Grimm's Fairy Tales | Little Red-Cap | Mouse, Bird & Sausage

Hello there,

Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of another couple of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.

This will be Little Red Riding Hood and The Mouse,

The Bird and The Sausage.

As you likely know,

The Grimm's Fairy Tales were originally a collection of more than 200 different folk tales gathered up in Germany by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and published in the early 1800s.

They are indeed quite grim by our modern standards and yet so familiar in other ways to the various themes of forests and witches and princes and kings and so many spells,

Enchantments and things of that nature.

So before we get into the stories here,

Let's just take a moment to have a nice deep exhale,

Letting go of the day,

Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing with us into this moment.

For right now,

There's nowhere else we have to go,

Nothing else we have to be doing,

So we can just relax,

Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy another couple of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Little Red Cap,

Or as it's more commonly known in English,

Little Red Riding Hood.

Once upon a time,

There was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her,

But most of all by her grandmother,

And there was nothing that she would not have given to the child.

Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else,

So she was always called Little Red Cap.

One day her mother said to her,

Come Little Red Cap,

Here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine,

Take them to your grandmother.

She is ill and weak and they will do her good.

Set out before it gets hot and when you are going,

Walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path or you may fall and break the bottle and then your grandmother will get nothing.

And when you go into her room,

Don't forget to say good morning and don't peep into every corner before you do it.

I will take great care,

Said Little Red Cap to her mother and gave her hand on it.

The grandmother lived out in the wood,

Half a league from the village,

And 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.

Wither away so early,

Little Red Cap.

To my grandmothers,

What have you got in your apron?

Cake and wine.

Yesterday was baking day,

So poor sick grandmother is to have something good to make her stronger.

Where does your grandmother live,

Little Red Cap?

A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood,

Her house stands under the three large oak trees.

The nut trees are just below.

You surely must know it,

Replied Little Red Cap.

The wolf thought to himself,

What a tender young creature.

What a nice,

Plump mouthful.

She will be better to eat than the old woman.

I must act craftily so as to catch both.

So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red Cap and then he said,

See,

Little Red Cap,

How pretty the flowers are about here.

Why do you not look round?

I believe,

Too,

That you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing.

You walk gravely along as if you were going to school,

While everything else out here in the wood is merry.

Little Red Cap raised her eyes and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees and pretty flowers growing everywhere,

She thought,

Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nose-gay.

That would please her,

Too.

It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time.

And so she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers.

And whenever she had picked one,

She fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on and ran after it.

And so,

Got deeper and deeper into the wood.

Meanwhile,

The wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and knocked at the door.

Who is there?

Little Red Cap replied the wolf.

She is bringing cake and wine.

Open the door.

Lift the latch,

Called out the grandmother.

I am too weak and cannot get up.

The wolf lifted the latch.

The door sprang open and without saying a word,

He went straight to the grandmother's bed and devoured her.

Then he put on her clothes,

Dressed himself in her cap,

Laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.

Little Red Cap,

However,

Had been running about picking flowers and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more,

She remembered her grandmother and set out on the way to her.

She was surprised to find the cottage door standing open.

And when she went into the room,

She had such a strange feeling that she said to herself,

Oh dear,

How uneasy I feel today.

And at other times,

I like being with grandmother so much.

She called out,

Good morning,

But 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,

She said,

What big ears you have.

The better to hear you with,

My child,

Was the reply.

But grandmother,

What big eyes you have,

She said.

The better to see you with,

My dear.

But grandmother,

What large hands you have.

The better to hug you with.

Oh,

But grandmother,

What a terrible big mouth you have.

The better to eat you with.

And scarcely had the wolf said this,

Than with one bound,

He was out of bed and swallowed up red cap.

When the wolf had appeased his appetite,

He lay down again in the bed,

Fell asleep,

And began to snore very loud.

The huntsman was just passing the house and thought to himself,

How the old woman is snoring.

I must just see if she wants anything.

So he went into the room and when he came to the bed,

He saw that the wolf was lying in it.

Do I find you here?

You old sinner,

Said he,

I have long sought you.

Then just as he was going to fire at him,

It occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother and that she might still be saved.

So he did not fire,

But took a pair of scissors and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.

When he had made two snips,

He saw the little red cap shining.

And then he made two snips more and the little girl sprang out crying.

Oh,

How frightened I have been.

How dark it was inside the wolf.

And after that,

The aged grandmother came out alive also,

But scarcely able to breathe.

