Modern Version of Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood’s real first name is Scarlette, but she acquired her nickname one time when her grandmother gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else. So, she goes by “Little Red Riding Hood” instead of Scarlette because it sounds more unique and memorable.

Everyone calls her that, including her mother, who asked her one day to do her a favor. The young girl’s mother says to her, “Little Red, sweetie, I need you to bring some food to your grandmother. I’m afraid she’s feeling a little under the weather and has been for the past few days.”

The young girl doesn’t hesitate to help out her beloved grandmother. “Okay, Mother. What do you want me to give her?”

The young girl’s mother gives her a plate of French toasts, breakfast sausages, and scrambled eggs. She puts a container on the plate so as to preserve the food’s warmth and freshness, a nice fresh meal to be served to her grandmother. Then the mother includes two small bottles of orange juice and puts them in her daughter’s pocketbook. “Hold on to this plate and keep those juice bottles in your bag. I want you to call me when you get there so that I know you’re safe. Won’t you do that for me, sweetie?”

“Certainly, Mother,” the young girl replies. “I’d never forget to give you a call. You can trust me, can’t you?”

“Why, certainly,” the young girl’s mother replies as she gives her a farewell hug. Then she watches her daughter leave the house and make her way to her grandmother’s house, who lives out in the woods, half a league from the village.

As the young girl enters the woods, a wolf approaches her, but she isn’t scared. The young girl doesn’t scare easily.

The wolf says to her, “I hope you’re having a wonderful afternoon, pretty girl.”

“I sure am.” The young girl smiles at him.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“To my grandmother’s house,” the young girl replies. 

“I see you’re carrying a plate of food.” The wolf then sniffs the delicious breakfast served for the young girl’s grandmother. “What’s inside?”

The young girl shrugs casually. “Eh, nothing important but just some nice lunch for my grandmother. She’s feeling very sick and has been for the last few days, so I thought I’d just stop by her place and see how she’s doing and give her this meal. I hope that my company will be more than enough to make her feel better.”

“Aw, what a pure heart of gold you have.” The wolf smiles. “We need more young children like you in this day and age. People nowadays—especially youth such as yourself—are too absorbed in their own little worlds and don’t care very much for others around them. But you, Little Girl, you care a great deal about your grandmother, and that’s a wonderful trait to possess in a young child.”

The young girl blushes, flattered by the wolf’s kind words. “Thank you, Mr. Wolf, for saying all these compliments to me. I sure need it.”

“That’s exactly why I’m here! Anyway, where does your grandmother live?”

“A good quarter of a league farther on in the woods. Her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below. I have a feeling you know exactly where that is, Mr. Wolf. Don’t you?” She smiles hopefully at him.

The wolf smirks. “Yes, I certainly do! But…” Then he smirks even more widely. “You know, nature around you is beautiful. The gorgeous flowers, the birds singing… You know, you should probably take in the beauty of this nature. You’re going to your grandmother’s house, walking along as if nothing is of fascination to you. That’s a little weird for a young girl like you, don’t you think? Just going around without paying much attention to flowers or the birds, or… Whatever else comes to mind.”

The young girl asks, “Are you trying to distract me, Mr. Wolf?”

The wolf clears his throat. “Uh… Distract you? How?”

The young girl shrugs. “I don’t know. That was a dumb question, right?”

“Probably.” The wolf shrugs, as well. “But you’re quite an intelligent child, so I don’t blame you for questioning my motives. After all, I am a sly wolf. That’s my nature.” He grins, and they both laugh as the young girl becomes distracted by the beauty of nature.

The young girl decides to give her grandmother some nice flowers such as fresh nosegays. The wolf’s plan to distract her works because now the young girl spends her time looking for gorgeous flowers to give to her grandmother, along with the lunch.

After the young girl is done gathering all the flowers she needs, she remembers to head over to her grandmother’s house.

Eventually, she arrives at her grandmother’s house and rings the doorbell. A voice inside—sounds a little hoarse enough to be her grandmother’s—calls out, “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Grandmother,” the young girl calls out in response.

The door has already been opened, which the young girl finds rather strange because the front door is usually locked and closed. The young girl shrugs as she enters the house and calls out, “Grandmother, I’m coming upstairs to see you! I got you your lunch and some nice flowers along the way.”

“Perfect, my love,” the grandmother calls out from upstairs in her room. “Can’t wait to see you.”

