Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, there was a darling little girl who was thoughtful and kind.  She was loved by all who met her.

The child's mother was excessively fond of her and her grandmother doted on her still more.  Granny made the pretty girl a cape with a red satin hood that the little girl loved to wear everywhere she went.  She wore the cape so often that the people of the village took to calling her Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said:  "Come Little Red Riding Hood, your Granny is ill and I have prepared a basket with soup and good things to make her well.  You must take it to her at her cottage in the woods."

Little Red Riding Hood was a sweet and dutiful daughter and said she would deliver the basket and stay with her grandmother until she was well again.

Her mother placed the little girl's cape around her shoulders

and tied its ribbon at her neck.

"Be sure not to dawdle in the woods," her mother cautioned, "and do not stray from the path or talk with strangers."

"Do not worry Mother," said Little Red Riding Hood, "I will run all the way to Granny's house without stopping."

Her mother gave her a hug

and a kiss

and then Little Red Riding Hood set off on her way to Granny's cottage.

Full of good intentions, the little girl made her way through the woods.

But soon she forgot her mother's wise words and began to pick berries and flowers along the path.

Soon Little Red Riding Hood heard a sound.

A big grey wolf came out of the forest.

"Where are you going?" he asked with a greedy look.

Forgetting her mother's advice not to talk to strangers, the little girl answered that she was on her way to Granny's cottage with a basket of good things to make her well again.

The wolf was a wicked creature and he decided then and there that he would eat the little girl's grandmother for dinner and that the little girl in the red hood would be his dessert. 

"Then I shall detain you no longer," the wolf said with a crafty grin.  "Please carry my best wishes to your Granny for her good health."

With that, the wolf slunk back into the woods and took a shorter route to Granny's cottage, arriving before Little Red Riding Hood.  The wolf knocked on the door:

tap, tap.

"Who is there?' called Granny from within.

"It is I, your darling granddaughter," the wolf replied in a counterfeit voice.  "I have brought you a basket of good things to make you well."

Granny, who was in bed with a cold, cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

The wolf pulled the bobbin, the door opened, and he immediately fell upon the good woman.  He tied her up and stuffed her in the closet to save for his supper.  The wolf then dressed in one of Granny's nightgowns and climbed into Granny's bed to wait.

Soon there was a knock on the door:

tap, tap.

"Who is there?" called the Wolf, mimicking Granny's voice.

Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the voice of the wolf, was at first afraid.  But remembering her Granny's cold, answered:  "It is I, your granddaughter.  I have brought you a basket of good things to make you well."

"Pull the bobbin and the latch will go up," the false granny called out.

Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin and the door swung open.

"Come closer," said the wolf in a gravelly voice.  Little Red Riding Hood did as she was beckoned and climbed onto the bed to be closer to a Granny who did not look quite the same as the little girl remembered.

"Granny, what big ears you have!" Little Red Riding Hood said.

"All the better to hear you with my dear," said the wolf, smiling.

"Granny, what big eyes you have!" continued Little Red Riding Hood.

"All the better to see you with, my dear," replied the wolf.

"Granny, what big teeth you have!" cried Little Red Riding Hood, her eyes wide with surprise.

"All the better to eat you with my dear!" the wolf growled.

"Oh no!" she shrieked.  "Help!"

Nearby, a passing woodcutter heard the little girl's cries and immediately crashed through the door of the cottage only to see the wolf chasing a child in a bright red cape.

Taking his axe, the woodcutter caught the wolf by the tail and threw him out of the cottage.  The wolf was so scared that he ran off and was never seen or heard of in those woods again.

The handsome woodcutter heard a muffled thumping sound coming from the closet and opened it to find Granny.  He cut the ropes binding her using his axe and Little Red Riding Hood and her Granny were joyfully reunited.

They thanked the woodcutter for his kindness and bravery, and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.