I had been to the local shop for a few essentials and was wandering leisurely back towards the comfort of my cottage for a nap, when I saw the same wolf as I had a few days before, ambling and still whistling, towards my house. I watched as he walked straight through the front gate, up to the door and let himself inside. Regardless of the fact that this wolf was apparently vegetarian, I wasn’t altogether comfortable with a strange wolf making himself at home in my house!

Frustrated, I marched up to my front door and let myself in, expecting to find the wolf sat waiting for me, but as I looked around the kitchen and living room, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. It was only then that I heard loud snores coming from upstairs.

I stomped up the stairs, and as I walked towards by bedroom, I literally couldn’t believe my eyes; for there was the wolf, tucked up in my bed, wearing my pink nightdress and nightcap! I stood there at the foot of the bed, my mouth opening and closing like a fish as I tried to make sense of the fact that there was a strange wolf napping in my bed.

Before I could do anything else, a small set of footsteps on the stairs made me jump, and as I whipped round, a small girl, carrying a basket and wearing a red cloak entered. She seemed oblivious to me as she set the basket down at the end of the bed, and crept gently towards the head of the bed, where the wolf was loudly snoring. She placed one hand on the wolf’s shoulder and gently pushed him.

‘Oh grandma, what big ears you have!’ She said, peering down at the wolf. The wolf opened his mouth, revealing his sharp white teeth and gave a loud yawn. He rolled over onto his back and muttered, ‘Not now little girl, I’m napping in bed.’ Frowning in frustration, the little girl ventured again, ‘But grandma, what big eyes you have!’ Again, the wolf shrugged her hand away and turned over in the bed, saying, ‘Do you mind? I’m sleeping, you’re hurting my head!’

With a final shove, the girl shouted; ‘But grandma, what big teeth you have!’ The wolf growled and sat bolt upright in my bed, shouting, ‘I’m tired and please I’m trying to nap, I haven’t seen your grandma and that is that!’

Finally realising that it was in fact a wolf and not her grandma who slept there, the little girl seized the wolf’s tail with one swift move, and dragged him from under the bedcovers. The wolf howled and tried to wriggle free.

‘Please let me go, don’t hurt me please, I didn’t eat your grandma, I don’t even like meat!’ She moved her face closer to the wolf’s and almost whispered menacingly, ‘No but I know it was you that stole our vegetables instead!’

As if from nowhere, she pulled out an axe and with one swipe of glinting metal, the wolf’s tail fluttered to the floor. Muttering something under her breath, she picked up her basket and left the room. The wolf went howling after her, whining, with his paws clamped over the bleeding stump.

After this incident however, things were relatively quiet for a while. I didn’t see any more wolves wandering through the wood. There were no more visits from girls in Red hoods or anything remotely odd going on. I began to relax and push all of the previous events from my mind…