One day she made a special batch of gingerbread

men because they were extra big. Unfortunately for

the last gingerbread man she ran out of batter and he
was half the size of the others.
She decorated the gingerbread men with care, each
having socks, shirt and pants of different colors.
When it came to the little gingerbread man she felt
sorry for him and gave him more color than the

others. "It doesn't matter he's small," she thought,

"He'll still be tasty.

Everyone looked to see who was speaking.

It was a butterfly flying just outside the window.
Butterflies are naturally beautiful, but her wings were an
exceptionally pretty marbled blue.
"Come with me," she urged again.
The gingerbread men didn't react except to keep
staring. All but the smallest gingerbread man who
jumped up from the tray and leaped off the kitchen

windowsill onto the grass below faster than you could

say "hurry."
The Little Gingerbread Man
Page 3
"Where are we going?" he asked breathlessly.
"Away." And before the butterfly had finished
speaking children appeared in the yard. Spying the
little gingerbread man they started shrieking with
delight and began chasing him.

"Stop, stop," they shouted. "We want to eat you."

But with his little legs churning the gingerbread man
only ran faster. He yelled,
"I won't stop.

Run, run as fast as you can.

You can't catch me.
I'm the gingerbread man."
And truly those children could not catch him. Once out
of their sight he continued running until he had reached
a pasture where two horses were grazing. He sat down
on a rock near the fence.
"Don't stop," said the butterfly fluttering nearby.
"I want to rest," he argued.
The Little Gingerbread Man

Page 4

That was a mistake as one of the horses trotted

over to the fence and whinnied. "Oh you smell so
good little gingerbread man. Come over here so I can
smell you better."

The little gingerbread man shook his head, but

suddenly that horse jumped the fence and began
galloping after him, so he had to run even faster. He
called out,
"I outran children and I'll outrun you.
Run, run as fast as you can.
You can't catch me.
I'm the gingerbread man."
And truly, that horse could not catch him.
The next time he rested the little gingerbread man
took care to lie amongst the grass well off the road
where no one would see him.
"Everybody wants to eat me," he complained to the
butterfly. "Do you want to eat me, too?"

Laughing she answered. "I love the smell of

gingerbread. It's better than my favorite flowers. But
I sip nectar, not gingerbread. Besides, you're my
friend and friends don't eat friends."

The Little Gingerbread Man

Page 5
Pleased to hear that he had a friend the little
gingerbread man was about to reply when again they
were interrupted. A farmer's dog with a keen nose
had come to investigate. Licking his muzzle at the
sight of the gingerbread man, the dog said.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but little gingerbread
man you look so good. I mean tired. Please stay
awhile and rest if you like."

As the dog talked, he stepped closer and closer.

The closer he stepped, the more nervous became the

little gingerbread man. When the butterfly flitted
from her grass perch in alarm, the little gingerbread
man took off running with the dog nipping at his tiny
heels. He shouted,
"I outran children. I outran a horse,
and I'll outrun you, too.
Run, run as fast as you can.
You can't catch me.
I'm the gingerbread man."
And truly that dog could not catch him.
At last the little gingerbread man and the butterfly
reached a stream.
It wasn't a very big stream unless you are a tiny
gingerbread man. To him it was a river. From out
behind a bush sauntered a red fox stopping to
stretch because he had just awakened from a nap.
Looking at the gingerbread man he said
nonchalantly, "May I help you?"
The butterfly was quick to respond. "No thank you.
We're going to fly across this stream. We don't need
your help."

The Little Gingerbread Man

Page 5
Pleased to hear that he had a friend the little
gingerbread man was about to reply when again they

were interrupted. A farmer's dog with a keen nose

had come to investigate. Licking his muzzle at the
sight of the gingerbread man, the dog said.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but little gingerbread
man you look so good. I mean tired. Please stay
awhile and rest if you like."

As the dog talked, he stepped closer and closer.

The closer he stepped, the more nervous became the
little gingerbread man. When the butterfly flitted
from her grass perch in alarm, the little gingerbread
man took off running with the dog nipping at his tiny
heels. He shouted,
"I outran children. I outran a horse,
and I'll outrun you, too.
Run, run as fast as you can.
You can't catch me.
I'm the gingerbread man."

And truly that dog could not catch him.

