[Original Size] -- [Medium-Size]
"What your name is, my dear," he said, "fain I'd be knowing."
"I'm Little Red Riding Hood." "Where are you going?"
"I am going to my granny's, to carry this jar
And this cake from my mother." "Indeed! Is it far?"
"Oh, you go through the wood, and a little beyond
You 'll see a small cottage that stands by a pond."
"And your granny lives there?" "Yes; but now she's so old
She can't get out of bed and she suffers from cold."
"Poor dear," said the wolf, with a pitying grin;
"But how does she do about letting you in?"
"When I reach granny's cottage I always take care
To knock at the door till she calls out 'Who's there?'
]Your grandchild, who brings you a bite and a sup
From her mother,' say I;
And she's sure to reply,
'If you pull at the bobbin the latch will fly up.'
That's how I get in." "Oh!" said wolf, in a hurry,
"This lane is my way,
So I 'll wish you good day."
And he vanished at once in a terrible scurry;
Said Red Riding Hood, "Doesn't he seem in a flurry!"
Like a shot from a rifle,—or faster a trifle,
Away goes the wolf, and, I 'll wager my life, 'll
Be up to some mischief or other ere long,
For his only delight is in doing what's wrong.
Off through the wood—(he's up to no good),
Hastening still—(bent upon ill),
Round by the pond, to the cottage beyond
(He's after some evil I 'll give you my bond),
Stealing along—(intending a wrong)
Towards the grandam's abode, by the skirts of the road,
(By skirts I don't mean either muslin or calico,)
He sneaks to what Shakespeare has called "miching mallecho."
Rap, tap! at the door.
In the midst of a snore
The old lady woke up with a start, and said, "Lor!
Red Riding Hood ne'er knocked so loudly before.
Oh, deary me, it cannot be she;
I 'll pretend I 'm still sleeping, and then we shall see."
Rap, tap! once more
She heard at the door:
The wolf rapped so hard that his knuckles were sore.
"The old woman sleeps like a top—what a bore!
If she doesn't make haste,
My time I shall waste—
I shall miss that tit-bit who's so much to my taste."
Rap, tap! Tap, rap!
"She must wake from her nap,
Or the child will be here
Before I can clear
Her foolish old grandmother up, every scrap."
At last said the grandam,
"I rather a hand am
At sleeping, I know,
Very soundly, and so
Perhaps she has waited and knocked there so long
That, in order to wake me, her tap becomes strong.
Who 's there?" then she cried;
Said the wolf from outside,
Disguising his voice the deception to hide,
And whispering low with his mouth to a cranny,
"It's no one but Little Red Riding Hood, granny!
I've brought you some butter, some eggs, and a cake
That mother got up in the morning to make,
And she sends you besides some nice cream in a cup"
"If you pull at the bobbin the latch will fly up!"
Wolf pulled at the bobbin,
And—what a sad job!—in
He went; but no sooner had thrust his grim knob in
(But for rhyming, instead
Of "knob" I'd say "head")
Than the frightened old lady sat bolt up in bed:
But before she had time to exclaim, "Oh my gracious!"
She was bolted entire by the monster voracious;
Who, though the fierce pangs of his hunger were gratified,
Remarked to himself, with a grumble dissatisfied,
Tough skinny old folks are not nice things to victual one;
However, no matter! Here goes for the little one!"
[Original Size] -- [Medium-Size]
Then he turned down the bed-clothes and quickly jumped in,
And granny's big nightcap tied under his chin:
And he cuddled the clothes
Close up to his nose,
And was speedily off in a very nice doze;
For said he, "For Red Riding Hood if I'd have any
Respectable twist I must first digest granny.
For though at one meal I could eat child, pa, and mamma,
There's a good deal of picking somehow about grandmamma!"