." So the gingerbread man did. When they reached the riverbank, the fox tossed the gingerbread man into his mouth and ate him. And that was the end of the gingerbread man.