Once upon a time in a land faraway

Lived a little Old Lady in the middle of the wood.

Now this Old Lady had left the village long ago

For she did not care what the villagers were tellling her that she should.

The Old Lady stayed in the woods by herself

Never minding what the villagers said about the wild beasts.

For she had a secret that nobody know, 

If you didn't harm them they wouldn't hurt you in the least. 

She stayed true to that knowledge and never she feared

For more fancier folk than she ever met,

Came to see her day by day and

You can bet,

That every wood folk big or small,

Feathered or furred become a dear friend.

And if this story was a wonderful Fairy Tale, 

She and them would have stayed true to the end.

But tales like those don't exist,

Happy endings only happen for those select few.

Now it so happens that the old lady heard about a child being born,

Her grand daughter to be precise, bright and new.

Over the years the child grew and

Become know as Little Red Riding Hood,

For the cloak of red her mother made.

Little Red often came to visit the Old Lady in the woods

But this time she forgot to give notice,

For the Little Red wanted to give granny the food she baked.

Little Red had worked long and hard, and

After many hours she made a presentable cake.

Now the Old Lady, unaware of this idea,

Was talking with a fond friend of hers, a furry

Wolf brave and true, and

After a time wolf decided to scurry

Home, for he saw that the Old Lady was growing tired.

Now as Wolf was heading home he saw Little Red.

Wolf knew who Little Red was

But also that the Old Lady was under the weather lying in bed,

This the Wolf knew for she could never

Hide things from him, he cared too much.

So taking a deep breath he approached Little Red, and

With courage clutched

Close to his vest he spoke these words.

"Little Red Riding Hood where are you going?"

Fast as a whip and scared pale white

Little Red twrilled around throwing

The basket full of cake she made for her granny.

Wide eyed she opened her mouth "oh, 

Mister Wolf you scared me so

But if you must know, to granny's house I go."

"To Granny's house you say?" Looking around the forest he saw

Flowers every color and as far as you could see.

Thinking fast for a way to stall her "why don't you pick some pretty flowers

To take to your granny, and I shall go ahead to the big tree

That your granny lives in to let her know of your coming?"

Little Red seeing the flowers immediately agreed.

Wolf than ran back as fast as he could,

But he did not know that a Hunter had spied him and planned to impede

What he believed was a trick to eat Little Red and the Old Lady.

The Old Lady was lying in bed when Wolf barreled in the door

Talking none stop the Old Lady had to hush him and

Said "Calm down your scratching the floor."

Trying to calm himself he started to explain

When through the door Little Red came.

From Little Reds perspective Wolf seemed to be trying to eat her granny

So she screamed while granny tried to tell her Wolf was a friend and tame.

The Hunter not far behind flew through the opened door and

Grabbing Little Red he than pulled out his gun,

While granny tried to stand up and save her furred friend.

For Wolf through, time seemed to stop, he knew he was done.

He looked at the Old Lady and remembered all the good times they had,

All the sadness, and joy, and angry....... everything.

Wolf wanted more than he had ever wanted

Anything else, to cling

To this Old Lady, to his family. But he knew that his time was over,

The only thing he could do now was protect her.

"CRACK" went the gun and 

In what seemed like a blur

Wolf was in front, bleeding from the shot.......

After many moons the story become more twisted as it was told,

Each telling by the Hunter and Little Red

Making them seem more and more Bold.

To this day nobody knows which version

Of this tale to believe,

The Hunters, the Girls, or the Little Old ladys.

But if you ask me? The true story is from the teller who grieves.

Story's with happy endings and people boasting about their deeds

Always seem to have that same cookie cutter ending.

The bad guy dies and the good guy saves the day

At the end of it though their always pretending.

If you want the truth don't listen to the happy go lucky pretenders,

Find the people with sadness in their eyes and who never miss a detail

For as they tell their version,

You'll know that you've found the true tale.

 

 

THE END