At last the little gingerbread man and the butterfly
reached a stream.
It wasn't a very big stream unless you are a tiny
gingerbread man. To him it was a river. From out
behind a bush sauntered a red fox stopping to
stretch because he had just awakened from a nap.
Looking at the gingerbread man he said
nonchalantly, "May I help you?"
The butterfly was quick to respond. "No thank you.
We're going to fly across this stream. We don't need
your help."

The Little Gingerbread Man

Page 8

"You can carry me," cried the little gingerbread

man.
"Yes," she answered. "I'm stronger than you could
imagine. Now I'll take you somewhere safe."

She flew with him over farm fields and forests and
even mountains. It felt like they had been in the sky
forever when they reached a lake, its waters calm like
pale glass. There was an island in the middle of the
lake lined with forest trees. And among the trees was
where the butterfly took the little gingerbread man.
She flew down, down, and down until they came to

the foot of a pine tree.

They all lived happily ever after.

Little Miss Mary and the Big Monster Makeover

Page 1

PREVIOUS

Little Miss Mary was tired of shopping All day on her feet she'd been merrily hopping
From boutique to salon, from one to the other,
While asking for THIS and for THAT from her Mother...
"I want to have this and I want to have that!
These shoes that I bought will look nice with that hat.
My open-toed sandals are just, SOOO pass!
If I wear them to school, what WILL the girls say?
I need: a new skirt, and a dress, and a jacket,
For tennis, new trainers to match my new racket,
New t-shirt. New blouse. A new Fendi bag The one on display, with a WHOPPING price tag!"

NEXT

Little Miss Mary's Mommy was proud She too always spent to the limit allowed
On the gold credit card, which her husband had given She KNEW her excesses would soon be forgiven.
Little Miss Mary was a chip off the block.
If she could shop, she would shop and right round the clock!
Three-sixty a year and twenty-four-seven,
Impressive for someone who just turned eleven...
But hardly a coup, when ALL posh Mommies coo
Into Porsche baby prams: "Gucci-goo, Gucci-goo."
No wonder that Mary's first words to her nanny
Were: "Pla-da, Ga-ba-na, Lac-wa" and "A-ma-ni!"
"Moschino? Versace? Where shall we go next?"
"That's enough for today, you maxed-out the AmEx.
Any more shopping must wait till tomorrow,
There's plenty more money that Daddy can borrow."

On hearing the news Mary drew a deep sigh:

"But there's SOOO much more that I wanted to buy.
Sooo many shoes that I kept a keen eye on,
Sooo many dresses I wanted to try on."
But Mommy had already summoned assistants,
Who replied to her call in no more than an instance.
In a blink of an eye they were all in position,
Eager to please (as they worked for commission).
They loaded their bags in the big four-by-four.
They filled up the boot and they covered the floor,
Till there was no space left, no place left to pack,
So they piled even more bags above the ski-rack.

And off home they drove - Mother and Daughter

Hydrating themselves with Evian water;
Mom at the wheel of her new Chelsea Tractor,
Miss Mary behind her, poised to distract her...
With pertinent problems like: "How can one tell
Between bags that are bootleg and REAL Chanel?"

Or questions like: "Mom why don't WE have a butler?"

And other BIG issues from Vogue and from Tatler.

Little Miss Mary and the Big Monster Makeover

Page 3

PREVIOUS

The Monster yelled "BOO!" to give Mary a scare,

But Mary just fixed the great Beast with a stare.
She looked up and down from his toes to his hair
With total disdain while the Monster stood there.
"Why!" asked the Monster "You show me no fear!?"
"Have you looked in the mirror? You're just SOOO last year!
Your tail isn't bad, but is there a reason...
For sporting those horns, which are just SOOO last season?

The Monster was stunned. At a loss what to say.

His prey wasn't screaming or running away!
He wasn't accustomed to such a response,
He was used to HYSTERICS not pert nonchalance.
But Mary stayed poised as a lady should be,
She displayed no attempt or desire to flee.
She turned on the light so that he could see clearer
And showed the big Monster his FACE in the mirror.

NEXT

He gawked for a while at his wretched reflection

He winced at his wrinkled and withered complexion.
"My skin feels like leather, I have crusty eyes!"
"What did you expect when you don't moisturize?"
"My nails are all broken! My teeth are all yellow!
My fur is in clumps!" He let out a BELLOW!
"My horns are askew and my coat is molting."
He started to sob... "I am... truly... revolting!"
"Come on now don't cry." Said Little Miss Mary.
"You DO have a choice, you don't HAVE to be scary!
Behind that snarl and that piercing stare,
You're just a big softy - a HUGE teddy-bear!"

