He thus meets with a variety of dangers and people, and manages to run away from them as long as he hears their threat directly. This image closely resembles human evolution, with its different interactions and experiences. The man manages to escape every time simply because he has the crude instinct of fear and self-defense. What is interesting is that the gingerbread man runs away from his home although the second version of the story emphasizes clearly that the woman had baked him not to eat him but because she could have no children of her own: "I have decided to bake a gingerbread man. Then we will have a little boy to call our very own!"("The Gingerbread Man") Thus, it would seem unclear why the boy runs away immediately from the old woman, when she did not intend to harm him.
This fact only highlights the more the idea that the tale is in fact a fable about immaturity and lack of discernment. The gingerbread man runs away from the only place he could have been safe (the house of the old man and woman) and goes eagerly into the world. Also, he is so confident in his own forces that he becomes imprudent and is not careful enough. In the first version of the Gingerbread Boy his little speech when he meets the fox emphasizes the fact that his previous success with running away makes him brag and feel too full of confidence:...
Here too the immaturity of the gingerbread boy in the first version is more accentuated than that of the gingerbread man in the second.
Thus, the story, in both its versions, is a lesson on immaturity and lack of thoughtfulness. In his eagerness to experience, just like a child, the gingerbread man plunges into the world without minding the perils he meets. Moreover, when he successfully avoids some of these perils, he starts to think that he can do anything he proposes and that he can runaway from anyone. The fox, with its cunningness, manages to deceive him very fast though. The refrain of the tale seems to translate exactly this feeling of immature elation, that gives the impression one can do anything he likes: "Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" The tragic ending of the man obviously signifies that this feeling of unabated and imprudent self-confidence is specific of an immature phase in life, and that every human being is eventually very vulnerable.
