The
Grimm Brother's "Little Red Cap" is based on "Little
Red Riding Hood", from Charles Perrault's "Histoires
ou Contes du Temps Passé" (1697). Many people know
the Grimm's story ("Little Red Cap") with Perrault's
title ("Little Red Riding Hood"), which does not have
a happy end.
The
tale suffered variations along the years and the little heroine
has been killed, rescued by hunters or by his father, or even
escaped by herself in the many versions of the story.
The
Grimms, as well as many other writers, wrote versions with happier
endings, which are most known today than Perrault's, whose version
of the tale ends with the Wolf eating the naive girl and her
grand-mother. |
"Once
upon a time there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her
liked her, but most of all her grandmother, who did not know
what to give the child next. Once she gave her a little cap made
of red velvet. Because it suited her so well, and she wanted
to wear it all the time, she came to be known as 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 sick and weak, and they will do her well. Mind your manners
and give her my greetings. Behave yourself on the way, and do
not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass,
and then there will be nothing for your grandmother. And when
you enter her parlor, don't forget to say 'Good morning,' and
don't peer into all the corners first."
"I'll
do everything just right," said Little Red Cap, shaking
her mother's hand.
The grandmother
lived out in the woods, a half hour from the village. When Little
Red Cap entered the woods a wolf came up to her. She did not
know what a wicked animal he was, and was not afraid of him.
- "Good
day to you, Little Red Cap."
- "Thank
you, wolf."
- "Where
are you going so early, Little Red Cap?"
- "To
grandmother's."
- "And
what are you carrying under your apron?"
- "Grandmother
is sick and weak, and I am taking her some cake and wine. We
baked yesterday, and they should be good for her and give her
strength."
-"Little
Red Cap, just where does your grandmother live?"
-"Her
house is good quarter hour from here in the woods, under the
three large oak trees. There's a hedge of hazel bushes there.
You must know the place," said Little Red Cap.
The wolf
thought to himself, "Now that sweet young thing is a tasty
bite for me. She will taste even better than the old woman. You
must be sly, and you can catch them both."
He walked
along a little while with Little Red Cap, then he said, "Little
Red Cap, just look at the beautiful flowers that are all around
us. Why don't you go and take a look? And I don't believe you
can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking
along as though you were on your way to school. It is very beautiful
in the woods."
Little
Red Cap opened her eyes and when she saw the sunbeams dancing
to and fro through the trees and how the ground was covered with
beautiful flowers, she thought, "If a take a fresh bouquet
to grandmother, she will be very pleased. Anyway, it is still
early, and I'll be home on time." And she ran off the path
into the woods looking for flowers. Each time she picked one
she thought that she could see an even more beautiful one a little
way off, and she ran after it, going further and further into
the woods. But the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house
and knocked on the door.
- "Who's
there?"
- "Little
Red Cap. I'm bringing you some cake and wine. Open the door."
- "Just
press the latch," called out the grandmother. "I'm
too weak to get up."
The wolf
pressed the latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, went
straight to the grandmother's bed, and ate her up. Then he put
on her clothes, put her cap on his head, got into her bed, and
pulled the curtains shut.
Little
Red Cap had run after the flowers. After she had gathered so
many that she could not carry any more, she remembered her grandmother,
and then continued on her way to her house. She found, to her
surprise, that the door was open. She walked into the parlor,
and everything looked so strange that she thought, "Oh,
my God, why am I so afraid? I usually like it at grandmother's."
She called
out, "Good morning!" but received no answer.
Then she
went to the bed and pulled back the curtains. Grandmother was
lying there with her cap pulled down over her face and looking
very strange.
- "Oh,
grandmother, what big ears you have!"
- "All
the better to hear you with."
- "Oh,
grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
- "All
the better to see you with."
- "Oh,
grandmother, what big hands you have!"
- "All
the better to grab you with!"
- "Oh,
grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!"
- "All
the better to eat you with!"
The wolf
had scarcely finished speaking when he jumped from the bed with
a single leap and ate up poor Little Red Cap. As soon as the
wolf had satisfied his desires, he climbed back into bed, fell
asleep, and began to snore very loudly.
A huntsman
was just passing by. He thought, "The old woman is snoring
so loudly. You had better see if something is wrong with her."
He stepped
into the parlor, and when he approached the bed, he saw the wolf
lying there. "So here I find you, you old sinner,"
he said. "I have been hunting for you a long time."
He was
about to aim his rifle when it occurred to him that the wolf
might have eaten the grandmother, and that she still might be
rescued. So instead of shooting, he took a pair of scissors and
began to cut open the wolf's belly. After a few cuts he saw the
red cap shining through., and after a few more cuts the girl
jumped out, crying, "Oh, I was so frightened! It was so
dark inside the wolf's body!"
And then
the grandmother came out as well, alive but hardly able to breathe.
Then Little Red Cap fetched some large stones. She filled the
wolf's body with them, and when he woke up and tried to run away,
the stones were so heavy that he immediately fell down dead.
The three
of them were happy. The huntsman skinned the wolf and went home
with the pelt. The grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine
that Little Red Cap had brought. And Little Red Cap thought,
"As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run
off into the woods by myself if mother tells me not to."
They also
tell how Little Red Cap was taking some baked things to her grandmother
another time, when another wolf spoke to her and wanted her to
leave the path. But Little Red Cap took care and went straight
to grandmother's. She told her that she had seen the wolf, and
that he had wished her a good day, but had stared at her in a
wicked manner. "If we hadn't been on a public road, he would
have eaten me up," she said.
"Come,"
said the grandmother. "Let's lock the door, so he can't
get in."
Soon afterward
the wolf knocked on the door and called out, "Open up, grandmother.
It's Little Red Cap, and I'm bringing you some baked things."
They remained
silent, and did not open the door. Gray-Head crept around the
house several times, and finally jumped onto the roof. He wanted
to wait until Little Red Cap went home that evening, then follow
her and eat her up in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what
he was up to. There was a large stone trough in front of the
house.
"Fetch
a bucket, Little Red Cap," she said to the child. "Yesterday
I cooked some sausage. Carry the water that I boiled them with
to the trough." Little Red Cap carried water until the large,
large trough was clear full. The smell of sausage arose into
the wolf's nose. He sniffed and looked down, stretching his neck
so long that he could no longer hold himself, and he began to
slide. He slid off the roof, fell into the trough, and drowned.
And Little Red Cap returned home happily, and no one harmed her."
By the
Grimm Brothers |
This
text came from D. L. Ashliman's translation of "Rotkäppchen"
from "Kinder - und Hausmärchen " ("Children's
and Household Tales" - "Grimms' Fairy Tales").
Copyright
© D.L. Ashliman
The
version of Perrault's tale can be found at The Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia
Library. |
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This
page was created on: July 7, 2001.
Updated on: June 19, 2003.
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