But the big hairy Monster was not quite as certain Embarrassed he wrapped himself up in a curtain
And told Little Mary that with-out a doubt,
He's a HIDEOUS creature and he'll NEVER come out.
Miss Mary agreed: "You are ugly for sure,
But it's something you really don't have to endure.
So you haven't been blessed with the best of genetics;
Who needs Mother Nature, when we have cosmetics!?
For each of your problems you'll find there's a cure
From a deep cleansing facial to a French pedicure.
To NUMEROUS methods for rogue hair removal
So what do you say? Do I have your approval?

Would you like to be pampered and fashioned and styled?

MADE-OVER BY MARY?" - The big Monster smiled.
"I can tell from that smile that it's been quite a while
Since you've seen a toothbrush, or have used a nail-file.
And I sense from your stench, or at least I presume,
That you're also a stranger to soap and perfume."

While Little Miss Mary stood pinching her nose

The big Monster blushed from his head to his toes.
"Don't worry" said Mary "We'll give you a shower
We'll soak you and clean you, we'll scrub and we'll scour.
We'll cleanse and we'll tone, we'll wax and we'll pluck,
We'll snip and we'll peel, we'll nip and we'll tuck!
If you want to look pretty you're on the right path.
Lets start with the basics... You're having a bath!"

Being the only thing in the world that wasn't violet, he was caught and
put in a cage.

People were shocked. Some were afraid and some were amazed and
a few thought it funny, because along with everyone else, the President
was very violet. Whole families were violet as were teachers, movie
stars, doctors, nurses, gas station attendants, the Queen of England,
the President of Mozambique, taxi-drivers, everybody. They went from
place to place in their violet cars and buses and rode violet bikes and
sat on violet furniture and ate violet food. Even Hershey's candy bars
had turned all violet as had Skittles and M&M's. Girls generally

thought this yucky, but some boys thought it was pretty neat.
It Could Happen...

The smartest scientists in the world gathered to

figure it out. Was something wrong with people's eyes
or was it a trick of nature? They did studies and tests
and analyzed and evaluated and debated and wrote
article after article, but couldn't explain it.
And no longer could people say they felt "blue" or
were "green" with envy or had a "green" thumb. So what
they said and how they said it began to change. Some
people said violet was now the most important color in
the world because it was everywhere. Others said that
violet had no importance at all because there was too
much of it. They discussed and argued, joined clubs,
held debates, wrote books, and produced movies all
about the issue of the importance or unimportance of
the color violet.
The color of the Blue Jay became a big issue because
he had such a little bit of blue and the world had such a
whole lot of violet. People argued about the importance
of that. Some said the Blue Jay must be a very special

Page 3

bird or maybe not a bird at all because he alone had

kept his true color. Others said this was silly, that the
Blue Jay ate bird seed and drank water and fluffed his
feathers and that other than his special color he was still
just a bird.
It Could Happen...

It was exactly one year to

the day after the world had
turned violet that people
awoke to find the world had
turned yellow. All except the
Blue Jay.
In some ways a yellow
world isn't any different than a
violet world. People simply
said yellow instead of violet
when they talked about things.
Only now the Blue Jay was
more important than ever
because he alone had stayed
the color blue and people
argued about what that meant.
They lined up for miles just to
take a look at him.

Page 4

It Could Happen...

Page 5

For the next two years, exactly on

the day the world had turned violet
and then yellow, it turned new
colors: first orange and then pink.
Still the Blue Jay stayed blue,
causing ever greater disagreement
-- until in the fifth year the whole
world turned blue.

It Could Happen...

The first thing people asked was what about the Blue
Jay. Had he stayed blue? Yes, he was still the same
color. No longer were there two colors in the world, but
just one -- the color blue. And because the Blue Jay was
a color like everybody and everything else people began
to lose interest. Now that he was neither more nor less
important crowds stopped coming and one day, six
months into the year that the world had turned blue,
somebody let him out of his cage and he flew off looking
happy to be free.

The very next morning the world regained its

Page 6

rainbow of colors as if nothing had ever happened. At

first this was a novelty but soon people forgot the world
had once been all violet. They forgot the world had once
turned yellow, then orange, then pink, and then blue.
They returned to saying they felt "blue" or were "green"
with envy or had a "green" thumb.

It Could Happen...

Page 7

But on occasion they wondered where the Blue Jay had

gone and how he was doing and, most of all, if he was still
the color blue and what it had all meant.