There was once a little girl in a village, the most enlightened one that one could have seen: her mother was crazy, and her grandmother was still more crazy. This good woman made her a little red hood that suited so well that everywhere was called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One day, her mother, having cooked and made cakes, said to her:
“Go and see how is your grandmother, for I have been told she was ill. Give him a cake and this little pot of butter.”
Little Red Riding Hood left at once to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village. As she passed through a wood, she met the Wolf, who was eager to eat her; but he did not dare because of a few woodcutters who were in the forest. He asked her where she was going. The poor child, who did not know it was dangerous to stop listening to a wolf, said to him:
“I am going to see my grandmother, and give her a cake, with a little pot of butter, that my mother sends to her.”
“Is she far away?” asked the wolf.
“Oh ! Yes,” said Little Red Riding Hood, “it is beyond the mill that you see all over there, at the first house of the village.”
“Well!” said the Wolf, “I want to go see her also; I will go by this way, and you by that way; and we shall see who will be there sooner.”
The Wolf began to run with all his strength by the shortest route, and the little girl went by the longest way, amusing herself in picking hazelnuts, running after butterflies, and making bouquets of small flowers that she met.
The wolf was not long in reaching the house of the grandmother; It hits: “toc, toc.”
“Who is there?”
“It is your daughter, Little Red Riding Hood,” said the Wolf, counterfeiting her voice, “who brings you a cake and a little pot of butter, which my mother sends to you.”
The good grandmother, who was in her bed, because she was a little ill, she cried out to him:
“Pull the ankle, the bobinette will fall.”
The Wolf pulled the ankle, and the door opened. He threw himself upon the good woman, and devoured her in less than nothing, for it had been more than three days since he had eaten. Then he closed the door and went to sleep in the grandmother’s bed, waiting for Little Red Riding Hood, who, some time later, came knocking at the door: “toc, toc.”
“Who is there?”
The little Red Riding Hood, who heard the Wolf’s loud voice, was at first frightened, but, thinking that her grandmother had a cold, answered:
“It is your daughter, Little Red Riding Hood, who brings you a cake, and a little pot of butter, which my mother sends to you.”
The Wolf shouted to her, softening his voice a little:
“Pull the ankle, the bobinette will fall.”
Little Red Riding Hood pulled the ankle, and the door opened. The Wolf, seeing her enter, said to her, hiding in the bed under the blanket:
“Put the cake and the little pot of butter on the crib, and come and lie with me.”
Little Red Riding Hood undresses, and goes to bed, where she was very surprised to see how her grandmother was made in her undress. She said to her:
“Grandmother, what great arms you have!”
“It is to better embrace you, my child!”
“Grandmother, what big legs you have!”
“It is to run better, my child!”
“Grandmother, what big ears you have!”
“It is to listen better, my child!”
“Grandmother, what big eyes you have!”
“It is to see you better, my child!”
“Grandmother, what big teeth you have!”
“It is to eat you!”
And, saying these words, this wicked wolf threw herself on Little Red Riding Hood and ate her.
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