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 Cap.
One day her mother
said to her, "Come Little Red Cap. 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 Cap
promised to obey her mother. The grandmother lived out in the woods, a
half hour from the village. When Little Red Cap 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 Cap."
"Thank you, wolf."
"Where are you
going so early, Little Red Cap?"
"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 Cap,
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 Cap.
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 Cap, 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 Cap
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 Cap.
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 Cap
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 Cap, 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 Cap 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 Cap had brought. And Little Red
Cap 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 Cap 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 Cap 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 Cap, 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 Cap 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 Cap," she said. "Yesterday I cooked some sausage. Carry the
water that I boiled them with to the trough." Little Red Cap 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 Cap returned
home happily and safely.
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