The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man is a fairy tale first collected in 1875 by an anonymous author in the May issue of St. Nicholas Magazine.

Plot
An old woman and her husband bake a gingerbread man, who then gets up and runs away from them! The elders are not able to catch the Gingerbread Man, so many other people join in the chase such a farmers and their animals, all being taunted by the rhyme:
 * I've run away from a little old woman,
 * A little old man,
 * And I can run away from you, I can!

or in later variants—
 * Run, run as fast as you can!
 * You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!
 * The chase ends when the Gingerbread Man finds himself being devoured by a fox; he cries, "I'm quarter gone...I'm half gone...I'm three-quarters gone...I'm all gone!".
 * The chase ends when the Gingerbread Man finds himself being devoured by a fox; he cries, "I'm quarter gone...I'm half gone...I'm three-quarters gone...I'm all gone!".

Variants

 * Some versions omit this last phrase, and some state the fox has to earn the Gingerbread Man's trust before he is devoured. Others say he accepts the fox's offer to carry him over a stream, then is eaten mid-stream.