The Gingerbread Man

A kindly old woman shaped some gingerbread dough into a little man and popped it in the oven. The moment he was baked, the gingerbread man leaped out of the oven and dashed straight out of the house.

The old woman, her husband, and the family dog all chased after him, but the gingerbread man ran incredibly fast, singing a taunting song: "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

He raced past a cow and a horse trying to catch him in a field, but he escaped every time with his quick speed, until he reached the bank of a wide river blocking his way.

A sly fox offered to carry him across the river on his back. The gingerbread man trusted him and hopped on, but the fox slowly swam deeper and deeper into the water.

As the water rose close to his back, the fox told the gingerbread man to move up onto his nose to stay dry. As he got close to the fox's mouth, the fox snapped him up in one bite — a lesson that too much pride can bring trouble in the end.

Too much pride and overconfidence can lead us straight into the trap of someone even cleverer.