Bethany Brodhagen, Lia Ashley, Brett Boterman, Elliot Eichinger
English 110.435
Jasmine Krotzman
September 9, 2009
Little Red and the Wolf
Once upon a time there was a young girl who lived in the outskirts of the forest. Her grandmother stitched a beautiful red, silk cloak for her when she was very young, and she has been wearing it every day since. Because of this, everyone across town calls the girl Little Red Riding Hood. Recently, her grandmother whom she loved very much became frail and sick. One afternoon, the girl’s mother asked her to deliver a basket of goodies to help heal her ill grandmother. This called for the girl to travel across the long dark woods to her grandmother’s home.
While traveling through the woods, Little Red Riding Hood met a ferocious, giant wolf whose large sharp teeth and beady eyes frightened her. Immediately, the wolf approached her and questioned her in his harsh and scratchy voice, “Where are you going my dear?”
“I’m on my way to my grandmother’s house, she has fallen ill,” the girl timidly replied.
The wolf, now snarling said, “I know just what could cheer her up. There are many beautiful flowers to the left and right of this small creek. I’m sure your grandmother would like to have some in her home. I can help you pick them if you would like, and meet you at your grandmother’s house afterward. ”
Little Red hesitantly replied, “Why, that sounds like a grand idea. Where is this creek you’re talking about?”
“It’s straight down the path my dear. Just follow me,” said the wolf.
The two then went off of the trail in either direction picking flowers. The wolf gathered the daffodils on the right, as Little Red Riding Hood gathered the daisies to the left. Once the wolf gathered his bouquet for the grandmother, he headed down the trail to her home, and Little Red followed once she had collected hers.
Upon getting to the house, the wolf heard some strange noises coming from inside, and opened the door to see what was going on. He immediately rushed inside and witnessed a struggle occurring between the grandmother and the town hunter. He knew he had to act fast. In the distance, Little Red heard the howl of the wolf and became very worried.
When Little Red finally arrived at her grandmother’s house, she noticed that the door had been left wide open. She ran into her grandmother’s room and was shocked at what she saw. The floor was filled with blood and wolf fur, and her grandmother was nowhere to be found. Screaming, Little Red ran out of the house back through the woods to her home. When she arrived, she explained to her mother everything that she had seen.
Little Red and her mother decided it would be best to tell the town hunter, a burly man always with an axe in hand, of their misfortune. The two of them raced to the hunter’s house so that they could ask him to hunt down the wolf. While they were approaching the door, Little Red and her mother saw the hunter in the window skinning the wolf. The two were so excited and greatful, and just as they were about to go inside and thank the hunter, they noticed something else strange. On the table next to the hunter, Little Red saw her grandmother’s body lying there. “Mom, do you see grandmother’s body there?” whispered Little Red. Little Red’s mother didn’t even respond; she just grabbed Little Red and began running back to town.
Frantically, Little Red and her mother entered the town councilman’s office to inform him of the hunter’s crime. After telling their story, the councilman doubted the validity of their account. He found it very hard to believe that the wolf was innocent. Due to his doubts, Little Red and her mother took him and the rest of the town board to the hunter’s house to show them what had truly happened. When the group arrived at the house, they saw exactly what Little Red had described to them: the dead bodies of the wolf and the grandmother, and a guilty hunter right beside. The men rushed in to capture the hunter to be publicly hanged the following day for his crime. The town would then be safe with the hunter gone, but Little Red only wished she could thank the wolf for his attempt to help, and apologize for doubting his character.
