Once upon a time there was a dear little boy who was loved by everyone who looked at him, but most of all by his grandfather, and there was nothing that he would not have given to the child. Once he gave him a little riding hood of red velvet, which suited him so well that he would never wear anything else; so he was always called 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

One day his mother said to him: 'Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandfather, he is ill and weak, and they will do him 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 grandfather will get nothing; and when you go into his 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 Riding Hood to his mother, and gave his hand on it.

The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met him. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he.

'Thank you kindly, wolf.'

'Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?'

'To my grandfather's.'

'What have you got in your apron?'

'Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandfather is to have something good, to make him stronger.'

'Where does your grandfather live, Little Red Riding Hood?'

'A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; his house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,' replied Little Red Riding Hood.

The wolf thought to himself: 'What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful - he 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 Riding Hood, and then he said: 'See, Little Red Riding Hood, 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 Riding Hood raised his eyes, and when he saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: 'Suppose I take grandfather a fresh nosegay; that would please him too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time.'

So he ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever he had picked one, he fancied that he 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 grandfather's house and knocked at the door.

'Who is there?'

'Little Red Riding Hood,' replied the wolf. 'He is bringing cake and wine; open the door.'

'Lift the latch,' called out the grandfather, '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 grandfather's bed, and devoured him. Then he put on his clothes, dressed himself in his cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.

Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when he had gathered so many that he could carry no more, he remembered his grandfather, and set out on the way to his.