Chapter 5
...
Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her as the sun started to set.
She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: 'Oh dear! how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.' She called out: 'Good morning,' but received no answer; so she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very strange.
'Oh! grandmother,' she said, 'what big ears you have!'
'All the better to hear you with, my child,' was the reply.
'But, grandmother, what big eyes you have!' she said.
'All the better to see you with, my dear.'
'But, grandmother, what large hands you have!'
'All the better to hug you with.'
'Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!'
'All the better to eat you with!'
And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red Riding Hood.
When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud.
How dark and cramped it was inside the wolf's belly. But she was not alone! Feeling around best she could her hand came in contact with wrinkled skin.
Grandmother! she thought frantically. Red Riding Hood moved her freed hand to the basket still clasped in her hand. There must be something in here that would help them escape...
She winced as something pricked her finger through the cotton napkin folded neatly inside. Blindly feeling she was careful not prick herself again and found the handle of the sharp object. Pulling it from the cloth and wicker basket she positioned it against the wolf's organ and made an incision through the skin until she saw the fading light from outside the wolf's body.
The wolf himself stirred slightly.
Heart beating against her chest she made the incision larger.
The huntsman was just passing the house, and thought to himself: 'How the old woman is snoring! I must just 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, you old sinner!' said he. 'I have long sought you!' But just as he was going to fire at him-
Red Riding Hood slid from the wolf's slick belly and started to cough as air filled her previously compressed lungs.
"Are you alright dear girl!" the huntsman dropped to his knees and sat her up.
Peering into the eyes of this stranger there was a fluttering thought of how handsome he was as she gasped in air. "Grandmother..."
The Huntsman turned his head to the old woman's body with a stricken expression. "She is not breathing... See how her skin and face are pale and blue? She has not been alive for many hours."
Tears flushed from her face at the lost of her beloved grandmother. "I am sorry..." she gasped looking into the wide open green eyes of the old woman. "You did not deserve such an undignified fate."
Watery eyes turned on the wolf who still laid in bed breathing in heavy slumber. Her jaw clenched frigidly.
She scrambled to her feet and quickly fetched great stones with which she filled the wolf's belly, and when he awoke with an immense sense of dread, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.
There was little sense of joy in seeing the light leave the wicked creatures eyes like she had imagined. With heavy breathing she told the Huntsman, "Do what you wish with him and leave."
So the huntsman drew off the wolf's skin and hung it over his shoulder. "You had best go home. My father tells me they are having a witch burning in the town below," with that he left, peering back at the girl once more as he walked the path back to his home.
Alone, again, Red Riding Hood lifted her grandmother into the blood stained bed. Positioned her comfortably and pulled the blanket up to the old woman's neck. Red Riding Hood tried to imagine her grandmother's smiling face and the peach colored in her skin, instead of the ghostly appearance she held now.
"I will bring mother back with me...and we will have a nice burial."
Gathering the fallen flowers that had been knocked from her while being swallowed by the wolf, she nestled them on top of her grandmothers body.
Lifting her hood over her head she did not peer back at the home. Only walked on in empty silence.
Wanting only her mother's comfort.
...
AN: Update.
