The Gingerbread Man and the Fox

 Magpie Tale #95
 

It is a well-known fact that gingerbread men and foxes are sworn enemies.

It is a lesser-known fact that gingerbread men are the finest shipwrights anyone has ever encountered. This may seem counterintuitive. After all, gingerbread men cannot swim and water or any liquid for that matter, dissolves a gingerbread man into nothingness. But this is precisely why they are such excellent shipwrights. Since they have a healthy fear of water, gingerbread men boats are more watertight and unsinkable than any other kind of craft. In fact, shipbuilding is the backbone of the gingerbread man economy.

Every five years the great Boat Festival is held on the royal island of Zingiberis. There is a contest that lasts weeks to see who has built the best boat. The king and queen of the gingerbread men sail in each boat and choose the best vessel. The builder of that boat becomes the royal shipwright until the next Boat Festival.

One year, two weeks prior to the Boat Festival a gingerbread man shipwright committed high treason. He had sold a boat to a fox. It was worse than that. He had given a boat to a fox.

His name was Rhy Gember. The fox in question had taken his family hostage and threatened to eat them. Rhy reluctantly turned over the boat, the beautiful boat he had meant to in enter in the Festival, in return for his family’s safety. Gloomily he watched the fox sail away laughing. If Gingerbread men could cry, he would have done so. That’s when he noticed his son preparing a small boat.

“What are you doing?” Rhy asked. “This is no time to go sailing.”

The son turned from his preparations. “Yes it is Dad. That fox is up to no good. While he had us captured he said he was going to Zingiberis, to eat the king and queen. Someone’s got to stop him.”

Rhy felt even worse than before. But his son was right. “I’m going with you.”

The fox was long gone, but they didn’t need to follow him. They knew where he was going. Zingiberis was a week’s sail from Rhy’s home, but a storm rose up, blowing them off course and damaging the boat. By the time they limped into Zingiberis, the Boat Festival was in full swing.

Beautiful boats lined the harbor, painted brightly and festooned with garlands. Several were sailing in the waters beyond the harbor. Everyone was having a good time. Rhy scanned the water for his boat. The easiest time for the fox to kidnap the king and queen would be when they were testing his boat. The fox could just sail off with them. But Rhy could not see his boat. “We need to find the royal guard. The fox could have hatched his plan by now.”

After docking their boat they made their way to the headquarters of the royal guard. The guards were horrified to hear that the king and queen were in danger.

“Which boat is yours?” asked a guard scanning papers that listed the place where each boat was docked.

“The Nutmeg.”

“She sets sail now!” cried the guard.

Without wasting a moment they hurried to the guards’ ship. It was not long before they were following the route The Nutmeg had taken.

“We’ll say The Nutmeg has been disqualified.” The head guard decided. “That should give us time to get the king and queen off the ship and arrest the fox.”

“Do you think it will be that easy?” asked Rhy.

“No,” said the head guard and handed Rhy a musket.

The ship was fast, and soon they had caught up with The Nutmeg. They singled to ask if they could board the ship. There was no answer from The Nutmeg. Instead, the boat sailed in the opposite direction. They gave chase and a great navel battle ensued. Afterwards, everyone would ask Rhy what it had been like, to fight for his king and queen. Rhy would never really answer these questions. He would say he was honored to have been there, but that he wished he had been home by his fire. He would say how frightened he had been and how he had wished the guards had left him at the dock. He would say he did it only because he had to finish what he had started. The askers would have to turn to Rhy’s son for the details they longed to hear. He would proudly tell them how they had stormed the ship. He would tell them how close they had come to falling into the water - a gingerbread man’s worst fear. And proudest of all, he would tell them how his father, Rhy Gember, had been the one to force the fox to surrender.