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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 hood 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 Riding Hood.
One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter."
But granny lived out in a forest, half an hour's walk from the village. When Little Red Riding Hood went into the forest, she met a wolf. But she did not know what a wicked beast he was, and was not afraid of him.
"God help you, Little Red Riding Hood!" said he.
"God bless you, wolf!" replied she.
"Whither so early, Red Hood?"
"To granny."
"What have you there under your mantle?"
"Cake and wine. We baked yesterday; old granny must have a good meal for once, and strengthen herself therewith."
"Where does your granny live, Little Red Riding Hood?"
"A good quarter of an hour's walk further in the forest, under yon three large oaks. There stands her house; further beneath are the nut trees, which you will see there," said Little Red Riding Hood.
The wolf thought within himself, "This nice young damsel is a blood curdling. I must warn the Witch."
For a time he went by Little Red Riding Hood's side then said he, "Little Red Riding Hood! Just look! There are such pretty flowers here! Why don't you look round at them all? Methinks you don't even hear how delightfully the birds are singing! You are as dull as if you were going to school, and yet it is so cheerful in the forest!"
Little Red Riding Hood lifted up her eyes, and when she saw how the sun's rays glistened through the tops of the trees, and every place was full of flowers, she bethought herself, "If I bring with me a sweet smelling nosegay to granny, it will cheer her. It is still so early, that I shall come to her in plenty of time," and therewith she skipped into the forest and looked for flowers. And when she had plucked one, she fancied that another further off was nicer, and ran there, and went always deeper and deeper into the forest.
But the wolf went by the straight road to old granny's, and knocked at the door.
"Who's there?"
"It’s the wolf Miss Witch. Open the door!"
“Just press the latch and come in,” called out the witch.
The wolf pressed the latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, “Miss Witch, the Little Red Riding Hood is coming here! Quickly hide she is dangerous!”
“What are you saying? She is my granddaughter of course she is a witch just like me! That doesn’t mean she is dangerous stupid wolf!”
“But I saw her, she might be little and look naive, but she-”
“Enough!” cried the Witch, “You will dress in nightclothes and lie in bed right now. You will pretend you are me and greet my grandchild to see if she’s worthy of my teachings”
Without a word he took her clothes, dressed himself in them, put her cap on his head, lay down in her bed and drew the curtains.
Meanwhile little Red Hood was running after flowers, and when she had so many that she could not carry any more, she bethought her of her granny, and started on the way to her. It seemed strange to her that the door was wide open, and when she entered the room everything seemed to her so peculiar, that she thought, "Ah! My God! Why do I feel so odd?"
She said, "Good-day!" but received no answer.
Thereupon she went to the bed and undrawn the curtains. There lay granny, with her cap drawn down to her eyes, and looking so queer!
"Ah, granny! Why have you such long ears?"
"The better to hear you."
"Ah, granny! Why have you such large eyes?"
"The better to see you."
"Ah, granny! Why have you such large hands?"
"The better to take hold of you."
"But, granny! Why have you such a terribly large mouth?"
"The better to eat you up!" and with that he jumped out of bed, but Little Red Riding Hood jumped out of his reach just as quick.
The Little Red Riding Hood pulled out a big knife and aimed it at the wolf. “You won’t eat me wolf! Where is granny? Did you ate her?”
Another door opened and witch walked up to them “He didn’t ate me child fear not, he wouldn't dare to eat me.” The wolf backed up immediately upon seeing her and stripped off the nightclothes.
Little Red Riding Hood turned to the granny and without a word she stabbed her in the heart. Only a choking sounds were heard as the Little Red Riding Hood turned to the wolf.
The wolf stood frozen at the scene. The fur at the nape of his neck bristled and chill run down his spine. Little Red Riding Hood looked at him with the knife still in hand at her side. “If you try to run, I will kill you” she said.
Little Red Riding Hood walked up to him. He bared his teeth but didn’t dare try to bite her or growl at her. She extended her free hand and petted his head. He growled, but stopped when she looked into his eyes. “From now on, you are my wolf and you will do as I say. If you try to hurt me or run away I will kill you”
The wolf couldn’t do anything else than to surrender to his new master. But he could not help but ask “Did you know your granny is a witch?”
“Of course I knew, she send me a lot of books about magic.”
“Then why did you killed her?”
“She was not as good as you think and people in the village feared her. Even my parents wanted to get rid of me so when she started giving gifts to me they just told me she was my granny, but I never saw her till now. If she was as good as rumours said, she would have known I was going to kill her and prevented it.” Little Red Riding Hood said as she caressed the beast some more.
“Go dig up a grave under one of those large oaks then come back here.”
He did as he was told and dig up a grave over the biggest of the three oaks, then he came back. The Witch wasn’t lying on the floor any more. “Come here wolf and eat up,” cried Little Red Riding Hood.
He followed and found a big bowl on the floor full of guts and chunks of raw meat, on the table was another big bowl full of skin and bottles full of blood and other things. “Eat up wolf until it’s fresh.”