Once upon a time,
in a small village at the edge of the woods,
there lived a very pretty young girl.
Since she always wore a red cape with a hood,
she was known as Little Red Riding Hood.
One day,
Red Riding Hood’s mother gave her a basket of fresh apples
to take to her grandmother.
“Don’t take to strangers on the way,”
her mother warned her.
The girl promised to be home
before dark and set off to her grandmother’s house
which was deep in the woods.
Now
in this forest lived one, big bad wolf,
who ate up little children.
He saw Red Riding Hood skipping along the path
and badly wanted to eat her up.
So he came up with a wicked plan.
The wolf jumped out of the bushes
in front of Red Riding Hood.
“Hello, young lady!
Where are you going?”
he asked with a sweet smile.
Red Riding Hood forgot her mother’s wise words.
Immediately,
she told him,
“I’m going to see Grandma.
She lives at the end of this path.”
The wolf cunningly said,
“Well then, you should take her some flowers too.”
While Red Riding Hood was busy
looking for flowers for Grandma,
the wolf took a shortcut and reached Grandma’s house.
There,
the wolf knocked on the door.
He changed his voice and said,
“It’s me, Red Riding Hood.
Do let me in Grandma!”
But as soon as the old lady opened the door,
he pounced on her and gobbled her up whole.
Then,
the wolf quickly wore Grandma’s cap and clothes,
tucked himself into bed,
and lay waiting for the grand-daughter.
“Come in, dear!” called the wicked wolf in Grandma’s voice,
as soon as young Red reached the cottage.
Red Riding Hood
came into the room,
and was surprised to see her ‘grandmother’ in bed.
“Oh Grandma, what big arms you have! she said
“All the better to hug you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“Oh Grandma, what big ears you have!”
continued Red Riding Hood.
“All the better to hear you with, my dear,” said the wolf smiling.
“Oh Grandma, what big teeth you have!”
cried Red Riding Hood,
her eyes wide with surprise.
The wolf laughed a wicked laugh.
“All the better to eat you with!”
he said and pounced on her in a flash!
Little Red Riding Hood was very scared.
“Help!” she screamed.
Just then, a kind woodcutter was passing by the house.
He saw the big wolf
trying to catch the young girl
and immediately hit the wolf on his head with his axe.
The woodcutter
and Red Riding Hood cut open the wolf’s stomach,
and out came Grandma!
She was scared,
but quite unhurt.
The big bad wolf
could never hurt anyone any more.
As for Red Riding Hood,
she was a very good girl
and remembered
never to speak to strangers ever again.