Once at the edge of a forest there lived a sweet little girl named Red Riding Hood. She had a
butterfly and a squirrel as her friends in the forest.
Her mother used to say her, “Don’t go far away from the house or you will get lost in the forest. Wild animals may devour you.”
One morning, her mother gave a basket full of fruits and cakes to take it to her sick grandmother.
Waving goodbye to her mother Red Riding Hood left for her grandmother’s cottage which
was located on the other side of the forest.
A cunning wolf had been following her right from the time she left her house. Red Riding Hood
saw a beautiful butterfly and bent forward to catch it.
Soon the wolf came in front of her from behind a tree and requested her to give
only some food. She gave him some food and proceeded towards her grandmother’s cottage.
But the wolf had an intention to eat her up. So, he took big steps to reach her grandmother’s cottage
before she could reach there from another shortcut path.
He knocked at the door of grandmother’s cottage. No sooner did she open the door than he caught her and tied her mouth, hands and legs to the chair in the next room.
Thereafter, he quickly wore the grandmother’s gown, cap and spectacles, and lay in a bed covering himself with a sheet.
After some time, Red Riding Hood knocked at the door. The wolf said to her in her grandmother’s voice, “Come in, Red Riding Hood; the door is open.”
She came in and was startled to see her grandmother looking so big. She said, “How big ears, eyes and teeth you have, O grandmother!”
At once, the wolf got up and pounced upon her. She screamed loudly, “Help! Help!!” out of fear.
A woodcutter heard her crying voice. Soon, he ran to the cottage with an axe in his hand.
He hit the wolf with his axe, and the wolf died there and then the woodcutter found her grandmother tied up with a chair in another room. He soon untied her.
The grandmother and Red Riding Hood thanked the woodcutter for his timely help. The grandmother felt very happy to see her grand-daughter safe.
Red Riding Hood narrated the whole story to her mother. Her mother thanked God as
well as the woodcutter from the bottom of her heart.
