Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood was a little girl who lived with her parents in a house near the edge of a forest. Her father was a woodcutter who chopped wood all day. 

She had a grandmother whom she loved as much as she loved her. She lived in a cottage in the wood. Nearly every day, she would visit her.

One day, her mother told her to take some cake and blackcurrant juice to her grandmother because she was ill. Before she went, her mother told her not to wander off the path into the forest. 

‘Don’t worry, I won’t wander off.’ She said, as she took the basket and ran into the forest.

On the way to her grandmother’s cottage, she met a wolf. She had never seen live wolf before and did not know how cunning wolves are. She thought he was a very large dog, and she was not at all afraid of him. ‘Good morning!’ said the wolf. ‘Good morning,’ she replied. The wolf asked her where she was going. She told him that she was going to her grandmother’s. The wolf asked her what as in her basket. She told her she had a bottle of blackcurrant juice and some cake in the basket. She told the wolf that her grandmother was ill, and that her mother had sent the things in the basket to help her get better. The wolf asked her where her grandmother lived. She told the wolf that her cottage stood under three big oak trees. ‘What an extremely tender creature this is!’ the wolf thought. ‘She will make a juicer mouthful than an old woman! But, if I am clever enough, I should be able to eat both!’

So, he walked beside her for some time. ‘Look at all these lovely flowers!’ said the wolf. ‘Aren’t they beautiful! You ought to stop and pick some instead of walking straight past them!’ Then the wolf said goodbye and started off for the cottage.

Little Red Riding hood did as the wolf suggested and started to pick flowers for her grandmother. She went further and further from the path, gathering flowers. 

By then, the wolf had reached the cottage. He knocked on the door. ‘Who’s there?’ called Grandmother. In a high voice, the wolf told her that he was Little Red Riding Hood and that he had brought her some cake and blackcurrant juice. The grandmother told the wolf to press the latch, open the door, and walk in, because she was so weak that she could not get up. After the wolf had opened the door, he went straight to the bed and gobbled the grandmother alive. Then, he put on some of the grandmother’s bedclothes and pulled the bedclothes up to his chin and waited. By then, Little Red Riding Hood had wandered far from the path, because the prettiest flowers always seemed to be the furthest away. When she had gathered a pretty posy of beautiful flowers, she went back to the path and started off for her grandmother’s cottage. When she arrived there, she was surprised to find that the door was standing wide open. There was her grandmother, with her cap pulled down to her forehead and the bedclothes pulled right up to her chin. 

‘Oh, grandmother!’ she cried. ‘What big ears you have!’ ‘All the better to hear you with, dear.’ said the wolf. ‘Oh, grandmother! What big ears you have!’ she said. ‘All the better to see you with, dear!’ said the wolf. ‘Oh, grandmother! What big hands you have!’ she said. ‘All the better to hug you with, dear!’ said the wolf. ‘Oh, grandmother! What big teeth you have!’ she said. ‘All the better to eat you with!’ With these words, the wolf jumped out of bed and gobbled her up alive.

Then he climbed into bed, lay down and snored. His snores were so loud that the whole cottage shook. Just then, Little Red Riding Hood’s father passed by. He heard the extremely loud snores and thought that he had better go in to see why Little Riding Hood’s grandmother’s snores were so loud. When he got to the bed, he saw a wolf lying on the bed. ‘You wicked animal!’ he cried. With a blow of his axe, he killed the wolf and pulled it out of the bed. Then he cut the wolf open, hoping that the wolf had swallowed Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother alive and that she was still alive. You can imagine how surprised he was when his own daughter jumped out of the wolf’s body!

When he had gotten over his shock, they helped pull Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother out of the wolf. She was still alive but was feeling very ill. They put Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother into bed and gave her some of the things that Little Red Riding Hood had brought. Soon she felt much better. Little Red Riding Hood’s father was relieved that Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother was alive and well. Little Red Riding Hood’s father took her home and made her promise never to wander off the path again.