Red cap,

However,

Quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf's belly.

And when he awoke,

He wanted to run away,

But the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once and fell dead.

Then 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,

Which red cap had brought and revived.

But red cap thought to herself,

As long as I live,

I will never by myself leave the path to run into the wood when my mother has forbidden me to do so.

It also related that once when red cap was again taking cakes to the old grandmother,

Another wolf spoke to her and tried to entice her from the path.

Red cap,

However,

Was on her guard and went straight forward on her way and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf and that he had said good morning to her.

But with such a wicked look in his eyes that if they had not been on the public road,

She was certain he would have eaten her up.

Well,

Said the grandmother,

We will shut the door that he may not come in.

Soon afterwards,

The wolf knocked and cried,

Open the door,

Grandmother.

I am little red cap and I'm bringing you some cakes.

But they did not speak or open the door.

So the graybeard stole twice or thrice around the house and at last jumped on the roof,

Intending to wait until red cap went home in the evening and then to steal after her and devour her in the darkness.

But the grandmother saw what was in his thoughts.

In front of the house was a great stone trough.

So she said to the child,

Take the pail red cap.

I made some sausages yesterday.

So carry the water in which I boiled them to the trough.

The red cap carried until the great trough was quite full.

Then the smell of the sausages reached the wolf and he sniffed and peeped down and at last stretched out his neck so far that he could no longer keep his footing and began to slip and slipped down from the roof straight into the great trough and was drowned.

But red cap went joyously home and no one ever did anything to harm her again.

The mouse,

The bird and the sausage.

Once upon a time,

A mouse,

A bird and a sausage entered into partnership and set up house together.

For a long time,

All went well.

They lived in great comfort and prospered so far as to be able to add considerably to their stores.

The bird's duty was to fly daily into the wood and bring in fuel.

The mouse fetched the water and the sausage saw to the cooking.

When people are too well off,

They always begin to long for something new.

And so it came to pass that the bird,

While out one day,

Met a fellow bird to whom he boastfully expatiated on the excellence of his household arrangements.

But the other bird sneered at him for being a poor simpleton who did all the hard work while the other two stayed at home and had a good time of it.

For when the mouse had made the fire and fetched in the water,

She could retire into her little room and rest until it was time to set the table.

The sausage had only to watch the pot to see that the food was properly cooked and when it was near dinner time,

He just threw himself into the broth or rolled in and out among the vegetables three or four times and there they were,

Buttered and salted and ready to be served.

Then,

When the bird came home and had laid aside his burden,

They sat down to table and when they had finished their meal,

They could sleep their fill till the following morning.

And that was really a very delightful life.

Influenced by those remarks,

The bird next morning refused to bring in the wood,

Telling the others that he had been their servant long enough and had been a fool into the bargain and that it was now time to make a change and to try some other way of arranging the work.

Beg and pray as the mouse and the sausage might,

It was of no use.

The bird remained master of the situation and the venture had to be made.

They therefore drew lots and it fell to the sausage to bring in the wood,

To the mouse to cook and to the bird to fetch the water.

And now what happened?

The sausage started in search of wood,

The bird made the fire and the mouse put on the pot and then these two waited till the sausage returned with the fuel for the following day.

But the sausage remained so long away that they became uneasy and the bird flew out to meet him.

He had not flown far,

However,

When he came across a dog who,

Having met the sausage,

Had regarded him as his legitimate booty and so seized and swallowed him.

The bird complained to the dog of this bare-faced robbery,

But nothing he said was of any avail for the dog answered that he found false credentials on the sausage and that was the reason his life had been forfeited.

He picked up the wood and flew sadly home and told the mouse all he had seen and heard.

They were both very unhappy but agreed to make the best of things and to remain with one another.

So now the bird set the table and the mouse looked after the food and,

Wishing to prepare it in the same way as the sausage,

By rolling in and out among the vegetables to salt and butter them,

She jumped into the pot but she stopped short long before she reached the bottom,

Having already parted not only with her skin and hair but also with life.

Presently the bird came in and wanted to serve up the dinner but he could nowhere see the cook.

In his alarm and flurry he threw the wood here and there about the floor,

Called and searched but no cook was to be found.

Then some of the wood that had been carelessly thrown down caught fire and began to blaze.

The bird hastened to fetch some water but his pail fell into the well and he after it,

And as he was unable to recover himself,

He was drowned.