Little Red Riding Hood

The story concludes with a lesson about the dangers of talking to strangers and disobeying your parents. It’s a cautionary tale that has been told and retold for generations!

— Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl who everyone knew as Little Red Riding Hood because she always wore a red hooded cloak that her grandmother had made for her.

One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother asked her to take a basket of wine and cake to her sick grandmother who lived in a cottage in the woods. Her mother warned her to stay on the path and not to talk to strangers.

Little Red Riding Hood set off through the woods, and along the way, she met a sly wolf. The wolf, pretending to be friendly, asked her where she was going. Little Red Riding Hood innocently told him she was going to her grandmother’s cottage with a basket of treats.

The cunning wolf then suggested a little “game.” He told Little Red Riding Hood to go and pick some beautiful wildflowers for her grandmother, while he would take a “shortcut” to the cottage.

Little Red Riding Hood, enjoying the flowers, wandered off the path to gather a lovely bouquet. Meanwhile, the wolf raced to the grandmother’s cottage, knocked on the door, and in a disguised voice, pretended to be Little Red Riding Hood.

The unsuspecting grandmother, being ill in bed, told him to come in. The wicked wolf then gobbled up the poor grandmother in one big gulp!

Afterward, the wolf put on the grandmother’s nightcap and got into her bed, pulling the covers up to his chin.

Eventually, Little Red Riding Hood arrived at the cottage and knocked. The wolf, again disguising his voice, told her to come in.

When Little Red Riding Hood approached the bed, she noticed that her grandmother looked very strange. She said, “Oh, Grandmother, what big eyes you have!”

The wolf replied, “The better to see you with, my dear.”

“And, Grandmother, what big ears you have!”

“The better to hear you with, my dear.”

“And, Grandmother, what big hands you have!”

“The better to grab you with, my dear.”

Finally, Little Red Riding Hood exclaimed, “Oh, Grandmother, what a terribly big mouth you have!”

To which the wolf replied, “The better to eat you with!” And with that, the wolf jumped out of bed and gobbled up Little Red Riding Hood too.

Now, in some versions of the story, a huntsman (or woodcutter) comes by the cottage and hears the loud snoring of the wolf. Suspecting something is wrong, he goes inside and finds the wolf with both the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood in his belly. The huntsman then cuts open the wolf, and the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood emerge unharmed. In some versions, they fill the wolf’s belly with stones and throw him down a well.