"Gingerbread Man" is one of the most famous Russian folk tales, but many are wondering who the author of this story is. After all, the whole Russian people cannot be the author of one fairy tale, in addition, from somewhere, after all, a “canonical” version of the text arose, time and time again published in colorful children's books. So who wrote "The Gingerbread Man"?
How people became the author of the tale "Kolobok"
Folk tales relate to oral folklore, folklore. Such tales were not recorded - they were passed from mouth to mouth, told from memory, "overgrown" with details, modified, as a result, the same fairy tale story could exist simultaneously in many variations.
At the same time, some fairy tales are repeated in folklore of different countries. And "Gingerbread Man" is no exception. According to the classifier of fairy tales, the story about the bun, who ran away from grandfather and grandmother, belongs to the type of stories about "run away pancake", and not only the Slavic peoples have similar tales. For example, an American gingerbread man is the hero of the same story about how baking comes to life, escapes from its creators and, as a result, is still eaten. This story can be found among German and Uzbek, English and Tatar tales, in the countries of Scandinavia and other places of the world.
Thus, the author of the tale "Gingerbread Man" is really a people who for centuries retold this story to each other. However, in recent decades, we most often get acquainted with this story, reading collections of fairy tales. And the text published in them really has an author.
