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Once upon a time there was
it little girl who lived in a village. She was such a nice little girl
that her grandmother was very fond of her, and made her a little red
cloak with a hood. So everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One day, when her mother was baking, she
said: "I hear your poor grandmother is ill in bed. You shall go across
the forest. and see how she is, and take her this cake and a pot of
butter."
Little Red Riding Hood was delighted to go, though it was rather a long
walk. So she took the basket with the cakes and butter on her arm, and
set off. No sooner
had she got well into the forest, than a wolf came by that road. "Good
morning, Red Riding Hood," said the wolf; "where are you going?"
Now. Red Riding Hood did not know that it is
dangerous to stop and speak to wolves, and she only thought him a nice
respectable wolf who knew manners. So she made a curtsey, and said:-
"I'm going to see grandmother, because she's
ill; and I am taking her a cake and a pot of butter."
"Where does your grandmother live?" asked
the wolf. "In a
cottage quite by itself, across the forest," said Red Hiding Hood.
"Well, good morning," said the wolf. "If I
were you, I would stop for a while, and pick some wild flowers to make a
posy for your grandmother.''
Red Riding Hood thought this would please
her granny very much, and the wolf trotted away.
As soon as he was out of her sight, he
galloped away to the old woman's cottage, and knocked.
"Who's there?" asked the old woman, in a
feeble voice.
"Little Red Riding Hood," said the wolf, imitating a little girl's
voice. "Mother has sent you a cake and a pot of butter."
"Lift up the latch and walk in." said the
grandmother; "I'm ill in bed, and can't come to the door."
So the wolf lifted the latch and shrank in,
and gobbled up the poor old grandmother in a moment. Then he put on her
nightgown and nightcap, got into bed, and pulled up the bedclothes.
Presently Red Riding Hood came and knocked
at the door. "Who's
there?'' asked the wolf, imitating the grandmother's voice.
"Little Red Riding Hood. Mother has sent you
a cake and a pot of butter."
"Lift up the latch and walk in," said the
wolf, and Red Hiding Hood entered.
The Wolf had got down so far under the
bedclothes that nothing of him could he seen but the top of his
nightcap. "How
hoarse you are, Granny!!" said Red Riding Hood.
That's because I've got such a bad cold, my
dear." said the wolf. "It's getting late, so you must undress and come
to bed.'' When Red
Riding Hood got into bed, she saw the wolf's ears sticking out from
under the nightcap. "What great ears you've got. Granny! " she said.
"All the better to hear with my dear!" said
the Wolf. "And what
great arms you've got, Granny!"
"All the better to hug
with, my dear!"
"But, Granny, what great eves you've got!"
"All the better to see with, my dear!"
"But, Granny, what great teeth you've got!"
said Red Riding Hood," who began to feel frightened.
"All the better to eat you my dear!" shouted
the wolf. And the wicked beast jumped up, and ate her all up at a
mouthful. As it got
dusk, Red Riding Hood's mother began to get very anxious because she had
not come back, for as she had never thought Red Riding Hood would stop
and pick flowers in the forest, she had expected her home by sunset, and
had said nothing about her stopping at her grandmother's for the night.
So when her husband came home, she said:
"I'm afraid something has happened to Red
Riding Hood. I sent her to her grandmother's this morning, and she has
never come back. You must go and look for her; and take your lantern and
your axe for fear of wolves." So Red Riding Hood's father took his
lantern and axe, and asked a friend to go withhim across the forest.
When they got to the grandmother's cottage,
it was quite dark. They knocked, and the wolf called out "Lift up the
latch and walk in," for he thought he would make another meal off
whoever it was. But when he saw the two men enter, one with the axe and
the other with the lantern, he began to feel horribly uncomfortable,
especially as he could not run away quickly, because he was so fat from
eating the grandmother and Red Hiding Hood. Red Riding Hood's father saw
in a minute what had happened, and he flung his axe at the wolf and cut
him open. Immediately the grandmother and Red Hiding Hood jumped out of
the wolf's inside, and the wolf made straight up the chimney.
"I think we've got him now," said Red Riding
Hood's father; "make up the fire Granny. and we'll put on the big
porridge-pot full of hot water, and some savoury soup in it to smell
nice." So they made
up the fire, and put on the great pot, full of hot water, and then they
poured some soup into it: and when it boiled, the savoury smell went up
the chimney. "Aughr!
" said the wolf; "how nice that smells, I feel quite hungry again.''
So he put his head and forelegs into the
chimney as he stood on the roof, and, as he bent further in to catch the
smell all of a sudden he lost his balance and fell headlong; down the
chimney and into the great pot, and was killed.
So they all went home safely, and when Red
Riding Hood's mother put her to bed, she said, "Never you stop when
you're out to talk to strange creatures ever any more.'' And Red Riding
Hood, who was only too glad to have got safely out of the wolf's inside,
promised faithfully that she never would. |
