The New Little Red Riding Hood

Rating: T

Warning: violence, adult themes

Description: A modern version of the old fairy tale.

————

The little girl walked through the forest every day, bringing food for her grandmother who lived all alone in a nice little cottage in a clearing. Her grandmother felt she could handle going to the shops herself, but the little girl didn’t agree. She had to go to school every day anyway and then back to the big house that was lying on the edge of the forest. Because she had such bright red hair, people called her the Little Red Riding Hood.

In the forest there was also a mean man who liked to hunt and kill the wild animals. He was called the hunter. He also liked little girls and when he saw her walking home alone on the dark forest paths he was happy. He thought that he would be able to catch her and bring her back to his hunting cabin where he was hiding out. It was a terrible place with the remains of his innocent little victims lying strewn around inside and out.

In the forest there were also some wild animals. Once there were many, but now, when the hunter had killed so many of them, there weren’t that many of them left anymore. Many of them had fled to another forest to save themselves from the hunter.

There was still a wolf living there. She was a lone female wolf who was the only survivor when the hunter had killed her mother and father and all her siblings. She hated the hunter more than anything in the world. Some day she would get her revenge.

Then she noticed how the hunter was stalking the little girl and the wolf thought that he must have evil intentions towards her too. She decided to keep watch over her.

The hunter soon noticed that the grandmother was living alone in her cottage and thought that if he grabbed her grandchild maybe the old bat would call the police. He didn’t want that. He’d already been in trouble with them because of his interest in little girls. Here’s an idea, he thought, I’ll lock the old biddy in the basement and then when I get the kid I’ll be able to have her to myself for as long as I like. When people notice that she’s missing, I’ll say that the wolf has probably taken her. And the old woman probably just locked herself in. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. He was very happy about his plans.

So he sneaked into the cottage while the old lady was out emptying the trash. It was easy for him to push her down the stairs into the basement and lock her in. Once that was done, he hurried outside again to catch the girl.

In the meantime, the wolf was lying in a bush, staking him out and sniffing the air.

When the girl got to the clearing she shouted for her grandmother as she always did, but this time she didn’t get a reply. She was a little worried, but knew her grandmother was a bit hard of hearing, so she would probably be inside the cottage anyway.

That was the moment the hunter chose to appear. He grabbed the girl. At first she got scared, but then she remembered what she’d learned in the self defence course that all the girls in sixth grade had had to take. She kicked the hunter all over and he cursed and yelled and got furious at her. So furious that he forgot about what he really wanted to do to her. He squeezed around her neck so she couldn’t breathe.

The wolf realized she couldn’t wait any longer. She burst from the bushes and attacked the hunter. His hands were busy strangling the little girl so he couldn’t defend himself. The wolf ripped out his throat and finally she had her revenge.

”That was for my family”, she growled. Gently, she dragged the girl back to the little human house and began to lick her face. The wolf’s breath didn’t smell very nice so the girl woke up and made a face. But then she caught sight of the pretty young wolf who was staring at her and she smiled at her.

”Hello, wolf. How nice to meet you.”

When she tried to talk, her throat hurt, and that made her remember.

”Oh, right, that yucky old man. Did you save me from him? Thanks.”

Now that the girl had woken up, the wolf retreated to a safe distance. The girl was a human too, even if she wasn’t as big or smelled of death like the hunter. Maybe she was dangerous too.

The girl sat up. She felt pretty good, considering. Then she remembered her grandmother. What if the old man had killed her? She went inside the cottage that was standing open and called out as loudly as she could, though her throat hurt.

”Grandmother, where are you?”

A banging from the basement answered her. The girl hurried downstairs to let her grandmother out.

Then she remembered the wolf. Whenever a wolf had hurt some farmer’s sheep they would arrange a hunt for the poor wolf. (Poor sheep too!). She would have to do something.

”Can I borrow a spade?”

”Of course you can”, said her grandmother.

So the girl dug a deep hole in the ground and with the help of a pair of old ski poles, she pushed the hunter into the hole. Her grandmother helped her shove the soil back into the hole to cover up the body. Now the hunter would never be able to hurt anyone again.

The wolf stayed in the woods and during the winter a lonely young wolf boy joined her. Eventually, they had five lovely cubs.

The girl and her grandmother stayed too and sometimes they put out food for the wolves. But they never told anyone about what had happened that day.

FIN

© Camilla