The
brothers Grimm version of little red riding hood, named 'Little Red Cap' shows
a darker side to the story. I will pick out the important parts of the story
and state how they inspire me.
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Once upon a time there was a dear
little girl who was loved
by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and
there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her
a little cap of red velvet,
which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was
always called ‘Little Red- Cap.’
One day her mother said to her:
‘Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your
grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it
gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or
you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get
nothing; and when you go into her room, don’t forget to say, “Good morning”,
and don’t peep into every
corner before you do it.’
‘I will take great care,’ said
Little Red-Cap to her mother, and gave her hand on it.
The grandmother lived out in the
wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red-Cap entered the wood, a wolf
met her. Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not
at all afraid of him.
‘Good day, Little Red-Cap,’ said he.
‘Thank you kindly, wolf.’
‘Whither away so early, Little
Red-Cap?’
‘To my grandmother’s.’
‘What have you got in your apron?’
‘Cake and wine; yesterday was
baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her
stronger.’
‘Where does your grandmother live,
Little Red-Cap?’
‘A good quarter of a league farther
on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below;
you surely must know it,’ replied Little Red-Cap.
The wolf thought to himself: ‘What a
tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful—she will be better to eat
than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.’ So he walked for
a short time by the side of Little Red-Cap, and then he said: ‘See, Little
Red-Cap, how pretty the
flowers are about here—why do you not look round? I believe, too, that
you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely
along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the
wood is merry.’
Little Red-Cap raised her eyes, and
when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty
flowers growing everywhere, she thought: ‘Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that
would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in
good time’; and so she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And
whenever she had picked
one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran
after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.
Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to
the grandmother’s house and knocked at the door.
‘Who is there?’
‘Little Red-Cap,’ replied the wolf.
‘She is bringing cake and wine; open the door.’
‘Lift the latch,’ called out the
grandmother, ‘I am too weak, and cannot get up.’
The wolf lifted the latch, the door
sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother’s
bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her cap
laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.
Little Red-Cap, however, had been
running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could
carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her.
She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room,
she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: ‘Oh dear! how uneasy I
feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.’ She
called out: ‘Good morning,’ but received no answer; so she went to the bed and
drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over
her face, and looking very strange.
‘Oh! grandmother,’ she said, ‘what
big ears you have!’
‘The better to hear you with, my
child,’ was the reply.
‘But, grandmother, what big eyes you
have!’ she said.
‘The better to see you with, my
dear.’
‘But, grandmother, what large hands
you have!’
‘The better to hug you with.’
‘Oh! but, grandmother, what a
terrible big mouth you have!’
‘The better to eat you with!’
And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of
bed and swallowed up Red-Cap.
When the wolf had appeased his
appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very
loud. The huntsman was
just passing the house, and thought to himself: ‘How the old woman is
snoring! I must just see if she wants anything.’ So he went into the room, and
when he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in it. ‘Do I find you
here, you old sinner!’ said he. ‘I have long sought you!’ Then just as he was
going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the
grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a
pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf. When
he had made two snips, he saw the little Red-Cap shining, and then he made two
snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying: ‘Ah, how frightened I have
been! How dark it was inside the wolf’; and after that the aged grandmother
came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe. Red-Cap, however, quickly fetched great stones
with which they filled the wolf’s belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run
away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.
Then all three were delighted. The
huntsman drew off the wolf’s skin and went home with it; the grandmother ate
the cake and drank the wine which Red-Cap had brought, and revived, but Red-Cap
thought to herself: ‘As long as I live, I will never by myself leave the path,
to run into the wood, when my mother has forbidden me to do so.’
It also related that once when
Red-Cap was again taking cakes to the old grandmother, another wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her
from the path. Red-Cap, however, was on her guard, and went straight
forward on her way, and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf, and
that he had said ‘good morning’ to her, but with such a wicked look in his eyes, that if they had
not been on the public road she was certain he would have eaten her up. ‘Well,’
said the grandmother, ‘we will shut the door, that he may not come in.’ Soon
afterwards the wolf knocked, and cried: ‘Open the door, grandmother, I am
Little Red-Cap, and am bringing you some cakes.’ But they did not speak, or
open the door, so the grey-beard stole twice or thrice round the house, and at
last jumped on the roof, intending to wait until Red-Cap went home in the
evening, and then to steal after her and devour her in the darkness. But the
grandmother saw what was in his thoughts. In front of the house was a great
stone trough, so she said to the child: ‘Take the pail, Red-Cap; I made some sausages yesterday,
so carry the water in which I boiled them to the trough.’ Red-Cap
carried until the great trough was quite full. Then the smell of the sausages
reached the wolf, and he sniffed and peeped down, and at last stretched out his
neck so far that he could no longer keep his footing and began to slip, and
slipped down from the roof straight into the great trough, and was drowned. But Red-Cap went joyously home,
and no one ever did anything to harm her again.
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How the highlighted parts inspired me:
loved by everyone - gives me the idea of her outfit, must be fashionable and model must look nice and kind
a little cap of red velvet - outfit? as much red as possible
piece of cake and a bottle of wine - Props to be used - in a basket?
under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; - Location - forest matches both this version and normal
how pretty the flowers are about here - Location and props - have in images
She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, - location? Large doorway?
nd scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red-Cap. - Show confrontation between both
But Red-Cap went joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again. - Path? Walking home? Mid air shot? Show happiness and safety