“Do you mind if I give Mother a call first?” the young girl asks.

“Take your time, sweetie. I’m still up here. Let your mother know that you’ve made it safely.”

The young girl takes the telephone and calls her mother to let her know that she’s arrived at the house with the plate of food and orange juice in her bag. After a few minutes, she tells her mother that she loves her and hangs up the phone. Then she makes her way upstairs to her grandmother’s room.

The young girl notices some strange, unusual features about her grandmother… Starting with those ears. “Grandmother, your ears look, uh… I don’t wanna be rude.” She clears her throat.

“They look what?” her grandmother asks, clearing her throat, due to her illness. “They look big?”

“Y-yeah, sure… We’ll go with that.” The young girl shrugs.

“Yeah, I don’t know how that happened.” Her grandmother chuckles. “Anything else strange you notice about me?”

“Your eyes, too. They’re also too big.”

“Never noticed. How bizarre.”

“You also have large hands that look all… Wolfish, I suppose I should say.” The young girl chuckles nervously.

“Blame my illness. It’s given me the appearance of a wolf, it seems.”

“You do look like a wolf, Grandmother.” The young girl takes a few breaths to contain her fear. “And I don’t mean that as a compliment. You look… Hideous.”

“I’m not offended… Because I am actually a wolf.” The wolf appears from the bed covers. “I just ate your grandmother.”

The young girl’s eyes widen in fear and confusion. “But how… How did you get here? I was out in the woods, getting some flowers and…” The young girl makes a realization. “Wait a minute… Was that all just a plan to distract me? You wanted to eat my grandmother all along?”

The wolf smiles deviously. “Yes, and now I want to eat you too.”

The young girl resists the temptation to scream in fear in front of the wolf by fleeing from her grandmother’s room and running downstairs as fast as she can, the wolf in pursuit of her. She drops the backpack on the living room floor, gently places the plate of food on the coffee table, and sprints out of the house, doing her best to catch her breath as she avoids the wolf’s presence. As the girl is running away from the wolf, she begs to herself, “Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me…” Hoping that the wolf doesn’t do anything to consume her in the way that he’s consumed her grandmother.

The wolf tells her, “Little Girl… You can run as fast as you can, but you can never hide from me!”

“Leave me alone!” the young girl yells as loudly as she can to the point that other people in the village must have heard her.

Then the young girl reaches a place that is filled with civilization and visits the local law enforcement. In tears, she tells them that her grandmother has been eaten by the wolf. Initially, they laugh because they don’t believe that a wolf is capable of wholly consuming a human being, but the young girl does her best to let them understand that it is the truth.

One of the officers asks her, “Are you sure you’re not trying to be like the young boy who cried wolf in those fairytale stories?”

“No, sir.” The young girl replies in tears. “I’m not a little child crying wolf for no reason. This is the truth; please believe me! My grandmother’s life hangs in the balance. You need to save her!”

They see that the young girl is being truthful and has no reason to be dishonest with them about the wolf swallowing her grandmother whole. They set out on an adventure to find the elusive wolf and bring him to justice so that he can un-swallow the grandmother, if it’s even remotely possible.

Within an hour, they’re able to find the wolf and get him to purge out the young girl’s grandmother from his system. Her grandmother is now safe and sound, and fully alive, thankfully.

“Thank God you’re okay!” The young girl says to her grandmother, giving her a warm, friendly hug that neither of them wants to let go of. “I thought you were dead. I don’t wanna lose you yet, Grandmother. I… I love you so much.”

“I love you too, sweetie,” her grandmother says. “Thank you for taking your time to check up on me today. While I was inside of the wolf’s stomach, I heard that you’ve brought me some flowers and a nice lunch.”

“Yes, I did. I know that you must be hungry, so Mother made you a nice lunch and I did my due diligence by bringing it over. If we can make it back soon enough, then we’ll be able to enjoy lunch together.”

“You are so kind, sweetheart.” The young girl’s grandmother gives her a loving kiss on the forehead. Then she tells the officers to give them a ride home so they don’t have to keep walking around the village, in fear of the wolf, who’s now in custody for attempting to devour a human being.

When they arrive home, the young girl and her grandmother thank the officers for giving them a ride home, then they go inside to enjoy their nice lunch. The grandmother enjoys the nosegays, and it’s a joyful afternoon for both of them.

The wolf is gone and in law enforcement custody, never to be in close contact with a human again.