"
Then he went into the room and walked up to the bed, and saw the wolf
lying there.
"At last I find you, you old sinner!" said he; "I have been looking for
you for a long time." And he made up his mind that the wolf had
swallowed the grandmother whole, and that she might yet be saved. So he
did not fire, but took a pair of shears and began to slit up the wolf's
body. When he made a few snips Little Redcap appeared, and after a few
more snips she jumped out and cried, "Oh, dear, how frightened I have
been, it is so dark inside the wolf!"
And then out came the old grandmother, still living and breathing. But
Little Redcap went and quickly fetched some large stones, with which she
filled the wolf's body, so that when he waked up, and was going to rush
away, the stones were so heavy that he sank down and fell dead.
They were all three very much pleased. The huntsman took off the wolf's
skin and carried it home to make a fur rug. The grandmother ate the
cakes and drank the milk and held up her head again, and Little Redcap
said to herself that she would never again stray about in the wood
alone, but would mind what her mother told her, nor talk to strangers.
It must also be related how a few days afterward, when Little Redcap was
again taking cakes to her grandmother, another wolf spoke to her, and
wanted to tempt her to leave the path; but she was on her guard, and
went straight on her way, and told her grandmother how that the wolf had
met her and wished her good-day, but had looked so wicked about the eyes
that she thought if it had not been on the high road he would have
devoured her.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216