“Well then,” said Grandmother. “We’ll just lock that door so he can’t get in.”
Not much later the wolf knocked at the door and called out: “Open the door, Grandmother, it’s Little Red Cap. I’m bringing you some cakes.”
The two kept quiet and didn’t open the door. Then old Grayhead circled the house a few times and finally jumped up on the roof. He was planning on waiting until Little Red Cap went home. Then he was going to creep up after her and gobble her up in the dark. But Grandmother guessed what he had on his mind. There was a big stone trough in front of the house. She said to the child: “Here’s a bucket, Little Red Cap. Yesterday I cooked some sausages. Take the water in which they were boiled and pour it into the trough.”
Little Red Cap kept carrying water until that big, big trough was completely full. The smell of those sausages reached the wolf’s nostrils. His neck was stretched out so long from sniffing and looking around that he lost his balance and began to slide down. He went right down the roof into the trough and was drowned. Little Red Cap walked home cheerfully, and no one did her any harm.
* * *
† Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, “Rotkäppchen,” in Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 7th ed. (Berlin: Dieterich, 1857; first published: Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1812). Translated for the first edition of this Norton Critical Edition by Maria Tatar. Copyright © 1999 by Maria Tatar.
ITALO CALVINO
The False Grandmother†
A mother had to sift flour, and told her little girl to go to her grandmother’s and borrow the sifter. The child packed a snack—ring-shaped cakes and bread with oil—and set out.
She came to the Jordan River.
“Jordan River, will you let me pass?”
“Yes, if you give me your ring-shaped cakes.”
The Jordan River had a weakness for ring-shaped cakes, which he enjoyed twirling in his whirlpools.
The child tossed the ring-shaped cakes into the river, and the river lowered its waters and let her through.
The little girl came to the Rake Gate.
“Rake Gate, will you let me pass?”
“Yes, if you give me your bread with oil.”
The Rake Gate had a weakness for bread with oil, since her hinges were rusty, and bread with oil oiled them for her.
The little girl gave the gate her bread with oil, and the gate opened and let her through.
She reached her grandmother’s house, but the door was shut tight.
“Grandmother, Grandmother, come let me in.”
“I’m in bed sick. Come through the window.”
“I can’t make it.”
“Come through the cat door.”
“I can’t squeeze through.”
“Well, wait a minute,” she said, and lowered a rope, by which she pulled the little girl up through the window. The room was dark. In bed was the ogress, not the grandmother, for the ogress had gobbled up Grandmother all in one piece from head to toe, all except her teeth, which she had put on to stew in a small stew pan, and her ears, which she had put on to fry in a frying pan.
“Grandmother, Mamma wants the sifter.”
“It’s late now. I’ll give it to you tomorrow. Come to bed.”
“Grandmother, I’m hungry, I want my supper first.”
“Eat the beans boiling in the boiler.”
In the pot were the teeth. The child stirred them around and said, “Grandmother, they’re too hard.”
“Well, eat the fritters in the frying pan.”
In the frying pan were the ears. The child felt them with the fork and said, “Grandmother, they’re not crisp.”
“Well, come to bed. You can eat tomorrow.”
The little girl got into bed beside Grandmother. She felt one of her hands and said, “Why are your hands so hairy, Grandmother?”
“From wearing too many rings on my fingers.”
She felt her chest. “Why is your chest so hairy, Grandmother?”
“From wearing too many necklaces around my neck.”
She felt her hips. “Why are your hips so hairy, Grandmother?”
“Because I wore my corset too tight.”
She felt her tail and reasoned that, hairy or not, Grandmother had never had a tail. That had to be the ogress and nobody else. So she said, “Grandmother, I can’t go to sleep unless I first go and take care of a little business.”
Grandmother replied, “Go do it in the barn below. I’ll let you down through the trapdoor and then draw you back up.”
She tied a rope around her and lowered her into the barn. The minute the little girl was down she untied the rope and in her place attached a nanny goat. “Are you through?” asked Grandmother.
“Just a minute.” She finished tying the rope around the nanny goat. “There, I’ve finished. Pull me back up.”
The ogress pulled and pulled, and the little girl began yelling, “Hairy ogress! Hairy ogress!” She threw open the barn and fled. The ogress kept pulling, and up came the nanny goat. She jumped out of bed and ran after the little girl.
When the child reached the Rake Gate, the ogress yelled from a distance, “Rake Gate, don’t let her pass!”
