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Little Red Riding Hood
by the Grimm Brothers
Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by
every one who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother,
and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child.
Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so
well that she would never wear anything else. So she was always
called 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 ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set
out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and
quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the
bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing. And when you
go into her room, don't forget to say, good-morning, and don't
peep into every corner before you do it."
I will take great care, said Little Red Riding Hood to her mother,
and gave her hand on it.
The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the
village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a
wolf met her. Little Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked
creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.
"Good-day, Little Red Riding Hood," said he.
"Thank you kindly, wolf."
"Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?"
"To my grandmother's."
"What have you got in your apron?"
"Cake and wine. Yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother
is to have something good, to make her stronger."
"Where does your grandmother live, Little Red Riding Hood?"
"A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood. Her house
stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just
below. You surely must know it," replied Little Red Riding Hood.
The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature. What a
nice plump mouthful, she will be better to eat than the old woman.
I must act craftily, so as to catch both." So he walked for a
short time by the side of Little Red Riding Hood, and then he
said, "see Little Red Riding Hood, how pretty the flowers are
about here. Why do you not look round. I believe, too, that you do
not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing. You walk
gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything
else out here in the wood is merry."
Little Red Riding Hood raised her eyes, and when she saw the
sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty
flowers growing everywhere, she thought, suppose I take
grandmother a fresh nosegay. That would please her too. It is so
early in the day that I shall still get there in good time. And so
she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And
whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still
prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and
deeper into the wood.
Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and
knocked at the door.
"Who is there?"
"Little Red Riding Hood," replied the wolf. "She is bringing cake
and wine. Open the door."
"Lift the latch," called out the grandmother, "I am too weak, and
cannot get up."
The wolf lifted the latch, the door sprang open, and without
saying a word he went straight to the grandmother's bed, and
devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her
cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.
Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running about picking
flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no
more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to
her.
She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when
she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she
said to herself, oh dear, how uneasy I feel to-day, and at other
times I like being with grandmother so much.
She called out, "Good morning," but received no answer. So she
went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her
grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking
very strange.
"Oh, grandmother," she said, "what big ears you have."
"The better to hear you with, my child," was the reply.
"But, grandmother, what big eyes you have," she said.
"The better to see you with, my dear."
"But, grandmother, what large hands you have."
"The better to hug you with."
"Oh, but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have."
"The better to eat you with."
And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was
out of bed and swallowed up Little Red Riding Hood.
When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the
bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud. The huntsman was
just passing the house, and thought to himself, how the old woman
is snoring. I must just see if she wants anything.
So he went into the room, and when he came to the bed, he saw that
the wolf was lying in it. "Do I find you here, you old sinner,"
said he. "I have long sought you."
Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that
the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might
still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors,
and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.
When he had made two snips, he saw the Little Red Riding Hood
shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl
sprang out, crying, "Ah, how frightened I have been. How dark it
was inside the wolf."
And after that the aged grandmother came out alive also, but
scarcely able to breathe. Little Red Riding Hood, however, quickly
fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf's belly, and
when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy
that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.
Then all three were delighted. The huntsman drew off the wolf's
skin and went home with it. The grandmother ate the cake and drank
the wine which Little Red Riding Hood had brought, and revived,
but Little Red Riding Hood thought to herself, as long as I live,
I will never by myself leave the path, to run into the wood, when
my mother has forbidden me to do so.
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