ELSIE.
I will!
URSULA. Prithee, thou foolish child, be still! Thou shouldst not say what thou dost not mean!
ELSIE. I mean it truly!
MAX. O father! this morning, Down by the mill, in the ravine, Hans killed a wolf, the very same That in the night to the sheepfold came, And ate up my lamb, that was left outside.
GOTTLIEB. I am glad he is dead. It will be a warning To the wolves in the forest, far and wide.
MAX. And I am going to have his hide!
BERTHA. I wonder if this is the wolf that ate Little Red Ridinghood!
URSULA.
Oh, no!
That wolf was killed a long while ago.
Come, children, it is growing late.
MAX. Ah, how I wish I were a man, As stout as Hans is, and as strong! I would do nothing else, the whole day long, But just kill wolves.
GOTTLIEB.
Then go to bed,
And grow as fast as a little boy can.
Bertha is half asleep already.
See how she nods her heavy head,
And her sleepy feet are so unsteady
She will hardly be able to creep upstairs.