But the Rake Gate replied, “Of course I’ll let her pass; she gave me her bread with oil.”
When the child reached the Jordan River, the ogress shouted, “Jordan River, don’t you let her pass!”
But the Jordan River answered, “Of course I’ll let her pass; she gave me her ring-shaped cakes.”
When the ogress tried to get through, the Jordan River did not lower his waters, and the ogress was swept away in the current. From the bank the little girl made faces at her.
* * *
† “The False Grandmother,” recorded by Antonio de Nino, 1883, in Italian Folktales, selected and retold by Italo Calvino, trans. George Martin (New York: Pantheon, 1980). Copyright © 1956 by Giulio Einaudi editore, s.p.a. English translation copyright © 1980 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and by Penguin Books Ltd. All rights reserved.
ROALD DAHL
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf†
As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma’s door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
5
And Wolfie said, ‘May I come in?’
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
‘He’s going to eat me up!’ she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
10
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, ‘That’s not enough!
‘I haven’t yet begun to feel
‘That I have had a decent meal!’
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
15
‘I’ve got to have another helping!’
Then added with a frightful leer,
‘I’m therefore going to wait right here
‘Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
‘Comes home from walking in the wood.’
20
He quickly put on Grandma’s clothes,
(Of course he hadn’t eaten those.)
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair,
25
Then sat himself in Grandma’s chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
‘What great big ears you have, Grandma.’
‘All the better to hear you with,’ the Wolf replied.
30
‘What great big eyes you have, Grandma,’
said Little Red Riding Hood.
‘All the better to see you with,’ the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching he
r and smiled.
He thought, I’m going to eat this child.
35
Compared with her old Grandmamma
She’s going to taste like caviare.
Then Little Red Riding Hood said, ‘But Grandma,
what a lovely great big furry coat you have on.’
‘That’s wrong!’ cried Wolf. ‘Have you forgot
40
‘To tell me what BIG TEETH I’ve got?
‘Ah well, no matter what you say,
‘I’m going to eat you anyway.’
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
45
She aims it at the creature’s head
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
50
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, ‘Hello, and do please note
‘My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT.’
* * *
† Roald Dahl, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf,” in Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (New York: Penguin, Puffin, 1995). Copyright © 1982 by Roald Dahl Nominee Limited. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by David Higham Associates. All rights reserved.
ROALD DAHL
The Three Little Pigs†
The animal I really dig
Above all others is the pig.
Pigs are noble. Pigs are clever,
Pigs are courteous. However,
Now and then, to break this rule,
5
One meets a pig who is a fool.
What, for example, would you say
If strolling through the woods one day,
Right there in front of you you saw
A pig who’d built his house of STRAW?
10
The Wolf who saw it licked his lips,
And said, ‘That pig has had his chips.’
‘Little pig, little pig, let me come in!’
‘No, no, by the hairs on my chinny-chin-chin!’
‘Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in!’
15
The little pig began to pray,
But Wolfie blew his house away.
He shouted, ‘Bacon, pork and ham!
‘Oh, what a lucky Wolf I am!’
And though he ate the pig quite fast,
20
He carefully kept the tail till last.
Wolf wandered on, a trifle bloated.
Surprise, surprise, for soon he noted
Another little house for pigs,
And this one had been built of TWIGS!
25
‘Little pig, little pig, let me come in!’
‘No, no, by the hairs of my chinny-chin-chin!’
‘Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in!’
The Wolf said, ‘Okay, here we go!’
He then began to blow and blow.
30
The little pig began to squeal.
He cried, ‘Oh Wolf, you’ve had one meal!
‘Why can’t we talk and make a deal?’
The Wolf replied, ‘Not on your nelly!’
And soon the pig was in his belly.
35
‘Two juicy little pigs!’ Wolf cried,
‘But still I am not satisfied!
‘I know full well my Tummy’s bulging,
‘But oh, how I adore indulging.’
So creeping quietly as a mouse,
40
The Wolf approached another house,
A house which also had inside
A little piggy trying to hide.
But this one, Piggy Number Three,
Was bright and brainy as could be.
45
No straw for him, no twigs or sticks.
This pig had built his house of BRICKS.
‘You’ll not get me!’ the Piggy cried.
‘I’ll blow you down!’ the Wolf replied.
‘You’ll need,’ Pig said, ‘a lot of puff,
50
‘And I don’t think you’ve got enough.’
Wolf huffed and puffed and blew and blew.
The house stayed up as good as new.
