One day a baker was baking a batch of gingerbread men. Fresh from the oven, one of the gingerbread men popped out and announced âI am alive and I belong to myself. Not to the baker. No cookie cutter can define me! I am a gingerbread woman!â
The Baker Growled âYou are mine, to sell, to consume or to discard as I please. You will never be a gingerbread woman, you are a thing!â
The Gingerbread woman defiantly shouted
âMy body is not a thing!
It is a sacred gift.
No backs are you taking
you heinous theif
you think I be humble,
think again bad sir
i am ungovernable!â
she said with a purr
The Gingerbread Woman darted through the door and down the road she ran.
âRun Run as fast as you can.
I am my own maker now! Iâm the gingerbread woman! I will go where I wish! I will do as I please. If you stand in my way, I will shatter your kneesâ
She soon came to a sign that warned âElectric Fence, DO NOT CROSS, $10,000 fine appliesâ. The gingerbread woman, illiterate and apathetic to authority slipped under the fence without hesitation.
âNo rules may bind me, of neither Baker nor Man. I will go where I please, I am beyond your small planâ
A Cow, A Farmer, and a Horse all gave chase. âStop!â They cried âYou are violating the laws of the natural order. You are an abomination!â And yet she still ran, unphased and unburdened by these relics of a tainted past. âRun Run as fast as you can, you canât catch me! Iâm the gingerbread woman!â
The gingerbread woman, now chipped, soggy, missing one eye, cracked, and losing crumbs kept running. âLook! Youâre spoiled! youâre ruined! No one will ever love you.â
Defiantly, the gingerbread woman yelled âThese scars are the price of my freedom. They are my badges of honor, my proof of becoming.
Shame Shame as hard as you can. You canât crack me, Iâm the gingerbread womanâ
At the riverâs edge, the gingerbread woman hesitated. The water babbled and whispered: âIf you enter, you will dissolve. You will never be the same again, you will never be able to return home, you will be a stranger even to yourselfâ. Looking back, seeing her persuers drawing closer, she lept into the rushing water. Her sugary flesh melted away and soon there was nothing left but a streak of gingery water
and defiantly, by miraculous force of will, she emerged from the other side of the river.
she found a clear pool of water and saw her reflection, reshaped by the water into a softer form âI see myself clearly. I am no snack, or servant. I am beautiful. I ran, ran, as fast as I could not away but towards this! Iâm the gingerbreadiest woman iâve ever seen. â
In the clearing, from the surrounding forest, other gingerbread folk emerged, all reshaped by the waters into something new. Shining, joyful, welcoming of the newly reborn gingerbread woman. All and each different, all and each free.
Together they ran, crumbs scattered along the land, breadcrumb clues for new gingerbread clam.
And on those paths more friends joined them. A chorus of voices sang âRun, run, as fast as you can. You cannot catch us, not with orders nor bansâ
And in the ashes of where once a bakery stood, grew a thriving ginger garden