Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
Little Red Riding Hood
The old tale of a girl who strayed from the path
Also in: Rdeča kapica (Slovenian) · Červená čiapočka (Slovak)
Once upon a time there was a little girl whom everyone loved. Her grandmother sewed her a cape with a red hood, and she never wanted to take it off again. So everyone called her — Little Red Riding Hood.
1
One morning her mother said: "Grandmother is ill. Take her this cake and a jug of juice to help her get her strength back. Go straight along the path, and don't wander off anywhere!"
2
The path led through the forest. Birds were singing, squirrels leaped from branch to branch, and Little Red Riding Hood skipped merrily along.
3
All at once a big grey wolf stood in the middle of the path. "Good day, Little Red Riding Hood," he said in his very sweetest voice. "Where are you off to so early?" — "To Grandmother's. She is ill, and I'm bringing her cake and juice."
4
"Look at all these flowers!" said the wolf. "Surely Grandmother would love a bouquet." So Little Red Riding Hood stepped off the path and began to pick one. A flower here, a flower there — and deeper and deeper into the wood.
5
But the wolf took a shortcut and ran straight to Grandmother's cottage. Knock, knock! "Who is there?" called Grandmother. "Little Red Riding Hood," fibbed the wolf in a thin little voice — and slipped inside.
6
Gulp! The wolf swallowed Grandmother whole, in one single mouthful. Then he pulled her nightcap onto his head, climbed into her bed and drew the covers up to his nose.
7
When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, the door stood wide open. "How strange," she thought. Inside it was quiet and dim. "Grandmother, I'm here!"
8
"Grandmother, what big ears you have!" — "All the better to hear you with." — "Grandmother, what big eyes you have!" — "All the better to see you with."
9
"Grandmother, what big teeth you have!" — "All the better to EAT you with!" The wolf leaped out of bed and — gulp! — swallowed Little Red Riding Hood too. Then he flopped back down and snored until the windowpanes rattled.
10
A hunter was passing the cottage. "My, how Grandmother snores!" he marvelled. He peeked through the window — and saw the wolf with an enormous round belly. "Aha!" he said. "You rascal, you!"
11
The hunter tickled the wolf's belly so hard that the wolf gave an almighty sneeze. Ah-ah-ah-CHOO! And look — out popped Little Red Riding Hood and Grandmother, safe and sound!
12
The wolf was so embarrassed that he tucked his tail between his legs and ran far, far away into the forest. And he was never seen again.
13
Then all three of them sat down at the table. They ate the cake, drank the juice, and Grandmother said she had never eaten so well in all her life. And Little Red Riding Hood thought to herself: "Never again will I wander off the path."
14The End
