The Gingerbread Man
"The Gingerbread Man," originally titled "Pannekaken," is a Norwegian fairy tale that follows the adventures of a magical pancake that comes to life. The story begins with a mother preparing pancakes for her seven hungry children, who plead for a taste. In a twist, the pancake grows legs and escapes, leading to a chase by the children and various animals, including a man, a hen, and a pig. As the pancake encounters each pursuer, it uses clever taunts to outsmart them, showcasing a playful and humorous tone throughout the narrative.
However, the pancake's journey takes a turn when it meets a pig that offers to help it cross a stream. This relationship ultimately leads to the pancake's demise, as the pig swallows it whole. The tale is recognized for its repetitive structure and cumulative storytelling style, making it appealing to children. Its themes of cleverness and the interplay between predator and prey resonate across cultures, leading to numerous adaptations and variations in different countries. Overall, "The Gingerbread Man" illustrates the charm of traditional folktales, combining elements of magic, humor, and a moral lesson about wit and caution.
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Subject Terms
The Gingerbread Man
Author: Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Time Period: 1851 CE–1900 CE
Country or Culture: Norway
Genre: Fairy Tale
PLOT SUMMARY
The tale begins with a mother who is making pancakes to feed her brood of seven children. As she prepares the meal, she uses “new milk,” which presumably leads not only to a pleasing-looking cake, but one that can think and act independently. As this best-looking pancake lies sizzling in the pan, all seven of the children beg for a taste, with each child asking more convincingly than the one before: from the first child’s request of “Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, I am so hungry!” to the last child’s “Ah, do! dear, good, kind, nice, sweet, darling mother” (Asbjørnsen 62), there is a lesson not only in counting but in flattery. Listening to the mother and her children, the cake becomes afraid and «turn[s] itself» to cook both sides before jumping out of the frying pan and rolling out the door and away from the house.
The family pursues the tasty morsel, but the pancake escapes, only to meet a variety of additional characters who want to devour it. These characters include a man, a hen, a cock, a duck, a goose, a gander, and a pig. As the pancake interacts with each new character, the character expresses the desire to eat the tempting morsel, but the pancake is smarter. By the time the pancake meets the gander, it has mocked each character with a taunt similar to the one it delivers the gander: “When I have run away from Goody Poody and the goodman and seven squalling children, and from Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, and Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Poosey, I must run away from you too, Gander Pander” (66). The pancake is finally outwitted when the pig, who is smart enough to avoid asking if he can eat it, offers protective services. The story ends when the pig carries the pancake across a stream and “swallow[s] the pancake in one gulp” (67).
SIGNIFICANCE
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s version of the Gingerbread Man fairy tale is a Norwegian story originally titled Pannekaken, or “The Pancake.” Though an earlier version of the tale had been published in the American children’s periodical St. Nicholas Magazine in 1875, the story was translated into English by H. L. Brækstad in the 1881 book Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales.
One of the main reasons for this story’s continuing significance is its popularity across cultures. Versions of this Norwegian tale have been retold in Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, and the United States. Slight changes are made from translation to translation, but all variations are cumulative (or chain) tales and are combined with the talking beast (or animal) tale. The dual form makes “The Pancake” ideal for children for several reasons.
Repetition of ideas is the key ingredient in a cumulative tale. In Asbjørnsen’s version of the story, the repetition begins with the seven children requesting a taste of the treat. The first child begins the litany with a simple appeal, «Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, I am so hungry!» (62). The second child adds a bit of flattery, «Ah, do! dear, mother,» and by the time the seventh child calls for a sample, the request has burgeoned into «Ah, do! dear, good, kind, nice, sweet, darling mother» (62). This set of cumulative queries opens readers to expect more snowballing repetition as the story progresses, and the pancake provides just that as it interacts with a human and various animals it encounters in its bid for freedom.
The pancake first meets a man who greets the pancake and asks it to slow down so that he can eat it. The pancake taunts the man, saying, «When I have run away from Goody Poody and the goodman and seven squalling children, I must run away from you too, Manny Panny» (65). The pancake’s road is populated by several animals, however, so he will not escape so easily. After running from the man, the pancake meets a hen, a cock, a duck, a goose, a gander, and a pig. The seven children are the preview for the pancake’s seven later pursuers and his rhyming names for them. Similarly, the pancake’s taunts to the man are the preview for the cumulative jeers the pancake says to each of the animals it meets. By the time the pancake comes upon the pig, however, it has met its match. The pig convinces the pancake that traveling together through the woods is safer, and when they come upon a body of water, the pig persuades the pancake to ride across the stream on his snout, which results in the pig gobbling the pancake up and ultimately ending the story.
A second element is the crossover of tale types apparent in the talking animal tale type. The talking beast tale provides a mixture of popular elements that are also found in stories such as Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, and noodlehead tales. The rhyming elements echo the poetry found in Mother Goose tales; the pancake (or cookie) that grows legs or turns itself to cook and then flees from those who want to eat it reflects the magical aspect of the fairy tale; and characters who are easily outsmarted by a pancake is reminiscent of the noodlehead tale. Furthermore, «The Pancake» contains easily recognizable animals from other folktales. Asbjørnsen’s Norwegian and several oral German variations of the tale have a pig outwitting the pancake; however, at least one Scottish version has a wee bannock (which is a small loaf of flat bread) being eaten by a toad while another has the cake devoured by a fox who is then shot by a hunter. The fox is a common adversary and is found not only in the Scottish tale, but it also appears in Irish, English, and American adaptations.
No matter what ultimately consumes the pancake, the story’s simple format, talking animals, and humorous rhymes maintain its popularity throughout the Western world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen. «Pannekaken.» Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales. Trans. H. L. Brækstad. London, 1881. 62– 67. Print.
Ashliman, D. L., trans. and ed. «The Runaway Pancake: Folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther Type 2025.» Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts. U of Pittsburgh, 13 Aug. 2010. Web. 28 June 2013.
Davidson, Hilda Ellis, and Anna Chaudhri, eds. A Companion to the Fairy Tale. Cambridge: Brewer, 2006. Print.
Heiner, Heidi Anne. “The Annotated Gingerbread Man.” SurLaLune fairytales.com. SurLaLune Fairy Tales, 9 July 2007. Web. 12 July 2013.
Thomas, Joyce. “‘Catch if you can’: The Cumulative Tale.” A Companion to the Fairy Tale. Ed. Hilda Ellis Davidson and Anna Chaudhri. Cambridge: Brewer, 2006. 123–36. Print.