THERE was once a sweet little maid, much beloved by everybody, but most
of all by her grandmother, who never knew how to make enough of her.
Once she sent her a little cap of red velvet, and as it was very
becoming to her, and she never wore anything else, people called her
Little Red-cap. One day her mother said to her,
"Come, Little Red-cap, here are some cakes and a flask of wine for you
to take to grandmother; she is weak and ill, and they will do her good.
Make haste and start before it grows hot, and walk properly and nicely,
and don't run, or you might fall and break the flask of wine, and there
would be none left for grandmother. And when you go into her room, don't
forget to say, Good morning, instead of staring about you."
"I will be sure to take care," said Little Red-cap to her mother, and
gave her hand upon it. Now the grandmother lived away in the wood,
half-an-hour's walk from the village; and when Little Red-cap had
reached the wood, she met the wolf; but as she did not know what a bad
sort of animal he was, she did not feel frightened.
"Good day, Little Red-cap," said he.
"Thank you kindly, Wolf," answered she.
"Where are you going so early, Little Red-cap?"
"To my grandmother's."
"What are you carrying under your apron?"
"Cakes and wine; we baked yesterday; and my grandmother is very weak
and ill, so they will do her good, and strengthen her."
"Where does your grandmother live, Little Red-cap?"
"A quarter of an hour's walk from here; her house stands beneath the
three oak trees, and you may know it by the hazel bushes," said Little
Red-cap. The wolf thought to himself,
"That tender young thing would be a delicious morsel, and would taste
better than the old one; I must manage somehow to get both of them."
Then he walked by Little Red-cap a little while, and said,
"Little Red-cap, just look at the pretty flowers that are growing all
round you, and I don't think you are listening to the song of the birds;
you are posting along just as if you were going to school, and it is so
delightful out here in the wood."
Little Red-cap glanced round her, and when she saw the sunbeams darting
here and there through the trees, and lovely flowers everywhere, she
thought to herself,
"If I were to take a fresh nosegay to my grandmother she would be very
pleased, and it is so early in the day that I shall reach her in plenty
of time;" and so she ran about in the wood, looking for flowers. And as
she picked one she saw a still prettier one a little farther off, and so
she went farther and farther into the wood. But the wolf went straight
to the grandmother's house and knocked at the door.
"Who is there?" cried the grandmother.
"Little Red-cap," he answered, "and I have brought you some cake and
wine. Please open the door."
"Lift the latch," cried the grandmother; "I am too feeble to get up."
So the wolf lifted the latch, and the door flew open, and he fell on the
grandmother and ate her up without saying one word. Then he drew on her
clothes, put on her cap, lay down in her bed, and drew the curtains.
Little Red-cap was all this time running about among the flowers, and
when she had gathered as many as she could hold, she remembered her
grandmother, and set off to go to her. She was surprised to find the
door standing open, and when she came inside she felt very strange, and
thought to herself,
"Oh dear, how uncomfortable I feel, and I was so glad this morning to go
to my grandmother!"
And when she said, "Good morning," there was no answer. Then she went up
to the bed and drew back the curtains; there lay the grandmother with
her cap pulled over her eyes, so that she looked very odd.
"O grandmother, what large ears you have got!"
"The better to hear with."
"O grandmother, what great eyes you have got!"
"The better to see with."
"O grandmother, what large hands you have got!"
"The better to take hold of you with."
"But, grandmother, what a terrible large mouth you have got!"
"The better to devour you!" And no sooner had the wolf said it than he
made one bound from the bed, and swallowed up poor Little Red-cap.
Then the wolf, having satisfied his hunger, lay down again in the bed,
went to sleep, and began to snore loudly. The huntsman heard him as he
was passing by the house, and thought,
"How the old woman snores--I had better see if there is anything the
matter with her."
Then he went into the room, and walked up to the bed, and saw the wolf
lying there.
"At last I find you, you old sinner!" said he; "I have been looking for
you a long time." And he made up his mind that the wolf had swallowed
the grandmother whole, and that she might yet be saved. So he did not
fire, but took a pair of shears and began to slit up the wolf's body.
When he made a few snips Little Red-cap appeared, and after a few more
snips she jumped out and cried, "Oh dear, how frightened I have been! it
is so dark inside the wolf." And then out came the old grandmother,
still living and breathing. But Little Red-cap went and quickly fetched
some large stones, with which she filled the wolf's body, so that when
he waked up, and was going to rush away, the stones were so heavy that
he sank down and fell dead.
They were all three very pleased. The huntsman took off the wolf's skin,
and carried it home. The grandmother ate the cakes, and drank the wine,
and held up her head again, and Little Red-cap said to herself that she
would never more stray about in the wood alone, but would mind what her
mother told her.
It must also be related how a few days afterwards, when Little Red-cap
was again taking cakes to her grandmother, another wolf spoke to her,
and wanted to tempt her to leave the path; but she was on her guard, and
went straight on her way, and told her grandmother how that the wolf had
met her, and wished her good-day, but had looked so wicked about the
eyes that she thought if it had not been on the high road he would have
devoured her.
"Come," said the grandmother, "we will shut the door, so that he may not
get in."
Soon after came the wolf knocking at the door, and calling out, "Open
the door, grandmother, I am Little Red-cap, bringing you cakes." But
they remained still, and did not open the door. After that the wolf
slunk by the house, and got at last upon thereof to wait until Little
Red-cap should return home in the evening; then he meant to spring down
upon her, and devour her in the darkness. But the grandmother discovered
his plot. Now there stood before the house a great stone trough, and the
grandmother said to the child, "Little Red-cap, I was boiling sausages
yesterday, so take the bucket, and carry away the water they were boiled
in, and pour it into the trough."
And Little Red-cap did so until the great trough was quite full. When
the smell of the sausages reached the nose of the wolf he snuffed it up,
and looked round, and stretched out his neck so far that he lost his
balance and began to slip, and he slipped down off the roof straight
into the great trough, and was drowned. Then Little Red-cap went
cheerfully home, and came to no harm.