Many years ago there lived little girl whose true name has been lost to time, but many know as Little Red Ridding Hood. Her, her little brother and her mother lived together in a cottage while on the other side of a wood lived her grandmother. They were poor, but content, but when her little brother became ill they had no money to buy medicine for him.
Despair filled their hearts until Granny had an idea. She would die.
For you see, she was a very kind old woman, but she was also a witch of sorts, and she knew the oldest law, a life for a life, and could utilise it.
She was still very afraid, and she wanted her good friend the wolf to help her through this, and also to make it appear to be an accident, as you see, wolves, while being very nice creatures, see nothing wrong in eating dead friend as long as said friend is dead.
He reluctantly agreed after expending much effort trying to dissuade her, and the date was set for the next week, so Granny would have time to set her affairs in order.
She didn't tell Little Red Ridding Hood or her mother as she didn't want them to feel guilty, and they were always busy looking after the boy anyway and hardly ever came to visit her.
On the day that Grandmother had intended to die, Little Red Ridding Hoods brother was having a good day. He was hardly feverish at all, and sleeping peacefully for the first time in weeks, so her mother sent her to go visit her grandmother and give her what little food they left over, as Granny was unable to work at her age.
So Little Red Ridding Hood skipped out into the wood, glad of the fresh air and happy to be going to see Granny again.
She was so happy that when she passed some flowers away from the path she stopped.
"These would make a lovely present for Granny" she said to herself and started to pick them.
Every time she picked one, there was always another flower just a little further away and she would go to pick that, which is how she soon ended up away from the guidance of the path and she was lost in the woods. The woods were big and scary, and she started to cry.
Now Granny had no idea that Little Red Ridding Hood was going to come this day, she didn't expect her to come until the weekend, by which time all the nasty business would be over and all that remained would be a slightly chewed foot, or some other part of her body.
The wolf had no idea of this either, and he had never met Little Red Riding Hood, so when he found a little girl crying in the woods he felt obligated to lead her back to the path.
"Now don't leave the path again, I won't always be around to lead you back"
A sniffly Little Red Ridding Hood nodded and wiped away the last of the tears, clearing her vision but not before the wolf had melted back into the forest.
They both continued on their way, but as everyone knows, a wolf has four legs while a girl only has two, so a wolf can move twice as fast.
The wolf reached Granny's half an hour before Little Red Ridding Hood and he gobbled her all up. Granny was old and tough and he struggled to eat her, and after he was very finished he felt very sleepy, so he climbed into Granny's bed, but not before pulling on Granny's sleeping gown, and cap, because it just felt wrong sleeping naked in someone else's bed, even for a wolf. He decided she wouldn't mind since she had no further use for the items.
He dozed off, and while he slept Little Red Ridding Hood reached the cottage. He was woken by her loud knock to announce herself as she entered. After all, it was her Granny's house, she didn't need to be invited in.
"Oh, Granny, I bought you some food." she said walking into the bedroom.
The wolf started awake. Confused and afraid he just nodded.
"Oh Granny, what big eyes you have!" she said.
Unsure what to do the wolf agreed saying "All the better to see you with."
"But Granny, what big ears you have"
"All the better to smell you with"
"And Granny, what a big nose you have"
"All the better to smell you with"
"Why Granny, what big teeth you have" exclaimed the little girl.
Why change a working formula thought the wolf. "All the better to eat you with."
Little Red Ridding Hood peered at the wolf on hearing that, and she realised that this wasn't her Granny. She screamed and the wolf jumped from the bed.
"Don't scream, don't scream!" he yelled, but in his fright he started to talk in wolfish and it just sounded like a series of growls to Little Red Ridding Hood who screamed again.
A passing Wood Chopper heard her screams and ran into the cottage. He saw the wolf and he raised his axe high. It cracked the poor wolfs skull in two and he died instantly.
The Wood Chopper took Little Red Ridding Hood back to her home and explained to her mother that the wolf had eaten Granny and was about to eat Little Red Ridding Hood too when he arrived.
But later that day Little Red Ridding Hood's brother became better, his fever vanished and for the first time in a year he was able to leave his bed. They grieved for Granny and celebrated for the little boy, and their lives improved greatly.
The Wood Chopper and Little Red Ridding Hood's mother spent more and more time together and a year later a wedding was announced. So they were no longer just making ends meet now that they had the Wood Choppers income to help.
But more than one life was lost, and the rule of a life for a life still applies to wolves. A young unicorn in the woods was dying that day, but the wolfs sprit saved it. It was so grateful that it use the magic stored in it's horn to cause the wolf to be re-born in the form of a butterfly, so he would always be welcomed and admired wherever he went.
The End.
