“Who is there?” cried the grandmother.

“Little Redcap,” he answered, “and I have brought you some cake and some new milk.  Please open the door.”

“Lift the latch,” cried the poor old grandmother, feebly; “I am too weak to get up.”

So the wolf lifted the latch, and the door flew open, and he fell on the grandmother and ate her up without saying one word.  Then he drew on her clothes, put on her cap, lay down in her bed and drew the curtains, the old wretch that he was.

Little Redcap was all this time running about among the flowers, and when she had gathered as many as she could hold; she remembered her grandmother, and set off to go to her.  She was surprised to find the door standing wide open, and when she came inside she felt very strange and thought to herself: 

“Oh, dear, how uncomfortable I feel, and I was so glad this morning to go to my grandmother!”

And when she said “Good morning!” there was no answer.  Then she went up to the bed and drew back the curtains; there lay the grandmother with her cap pulled over her eyes, so that she looked very odd.

“Oh, grandmother, what large ears you have got!”

“The better to hear you with.”

“Oh, grandmother, what great eyes you have got!”

“The better to see you with.”

“Oh, grandmother, what large hands you have got!”

“The better to take hold of you with, my dear.”

“But, grandmother, what a terrible large mouth you have got!”

“The better to devour you!” And no sooner had the wolf said this than he made one bound from the bed and swallowed up poor Little Redcap.

Then the wolf, having satisfied his hunger, lay down again in the bed, went to sleep and began to snore loudly.  The huntsman heard him as he was passing by the house and thought: 

“How the old lady snores—­I would better see if there is anything the matter with her.”

Then he went into the room and walked up to the bed, and saw the wolf lying there.

“At last I find you, you old sinner!” said he; “I have been looking for you for a long time.”  And he made up his mind that the wolf had swallowed the grandmother whole, and that she might yet be saved.  So he did not fire, but took a pair of shears and began to slit up the wolf’s body.  When he made a few snips Little Redcap appeared, and after a few more snips she jumped out and cried, “Oh, dear, how frightened I have been, it is so dark inside the wolf!”

And then out came the old grandmother, still living and breathing.  But Little Redcap went and quickly fetched some large stones, with which she filled the wolf’s body, so that when he waked up, and was going to rush away, the stones were so heavy that he sank down and fell dead.

They were all three very much pleased.  The huntsman took off the wolf’s skin and carried it home to make a fur rug.  The grandmother ate the cakes and drank the milk and held up her head again, and Little Redcap said to herself that she would never again stray about in the wood alone, but would mind what her mother told her, nor talk to strangers.