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128 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. |
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mother. His voice was so gruff, however, that Little Red Riding Hood would have been frightened, only she thought her grand* mother had a cold.
So she replied, " It's Little Red Riding Hood. Mother's sent you a piece of cake and a bottle of wine."
" Lift up the latch and come in," said the wolf.
So Red Riding Hood lifted the latch and went in.
When she saw her grandmother, as she thought, lying in bed, she went up to her and drew back the curtains; but she could only see the head, for the wolf had pulled the night-cap as far over his face as he could.
" Good morning," she said ; but there was no answer. Then she got on the bed and cried out, "Oh, grandmother, what great ears you have got!"
" The better to hear with, my dear," he said.
"And what great eyes you have got !"
" The better to see with, my dear."
"And, grandmother, what large hands you have got !"
" The better to hold you, my dear."
" But, grandmother, what great teeth you have got!" cried Red Riding Hood, who began to be frightened.
"The better to eat you !" cried the wolf, jumping irom the bed, and seizing poor Red Riding Hood, he swallowed her up at one mouthful.
Now, as soon as the wolf had satisfied his hunger, he laid himself in the bed, and snored so loudly that he could be heard outside.
A hunter, who was out with his gun, was passing by. and thought to himself, " How the old woman snores; I must go in and see what is the matter."
Then he stepped into the room, and when he came to the bed he saw the wolf lying on it.
" Oh, you old sinner," said the hunter, "have I found you at last! I have been seeking you a long time, Mr. Wolf."
He was just going to raise his gun when he missed the old grandmother, and thinking that the wolf might have swallowed her, he remembered she might yet be saved. So he would not shoot, but taking a pair of scissors, cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf! |
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