Grandma’s house.” So Little Red Riding Hood wandered to and fro picking all the pretty flowers and went rather deeper into the forest than she should have done.
When she had a really big bunch of flowers Red Riding Hood continued on her way, but she was on a strange path rather deep in the forest. Fortunately Little Red Riding Hood turned a corner and there working in the forest were two of her father’s fellow woodmen friends. One was called Hugh and the other Caleb.
Apparently neither Hugh nor Caleb was good at shooting with bows and arrows, so they had not bothered to go to the Archery Contest. They were both surprised to see Little Red Riding Hood.
“What are you doing on this path, little girl?” asked Hugh, “And why is your dog, Bran, not with you to guard you?”
“Oh he has gone to the Archery Contest with Daddy,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “and I am going to visit my Grandmother to take her some nice food because she has been ill. But I do have my pets Ralph the Raven and Lily the Dove with me, so I am not alone.”
“Well hurry on your way,” said Hugh. “Do not linger in the forest. We shall be working in the direction of your Grandmother’s cottage and we will check up on you later.”
So off hurried Little Red Riding Hood.
She had only just got out of sight of Hugh and Caleb when a wolf came trotting up to her. Now although she lived in the forest, Little Red Riding Hood had never seen a wolf before. She thought it was some sort of unusual looking dog.
“Good morning, Little Red Riding Hood,” said the wolf.
“Good morning,” replied Little Red Riding Hood.
The wolf turned and trotted along at Red Riding Hood’s side.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Oh I am going to visit my grandmother who has been ill, to take her some nice food,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “She lives in that cottage in the little clearing straight ahead.”
Little Red Riding Hood was not frightened because no one had ever told her about Big Bad Wolves.
“Oh yes. I know the cottage,” said the wolf. “Your Grandma is quite an old lady, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” replied Red Riding Hood, taking no notice of Ralph the Raven who was pecking at the wolf’s heels and trying to drive him away, because the raven knew how bad wolves could be.
Now the wolf was thinking that if the grandmother was ill he would easily be able to eat her up and he also thought that Red Riding looked young and tasty to eat as well and that the basket of food would be something nice to finish up with.
So he said: “If your grandmother is ill how will she be able to let you into the cottage?”
“Oh that is easy,” replied Red Riding Hood “ I shall knock at the door and say ‘This is Red Riding Hood, Grandma.’ and she will say ‘pull the string and the latch will come up’ and then I shall go in.”
By this time even Lily the Dove was chirrupping at the wolf, but still Red Riding Hood did not realize anything was wrong.
Now of course the wolf would really like to have eaten Red Riding Hood there and then, because she was young and tender and would taste much nicer than old Grandma. However the wolf could hear the axes of Caleb and Hugh as they worked in the forest getting nearer and nearer. The wolf thought that if he attacked Red Riding Hood, she would scream and Hugh and Caleb would come running to save her. So the wolf decided to go on to the cottage and eat Grandma first.
“Why don’t you have a little rest?” said the wolf to Red Riding Hood “It is still quite a way to the cottage and you look tired.” And with a wave of his paw he ran off towards Grandma’s home. He thought if Red Riding Hood had a rest that would give him time to lay a trap for her in the cottage.
Well Red Riding Hood was tired and hungry, so she sat down and had a rest and ate the lunch that her mother had put at the top of the basket of food for Grandma.
While she was doing that the wolf raced to the cottage. When he got there he knocked at the door.
“Who’s there?” called Grandma from her bed.
“Little Red Riding Hood” called the wolf trying to sound as much like Little Red Riding Hood as he could.
Now like many Grandmas, this grandma was going a little deaf, so she really thought the wolf was Red Riding Hood.
“Pull the string and the latch will rise,” she said.
Within a couple of moments the wolf was inside the cottage. And that wicked wolf ate Grandma all up. Then he put on Grandma’s hat pulling it well down over his face, straightened the bed to look tidy and then got into the bed and pretended to be Grandma lying there feeling poorly.
When Red Riding Hood arrived a little later after resting and eating her lunch, she knocked at the door.
