Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was lost by everyone who looked at her but most of all by her grandmother there was nothing that she would not have given the child once she gave her a little red cap of velvet which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else and so she would always be called it’s already cap one day her mother said to her come little redcap here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine take these to your grandmother she is ill and she is weak and these will do her good set out before it gets hot and when you will go and walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path we may fall and break the bottle and then your grandmother will get nothing and when you get into her room don’t forget to say good morning and don’t peep into every corner before you do so the grandmother lived out in the wood half a league away from the village and just as little redcap entered the wood she was greeted by a wolf redcap did not know what a wicked creature he was and so she was not afraid of him at all where do you go so early little redcap to my grandmother’s what do you have in your apron little redcap I have some cake and wine yesterday was bacon day supports it, grandmothers, to have something good to make her stronger and where does your grandmother live little redcap a good quarter of a league further on in the wood.
Her house stands under three large oak trees the nut trees are just below you surely must know it replied little redcap the wolf thought to himself what a tender young creature what a nice plump mouthful she’ll be better to eat than a old woman I must act craftily as to catch them both so he walked for a short time by the side of little redcap and then he said see little redcap how pretty the flowers are about here why do you not look around I believe you do not hear how sweetly the birds sing you walk so gravely as if you’re going to school while everything else here is so merry little road cap raised her eyes and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and through the trees and pretty flowers growing everywhere she thought suppose I take grandmother’s and fresh flowers that will please her too it’s so early on in a day that I shall still get there in good time and so she ran from the path and into the wood to look for flowers and whenever she had picked one she fancied that there would still be a prettier one further on and ran after it and got deeper and deeper into the wood meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother’s house and knocked at the door who is their little red cap replied the wolf she’s bringing cake and wine open the door if the latch called out the grandmother I am too weak and I cannot get up the wolf lifted the latch in the door flew open and without saying a word he went straight to grandmother’s bed and devoured her then he put on her clothes dressed in her cap.
He laid himself in her bed and drew the curtains literate cap however had been running around picking flowers and when she gathered so many that she could not carry no more she remembered her grandmother and set out on her way she was surprised to find the cottage door standing open and when she went into the room she had such a strange feeling and she said to herself oh dear how uneasy I feel today and other times I like being with grandmother so much she called out good morning but received no answer she went to the bed and drew back the curtains and there lay her grandmother with her cap pulled 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 the better to see you my dear but grandmother what large hands you have the better to hug you with but grandmother what a terrible large mouth you have the better to eat you with and scarcely had the wolf said this that with one bound he was out of bed and he swallowed redcap hole when the wolf appease his appetite he lay down in the bed and fell asleep he began to snore very loud the hunter who was just passed in the house thought himself how the old woman was snoring very loudly I must 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 old sinner said he I have long sought you then just as he was going to fire at it it occurred to him that a wolf may have devoured the old grandmother and she might still be saved so he did not fire he instead took a pair of scissors and began to cut up in the stomach of the sleeping wolf when he had made two snips he saw a little red cap shining and then he made to snip small and then little girl sprang out crying and after that the aged grandmother came out alive also but scarcely able to breathe redcap however quickly fetched great stones in which they filled the wolf’s belly and when he awoke he wanted to run away but the stones filled his belly so heavy that he was unable he fell down at once and fell dead.
All three were delighted the haunted roof the wolf skin and went home with it the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine which redcap bought her and was revived but redcap thought to herself as long as I live I will never buy myself leave the path to run into the wood when my mother has forbidden me to do so redcap was once again taking cakes to her grandmother another wolf spoke to her and tried to entice her from the path redcap 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 said good morning to her but was such a wicked look in his eyes if it had not been on a public road she was certain he would have eaten her up while we will shut the door so he may not come in soon afterwards the wolf knocked on the door and cried open the door grandmother I am little redcap fetching you some cake but they did not speak nor open the door so the graybeard stole twice or thrice around the house and lastly he jumped on the roof intending to wait until a redcap was home in the evening and then steal her away and devour her in the darkness but the grandmother sworn to his thoughts in front of the house does a great stone trowel I made some sausages yesterday take the water in which I bowled them to the trowel where it kept carried until the great travels form then this one of the sausages reached a wolf and he sniffed and peeped down and at last he stretched out he’s next so far and he could no longer keep his foot in and he began to slip he slipped down from the roof and straight into the great trowel and drowned but red cap went joyously home and never did anything to harm anyone the story of little red cap is one that I’m sure nearly everyone Cora enough has heard of but it’s likely the virgin knew had to may have been called Little Red Riding Hood at first glance the story is a very simple tale that warns of the danger in talking to strangers and those who wish the trick and take advantage of you but there are several interesting versions of the story the first published version of the story was written by the French author Charles Perrault in the 17th century in fact much of Peru’s work would later be rewritten by the Brothers Grimm Burroughs version centers around a young wild brood village girl who’s tricked by a wolf who lays a trap in her grandmother’s house he then of course eats the girl but there is no woodcutter or hunter certainly is no happy ending as it is the wolf that emerges victorious in this story piroso explanation of his story was that it was a warning to young or bred ladies to avoid listening to strangers a many saw his version as an early warning of pedophilia in the Brothers Grimm version of the tale it’s very clear that the first story warns against the naivety and the trust of strangers the second I was almost the Brothers Grimm shown us what happens if you listen to the warnings of the first story and applied into the same situation this time you and ready cap can emerge the victor rather than the victim the story of red cap as I’m sure many of you are aware has been adapted several times over the years each time becoming more and more tame so feel free to share any versions of the story that you may have heard with me in the comments below.
