Brick Fairy Tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, and More (42 page)

And when soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, “Now, Mistress Queen, what is my name?”

at first she said, “Is your name Conrad?” “No.”

“Is your name Harry?” “No.”

“Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?”

“The devil has told you that! The devil has told you that!” cried the little man,

and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in;

and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands

that he tore himself in two.

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by every one who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child.

Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called “Little Red-Cap.”

One day her mother said to her, “Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good.

Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly

and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don’t forget to say, ‘Good-morning,’ and don’t peep into every corner before you do it.”