Grimm's Fairy Tales

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“I will take great care,” said Little Red-Cap.
The grandmother lived out in the wood, a 
mile and a half from the village. Just as Little 
Red-Cap entered the wood, a wolf met her.
Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature 
he was and was not at all afraid of him.
“Good day, Little Red-Cap,” said he. 
“Thank you kindly, wolf.”
“Where are you going so early, Little Red-
Cap?” he asked.
“To my grandmother’s,” Red-Cap replied.
“What have you got in your apron?”
“Cake and wine. Yesterday was baking day.
Poor, sick grandmother is to have something 
good to make her stronger.”
“Where does your grandmother live?”
“A good three-quarters of a mile farther on 
in the wood. Her house stands under the three 
large oak trees. The nut trees are just below, as 
you surely must know,” replied Little Red-Cap.
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The wolf thought, What a tender young 
creature! She will be better to eat than the old 
woman. I must catch both. 
So he walked for a short time by the side of 
Little Red-Cap. Then he said, “See how pretty 
the fl owers are here? Why do you not look 
round? I believe you also do not hear how 
sweetly the little birds are singing. You walk 
along as if you were going to school. Everything 
else out here in the wood is merry.”
Little Red-Cap raised her eyes. She saw the 
sunbeams dancing through the trees and pretty 
fl owers growing everywhere. She thought, 
Suppose I take grandmother a fresh bouquet. 
 
That would please her. I shall still get there in 
good time.
And so she ran from the path into the wood 
to look for fl owers. Whenever she picked one, 
she fancied she saw a still prettier one farther 
on. She ran after it and got deeper and deeper 
into the wood.
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Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the 
grandmother’s house and knocked on the door. 
“Who is there?”
“Little Red-Cap bringing cake and wine,” 
said the wolf in a little-girl voice. “Open the 
door.”
“Lift the latch,” called the grandmother. “I 
am too weak and cannot get up.”
The wolf lifted the latch. The door sprang 
open. He went straight to the grandmother’s 
bed without a word and devoured her. He put 
on her clothes and cap, closed the curtains, and 
climbed in the bed.
When Little Red-Cap had gathered so 
many fl owers she could carry no more, she 
remembered her grandmother. She set out on 
the way to her. 
She was surprised to fi nd the cottage door 
standing open. When she went into the room, 
she had such a strange feeling.
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“Good morning,” Little Red-Cap called out.
But she 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, what big ears you have!”
“The better to hear you with, my child,” was 
the reply.
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“But, Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” 
she said.
“The better to see you with, my dear.”
“But, Grandmother, what large hands you 
have!” Little Red-Cap said.
“The better to hug you with.”
“Oh but, Grandmother, what a terrible big 
mouth you have!”
“The better to eat you with!”
With one bound the wolf was out of the 
bed. He swallowed up Little Red-Cap. When 
the wolf had satisfi ed his appetite, he lay down 
again in the bed. He fell asleep and began to 
snore very loudly. 
A huntsman was just passing the house. He 
thought, How the old woman is snoring! I must 
see if she wants anything. So he went into the 
room. When he came to the bed, he saw the 
wolf was lying in it. 
“Do I fi nd you here, old sinner?” he said. “I 
have long sought you!” He was going to fi re at 
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him but realized the wolf might have eaten the 
grandmother. So he took a pair of scissors and 
began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping 
wolf.
When he had made two snips, he saw Little 
Red-Cap. Two snips more and the girl sprang 
out. 
“How frightened I have been!” she exclaimed.
“How dark it is inside the wolf!” 
After that the grandmother came out alive 
also, but scarcely able to breathe.
Little Red-Cap quickly fetched some large 
stones. She and the huntsman fi lled the wolf’s 
belly with them. When the wolf awoke, he 
wanted to run away. But the stones were so 
heavy he collapsed at once and fell dead. 
All three were delighted. The huntsman 
drew off the wolf’s skin and went home with 
it. The grandmother ate the cake and drank 
the wine that Little Red-Cap had brought. 
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Little Red-Cap thought, As long as I live, I 
will never leave the path by myself to run into the 
wood when my mother has forbidden me to do so.
On another outing, Little Red-Cap was 
again taking cakes to the old grandmother 
when another wolf spoke to her. He tried to 
lure her from the path.
Little Red-Cap was on her guard. She went 
straight on her way. She told her grandmother 
she had met the wolf and he had said “good 
morning” to her. But he had such a wicked 
look, she was sure he would have eaten her up 
had they not been on a public road.
The grandmother said, “Well, we will shut 
the door so he may not come in.” Soon after 
the wolf knocked, and cried, “Open the door, 
Grandmother. I am Little Red-Cap with some 
cakes for you.” 
They did not speak or open the door. So the 
graybeard stole round the house and jumped 
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on the roof. He planned to wait until Little 
Red-Cap went home in the evening. Then he 
would devour her in the darkness. 
The grandmother saw what was in his 
thoughts. In front of the house was a great 
stone trough. She said to the child, “I made 
some sausages yesterday. Take the pail and 
carry the water that I boiled them in to the 
trough.”
Little Red-Cap carried the water until the 
trough was full. The smell of the sausages 
reached the wolf. He sniffed and peeped down.
At last, he stretched out his neck so far that 
he began to slip. He slipped down the roof 
straight into the trough and drowned.
Little Red-Cap went joyously home and no 
one ever did anything to harm her again.
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Rapunzel
Once there were a man and a woman who 
had long wished for a child. The woman hoped
God was about to grant her desire. 
These people had a little window at the back 
of their house from which a splendid garden 
could be seen. It was full of the most beautiful 
fl owers and herbs.
A high wall surrounded the garden and 
no one dared go in because it belonged to an 
enchantress. The enchantress was dreaded by 
all the world. 
One day the woman was standing by this 
window and looking down into the garden. 
She saw the most beautiful rapunzel planted 
in a bed. It looked so fresh and green that she