"The Wolf"
I had
just heard the news about the
death of an old woman in my village, so I barely noticed what a nice
day it was in the woods. She was my third grade teacher and just
retired a couple of years ago. She was the sweetest of grandmothers and
always talked fondly of her dear granddaughter.
I was
walking along with my head
hung low so overcome with grief I couldn't eat. I saw a girl with a red
hood whistling by, skipping and swinging a basket of goodies. I stopped
and asked her where she was going. While she answered and told me about
her grandmother, I realized that this was the granddaughter I had heard
so much about. My heart began to ache for her. The little girl was
frolicking about so I guessed that she did not yet know that her
grandmother had passed. Before I knew it, she had greeted me with
a big smile. I couldn't be the one to tell this poor girl! I had to
scheme quick. When she told me she was headed to her grandmother's
house, I challenged her to a race there. I knew a short cut! I think
best under pressure.
When
I got there I dressed in the
grandmother's clothes and lay in bed. Little Red Riding Hood arrived
just when I expected and I used my best grandmother voice imitation. I
was confident in my skills because I had taken a few acting classes in
college. (I didn't say it was the best plan.) The little girl seemed
fooled, but when she lay down next to me I got really nervous. I could
smell the sweet pastries in her basket and soon I was starving. I tried
to hurry the girl out the door and shove the pastries in my mouth.
Unfortunately, they were strawberry tarts and I was allergic to
strawberries. Just as Little Red was leaving I let out a huge sneeze
and blew strawberry tart everywhere. Naturally she screamed and ran out
the door. Before I knew it, the cops had showed up and were blaming me
for the grandmother's death. When Little Red disappeared a few days
later, they blamed me too.
There wasn't any evidence in
the case - because I didn't do it! But old judge Buttermaker used to
play bridge with the grandmother so I got locked up. Trust me, you do
not want to end up in jail. Ten years later I was out on parole for
good behavior. I went to see a shrink for all the trauma of prison. It
was a good thing too, because the therapist helped me realize that I
could change my experiences into something positive. I got the idea for
a fairy tale villains' rehabilitation clinic. There wasn't one here
when I got out of jail and I really could have used one. Do you know
how many people hire someone who went to jail for murder? No one. I
went a couple weeks without any work when I saw a sign for a lost dog.
Reward was $250. I was perfect for the job; I am a wolf after all. I
started to collect reward money for finding people's lost pets. I
hit it big when I found a three-time prize-winning champion purebred
English Bulldog with lineage to dog royalty who was being used as a
breeder. Happily, the reward gave me enough money to rent a small space
for my clinic.
So, I opened up shop. Three days
later the first people through my doors were Cinderella's stepfamily.
Author's Note: I changed the story by
making it from the wolf's point of view. The story is set in today's
time, but I still included the woods which is a classic fairy tale
element. I used the basic outline of Charles Perrault's version of
Little Red Riding Hood, but I changed the ending. In the original
story, the wolf did eat the grandmother before Little Red got there.
There is also the famous dialog between the wolf and Little Red before
the wolf eats her. She exclaims, "Gradmamma, what great ears you have
got!" And the wolf replies, "That is to hear thee better, my child." In
my story, he grandmother was already dead and the wolf was trying to
hide that fact from Little Red by impersonating her grandmother. In my
story the wolf still went to jail and was blamed for the murder of the
grandmother and Little Red, but he did not commit the crime. The idea
of getting out on parole and seeing a psychiatrist are more modern
concepts. I go on to tell what happened to the wolf after he was
blamed, went to prison and got out on parole. The main theme of my
storybook is a rehabilitation clinic for classic fairy tale villains.
This tells the background of how the clinic was founded and also leads
into the next couple of stories.
Story: Little Red Riding Hood
Author: Andrew Lang
Book: The Blue Fairy Book
Year Published: 1889
Wolf Behind Bars
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