The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids
– the Brothers Grimm.
Once, a kind mother goat lived with her seven little kids, loving them dearly. One day, she needed to fetch food from the forest. Before leaving, she gathered her kids and said, “Beware of the wolf! He’s tricky and may pretend to be me, but you’ll know him by his hoarse voice and black paws.” The kids promised to be careful, and their mother left with a calm heart.
Soon, a knock came at the door. “Open the door, my dear children, your mother’s back with gifts!” called a voice. But the kids heard the hoarse tone and said, “You’re not our mother! Your voice is rough—you’re the wolf!” The wolf, clever and cunning, went to a shop, bought chalk, and ate it to soften his voice. He returned and knocked again, saying, “Open the door, your mother’s here!” But the kids saw his black paws through the window and shouted, “Our mother doesn’t have black paws! You’re the wolf!”
Determined, the wolf went to a baker and said, “I hurt my foot; cover it with dough.” The baker did so. Then, the wolf visited a miller and demanded, “Sprinkle flour on my paws!” The miller, scared, obeyed. With his paws now white, the wolf returned and called, “Open the door, children, your mother’s home!” The kids asked to see his paws. Seeing white paws, they thought it was safe and opened the door. But it was the wolf! They screamed and hid—one under the table, one in the bed, one in the oven, one in the kitchen, one in the cupboard, one under the sink, and the youngest in the clock-case. The wolf found six of them and swallowed them whole, missing the youngest. Satisfied, he wandered to a meadow, lay under a tree, and fell asleep.
When the mother goat returned, she found the door open, the house a mess, and her children gone. She called their names until the youngest answered from the clock-case. He explained how the wolf tricked them. Heartbroken, the mother and youngest kid went to the meadow and found the wolf snoring. Noticing movement in his belly, the mother thought her kids might still be alive. She sent the youngest for shears, needle, and thread. Carefully, she cut open the wolf’s stomach. One by one, the six kids jumped out, unharmed, as the wolf had been too greedy to chew. Overjoyed, they hugged their mother.
The mother told her kids to gather heavy stones. They filled the wolf’s stomach with them and sewed it shut. When the wolf woke, he felt thirsty and heavy. As he bent to drink from a brook, the stones pulled him down, and he drowned. The seven kids and their mother danced around the meadow, shouting, “The wolf is dead!” and lived happily ever after.