Once upon a
time there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her liked her, but
most of all her grandmother, who did not know what to give the child
next. Once she gave her a little cap made of red velvet. Because it
suited her so well, and she wanted to wear it all the time, she came to
be known as Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother said to her:
"Come Little Red Riding Hood. Here is a piece of cake and a bottle of
wine. Take them to your grandmother. She is sick and weak, and they will
do her well. Mind your manners and give her my greetings. Behave
yourself on the way, and do not leave the path, or you might fall down
and break the glass, and then there will be nothing for your sick
grandmother."
Little Red Riding Hood promised to obey her mother. The
grandmother lived out in the woods, a half hour from the village. When
Little Red Riding Hood entered the woods a wolf came up to her. She did
not know what a wicked animal he was, and was not afraid of him. "Good
day to you, Little Red Riding Hood." - "Thank you, wolf." - "Where are
you going so early, Little Red Riding Hood?" - "To grandmother's." -
"And what are you carrying under your apron?" - "Grandmother is sick and
weak, and I am taking her some cake and wine. We baked yesterday, and
they should give her strength." - "Little Red Riding Hood, just where
does your grandmother live?" - "Her house is a good quarter hour from
here in the woods, under the three large oak trees. There's a hedge of
hazel bushes there. You must know the place," said Little Red Riding
Hood. The wolf thought to himself: "Now there is a tasty bite for me.
Just how are you going to catch her?" Then he said: "Listen, Little Red
Riding Hood, haven't you seen the beautiful flowers that are blossoming
in the woods? Why don't you go and take a look? And I don't believe you
can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking along as
though you were on your way to school in the village. It is very
beautiful in the woods."
Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes and saw the sunlight
breaking through the trees and how the ground was covered with beautiful
flowers. She thought: "If a take a bouquet to grandmother, she will be
very pleased. Anyway, it is still early, and I'll be home on time." And
she ran off into the woods looking for flowers. Each time she picked one
she thought that she could see an even more beautiful one a little way
off, and she ran after it, going further and further into the woods. But
the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and knocked on the
door. "Who's there?" - "Little Red Riding Hood. I'm bringing you some
cake and wine. Open the door for me." - "Just press the latch," called
out the grandmother. "I'm too weak to get up." The wolf pressed the
latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, went straight to the
grandmother's bed, and ate her up. Then he took her clothes, put them
on, and put her cap on his head. He got into her bed and pulled the
curtains shut.
Little Red Riding Hood had run after flowers, and did not
continue on her way to grandmother's until she had gathered all that she
could carry. When she arrived, she found, to her surprise, that the
door was open. She walked into the parlor, and everything looked so
strange that she thought: "Oh, my God, why am I so afraid? I usually
like it at grandmother's." Then she went to the bed and pulled back the
curtains. Grandmother was lying there with her cap pulled down over her
face and looking very strange. "Oh, grandmother, what big ears you
have!" - "All the better to hear you with." - "Oh, grandmother, what big
eyes you have!" - "All the better to see you with." - "Oh, grandmother,
what big hands you have!" - "All the better to grab you with!" - "Oh,
grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!" - "All the better to
eat you with!" And with that he jumped out of bed, jumped on top of poor
Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her up.
As soon as the wolf had finished this tasty bite, he climbed
back into bed, fell asleep, and began to snore very loudly. A huntsman
was just passing by. He thought it strange that the old woman was
snoring so loudly, so he decided to take a look. He stepped inside, and
in the bed there lay the wolf that he had been hunting for such a long
time. "He has eaten the grandmother, but perhaps she still can be saved.
I won't shoot him," thought the huntsman. So he took a pair of scissors
and cut open his belly. He had cut only a few strokes when he saw the
red cap shining through. He cut a little more, and the girl jumped out
and cried: "Oh, I was so frightened! It was so dark inside the wolf's
body!" And then the grandmother came out alive as well. Then Little Red
Riding Hood fetched some large heavy stones. They filled the wolf's body
with them, and when he woke up and tried to run away, the stones were
so heavy that he fell down dead.
The three of them were happy. The huntsman took the wolf's
pelt. The grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine that Little Red
Riding Hood had brought. And Little Red Riding Hood thought to herself:
"As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the
woods by myself if mother tells me not to."
They also tell how Little Red Riding Hood was taking some
baked things to her grandmother another time, when another wolf spoke to
her and wanted her to leave the path. But Little Red Riding Hood took
care and went straight to grandmother's. She told her that she had seen
the wolf, and that he had wished her a good day, but had stared at her
in a wicked manner. "If we hadn't been on a public road, he would have
eaten me up," she said. "Come," said the grandmother. "Let's lock the
door, so he can't get in." Soon afterward the wolf knocked on the door
and called out: "Open up, grandmother. It's Little Red Riding Hood, and
I'm bringing you some baked things." They remained silent, and did not
open the door. The wicked one walked around the house several times, and
finally jumped onto the roof. He wanted to wait until Little Red Riding
Hood went home that evening, then follow her and eat her up in the
darkness. But the grandmother saw what he was up to. There was a large
stone trough in front of the house. "Fetch a bucket, Little Red Riding
Hood," she said. "Yesterday I cooked some sausage. Carry the water that I
boiled them with to the trough." Little Red Riding Hood carried water
until the large, large trough was clear full. The smell of sausage arose
into the wolf's nose. He sniffed and looked down, stretching his neck
so long that he could no longer hold himself, and he began to slide. He
slid off the roof, fell into the trough, and drowned. And Little Red
Riding Hood returned home happily and safely.
* * * END * * *
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