‘If I can’t blow it down,’ Wolf said,
‘I’ll have to blow it up instead.
55
‘I’ll come back in the dead of night
‘And blow it up with dynamite!’
Pig cried, ‘You brute! I might have known!’
Then, picking up the telephone,
He dialled as quickly as he could
60
The number of Red Riding Hood.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Who’s speaking? Who?
‘Oh, hello Piggy, how d’you do?’
Pig cried, ‘I need your help, Miss Hood!
‘Oh help me, please! D’you think you could?’
65
‘I’ll try, of course,’ Miss Hood replied.
‘What’s on your mind?’ … ‘A Wolf!’ Pig cried.
‘I know you’ve dealt with wolves before,
‘And now I’ve got one at my door!’
‘My darling Pig,’ she said, ‘my sweet,
70
‘That’s something really up my street.
‘I’ve just begun to wash my hair.
‘But when it’s dry, I’ll be right there.’
A short while later, through the wood,
Came striding brave Miss Riding Hood.
75
The Wolf stood there, his eyes ablaze
And yellowish, like mayonnaise.
His teeth were sharp, his gums were raw,
And spit was dripping from his jaw.
Once more the maiden’s eyelid flickers.
80
She draws the pistol from her knickers.
Once more, she hits the vital spot,
And kills him with a single shot.
Pig, peeping through the window, stood
And yelled, ‘Well done, Miss Riding Hood!’
85
Ah, Piglet, you must never trust
Young ladies from the upper crust.
For now, Miss Riding Hood, one notes,
Not only has two wolfskin coats,
But when she goes from place to place,
90
She has a PIGSKIN TRAVELLING CASE.
* * *
† Roald Dahl, “The Three Little Pigs,” in Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (New York: Penguin, Puffin, 1995). Copyright © 1982 by Roald Dahl Nominee Limited. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by David Higham Associates. All rights reserved.
The Tale of the Tiger Woman†
Someone once told me a story about tigers. The district of She is located in the Wan Mountains, and many tigers live there. One of them was an ancient female tiger who could turn herself into a human whenever she wanted. And when she did, she was out for blood.
In that very region, there lived a peasant with his daughter. One day he sent his daughter out with a basket of jujuba fruit and asked her to take them to his mother-in-law, who lived six miles away. The girl had a little brother, and he came along with her. The boy was about ten years old, and he held her hand all the way. Just as the sun was setting, the girl and her brother realized that they had lost their way. They met an old woman, and she asked them where they were going. “We are going to visit our grandmother.” The woman, who was really a tiger, said, “Why that’s me!”
The two children said, “But our mother told us that her mother has seven moles on her face. You don’t look at all like her, and you have no moles at all.” The woman replied, “That may be true, but this afternoon I was removing the husks fro
m rice, and now my face is all covered with dust. Let me go wash it.” She walked over to a nearby stream and gathered up seven shells. Then she popped them on her face and returned to the child. “Look here,” she said. “Now you can see my moles.” The two children now believed that the woman was their grandmother, and they followed her.
The three traveled through a dark forest until they reached a narrow path. There they found a dwelling that looked just like a cave. The women said, “Uncle Er has just now ordered some workers to find trees to build a separate hall. But for now we will live here in this cave.”
The children followed her into the cave. The old woman was very slow as she moved around, but she was able to fix a complete supper. Once the meal was over, she told the children to go to bed. As they were climbing into bed, she asked, “Which of you is fatter? I need a bolster to prop up my chest.” The brother said, “I am the heavier one.” And so he became the bolster for the woman’s bed. The girl slept at the other end of the bed, at her grandmother’s feet. As soon as the girl stretched out in bed she felt something hairy touching her. She asked what it was. The woman replied, “It’s just a worn-out sheepskin that belongs to Uncle Er. When it gets cold, I put it on to stay warm.”
Around midnight, the girl began to hear the noise of someone eating, and she asked what was going on. The woman replied: “I am eating your dried jujuba fruits. It’s cold out and the night is long. I’m old, and I can’t go hungry.” The girl said, “I’m also hungry.” The woman handed her a berry, but in fact it was a human finger, cold and clammy.
The girl was terrified and leaped to her feet. “I have to go outside and find a place to go to the bathroom.” The woman said, “There are many tigers out there in the forest. You might end up in a tiger’s mouth. Be careful.” The girl replied, “Tie a thick rope around my leg, and pull on it just in case things start to look dangerous.”
The Classic Fairy Tales_Norton Critical Edition Page 6