This time the wolf tried to sound like Grandma.
“Who’s there?” he called.
Well Red Riding Hood did think the voice sounded odd, but she supposed it was because Grandma was ill.
“It’s Little Riding Hood come to bring you some nice food,” replied Red Riding Hood.
“Oh good. Pull the string and the latch will rise,” croaked the wolf still trying to sound like Grandma.
Little Red Riding Hood pulled the string, the latch lifted and the little girl went indoors and over to the bed.
There she saw what she thought was her grandma snuggled down into the bed with her hat pulled well down over her face.
Red Riding Hood put her basket down on a table and went to sit by the bed. She thought her grandma looked very strange and wondered why she had grown so much hair on her face.
“Oh Grandma, ” she said “What great eyes you have!”
“All the better to see you with,” replied the wolf.
“And Grandma what great arms you have,” went on Red Riding Hood, feeling more suspicious than ever.
“All the better to hold you with,” replied the wolf.
“And grandma what big ears you have,” gasped Red Riding Hood’
“All the better to hear your sweet voice with,” said the wolf.
“And what a long nose you have,” quavered Red Riding Hood now feeling quite frightened.
“All the better to smell those lovely flowers you have brought,” said the wolf.
By this time Red Riding Hood was sure it was not her grandmother in the bed.
“But Grandma what a large mouth and great teeth you have,” gasped poor Red Riding Hood.
“All the better to eat you with,” snarled the wolf and started to jump out of the bed and tried to make a snatch at Little Red Riding Hood.
Fortunately the wolf had put on Grandma’s night dress as well as her hat to disguise himself and as he tried to get out of bed his legs got tangled up in the nightdress and he fell over.
At once Red Riding Hood realized that it was the wolf in front of her. She started to scream and ran towards the door of the cottage and pushed it open. At the same time Ralph the raven and Lily the dove flew out of the door and back along the woodland path.
There they met Hugh and Caleb the woodmen who were working their way towards the cottage and had almost reached it. When they saw the raven and the dove acting strangely the two men rushed towards the cottage and then they heard Red Riding Hood screaming.
The two brave men rushed into the cottage and attacked the wicked wolf with their axes. After a fierce struggle the wolf lay dead and Red Riding Hood was saved.
Poor Red Riding Hood was very upset. “I think that horrid dog has killed my grandmother,” she told Hugh and Caleb.
“Dog!” they said: “That is not a dog” that is a wolf”. Then they told Red Riding Hood about wolves and how she must never trust one nor chatter with one again.
Then the two kind woodmen took Red Riding Hood back to her own cottage and running to meet her was Bran, her dog and her father and mother.
Father and mother were very upset when they heard about grandma and the wicked wolf. They decided never to let Red Riding Hood go walking deep in the forest again.
Luckily no more wolves came sneaking r
ound that part of the forest and Red Riding Hood grew up safely and lived happily ever after.
When they all thought things over they decided that as Grandma had been very old and very ill, perhaps a quick death being eaten by the wolf was the best thing. There were no hospitals or proper doctors in those days you see and people thought differently from how we do today.
They decided that the most important thing was that Red Riding Hood was safe.
Oh - and by the way - Daddy had won the Archery Contest and got a lovely prize of some gold coins, so they were all happy.
Also by the way in one of Grandma Chatterbox’s old books it said that all this story about Red Riding Hood took place in Brittany, which is in the top north west corner of France. This place is called Brittany and our island to the north, where Grandma Chatterbox lives, is called Great Britain.
Grandma Chatterbox read once that this is because hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, when Saxons and Angles and other people kept attacking and invading Britain some of the British people escaped across the sea into that north west part of France. So many of them went there that people started calling that area Little Britain - or Brittany.
Of course there were still masses of British people left in Britain which was much much bigger than Brittany.
So people started calling the island of Britain Great Britain.
That is why to this day Britain in called Great Britain and that part of France nearby is called Little Britain (Brittany).
Well that is what Grandma read anyway and she likes these little snippets of information and she is telling you in case you like them too.
So goodbye for