The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Once upon a time there was an old goat. She had seven little kids, and loved them all, just as a mother loves her children. One day she wanted to go into the woods to get some food. So she called all seven to her and said, "Children dear, I am going into the woods. Be on your guard for the wolf. If he gets in, he will eat up all of you all, even your skin and hair. The villain often disguises himself, but you will recognize him at once by his rough voice and his black feet."

The kids said, "Mother dear, we will take care of ourselves. You can go away without any worries."

Then the old one bleated, and went on her way with her mind at ease.

It was not long before someone knocked at the door and called out, "Open the door, children dear, your mother is here, and has brought something for each one of you."

But the little kids knew from the rough voice that it was the wolf.

"We will not open the door," they cried out. "You are not our mother. She has a soft and gentle voice, but your voice is rough. You are the wolf."

So the wolf went to a shopkeeper and bought himself a large piece of chalk, which he ate, making his voice soft. Then he came back and knocked at the door, calling out, "Open the door, children dear. Your mother is here and has brought something for each one of you."

But the wolf laid one of his black paws inside the window. The children saw it and cried out, "We will not open the door. Our mother does not have a black foot like you. You are the wolf."

So the wolf ran to a baker and said, "I have sprained my foot. Rub some dough on it for me." After the baker had rubbed dough on his foot, the wolf ran to the miller and said, "Sprinkle some white flour on my foot for me."

The miller thought, "The wolf wants to deceive someone," and refused to do it, so the wolf said, "If you will not do it, I will eat you up." That frightened the miller, and he made his paw white for him. Yes, that is the way people are.

Now the villain went for a third time to the door, knocked at it, and said, "Open the door for me, children. Your dear little mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something from the woods."

The little kids cried out, "First show us your paw so we may know that you are our dear little mother."

So he put his paw inside the window, and when they saw that it was white, they believed that everything he said was true, and they opened the door. But who came in? It was the wolf. They were terrified and wanted to hide. One jumped under the table, the second into the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washbasin, and the seventh into the clock case. But the wolf found them all, and with no further ado he swallowed them down his throat, one after the other. However, he did not find the youngest kid, the one who was in the clock case.

After satisfying his appetite he went outside and lay down under a tree in the green meadow and fell asleep.

Soon afterward the old goat came home from the woods. Oh, what a sight she saw there. The door stood wide open. Table, chairs, and benches were tipped over. The washbasin was in pieces. The covers and pillows had been pulled off the bed. She looked for her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She called them by name, one after the other, but no one answered. When she at last came to the youngest, a soft voice cried out, "Mother dear, I am hiding in the clock case. She took it out, and it told her that the wolf had come and had eaten up all the others. You can just imagine how she cried for her poor children.

Finally in her despair she went outside, and the youngest kid ran with her. They came to the meadow, and there lay the wolf by the tree, snoring so loudly that the branches shook. She looked at him from all sides and saw that something was moving and jiggling inside his full belly.

"Good gracious," she thought. "Is it possible that my poor children, whom he has swallowed down for his supper, can still be alive?"

The mother goat sent the kid home and to fetch scissors, and a needle and thread, and then she cut open the monster's paunch. She had scarcely made one cut, before a little kid stuck its head out, and as she continued to cut, one after the other all six jumped out, and they were all still alive. They were not even hurt, for in his greed the monster had swallowed them down whole. How happy they were! They hugged their dear mother, and jumped about like a tailor on his wedding day.

But the mother said, "Go now and look for some big stones. We will fill the godless beast's stomach with them while he is still asleep."

The seven kids quickly brought the stones, and they put as many as many of them into his stomach as it would hold. Then the mother hurriedly sewed him up again. He was not aware of anything and never once stirred.

The wolf finally awoke and got up onto his legs. Because the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well and get a drink. But when he began to walk and to move about, the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled.

Then he cried out:

What rumbles and tumbles, Inside of me. I thought it was kids, But it's stones that they be.

When he got to the well and leaned over the water to drink, the heavy stones pulled him in, and he drowned miserably.

When the seven kids saw what had happened, they ran up and cried out, "The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!" And with their mother they danced for joy around about the well.

　从前有只老山羊。牠生了七只小山羊，并且像所有母亲爱孩子一样爱牠们。一天，牠要到森林里去取食物，便把七个孩子全叫过来，对牠们说：「亲爱的孩子们，我要到森林里去一下，你们一定要提防狼。要是让狼进屋，它会把你们全部吃掉的——连皮带毛通通吃光。这个坏蛋常常把自己化装成别的样子，但是，你们只要一听到他那粗哑的声音、一看到牠那黑黑的爪子，就能认出牠来。」小山羊们说：「好妈妈，我们会当心的。你去吧，不用担心。」老山羊咩咩地叫了几声，便放心地去了。

没过多久，有人敲门，而且大声说：「开门哪，我的好孩子。你们的妈妈回来了，还给你们每个人带来了一点东西。」可是，小山羊们听到粗哑的声音，立刻知道是狼来了。「我们不开门，」牠们大声说，「你不是我们的妈妈。我们的妈妈说话时声音又软又好听，而你的声音非常粗哑，你是狼！」於是，狼跑到杂货商那里，买了一大块白垩土，吃了下去，结果嗓子变细了。然后它又回来敲山羊家的门，喊道：「开门哪，我的好孩子。你们的妈妈回来了，给你们每个人都带了点东西。」可是狼把牠的黑爪子搭在了窗户上，小山羊们看到黑爪子便一起叫道：「我们不开门。我们的妈妈没有你这样的黑爪子。你是狼！」於是狼跑到麵包师那里，对他说：「我的脚受了点伤，给我用麵团揉一揉。」等麵包师用麵团给牠揉过之后，狼又跑到磨坊主那里，对他说：「在我的脚上洒点白麵粉。」磨坊主想：「狼肯定是想去骗甚么人」，便拒绝了它的要求。可是狼说：「要是你不给我洒麵粉，我就把你吃掉。」磨坊主害怕了，只好洒了点麵粉，把狼的爪子弄成了白色。人就是这个德行！

这个坏蛋第三次跑到山羊家，一面敲门一面说：「开门哪，孩子们。你们的好妈妈回来了，还从森林里给你们每个人带回来一些东西。」小山羊们叫道：「你先把脚给我们看看，好让我们知道你是不是我们的妈妈。」狼把爪子伸进窗户，小山羊们看到爪子是白的，便相信它说的是真话，打开了屋门。然而进来的是狼！小山羊们吓坏了，一个个都想躲起来。第一只小山羊跳到了桌子下，第二只钻进了被子，第三只躲到了炉子里，第四只跑进了厨房，第五只藏在柜子里，第六只挤在洗脸盆下，第七只爬进了钟盒里。狼把它们一个个都找了出来，毫不客气地把它们全都吞进了肚子。只有躲在钟盒里的那只最小的山羊没有被狼发现。狼吃饱了之后，心满意足地离开了山羊家，来到绿草地上的一棵大树下，躺下身子开始呼呼大睡起来。

没过多久，老山羊从森林里回来了。啊！牠都看到了些甚么呀！屋门敞开着，桌子、椅子和凳子倒在地上，洗脸盆摔成了碎片，被子和枕头掉到了地上。牠找牠的孩子，可哪里也找不到。牠一个个地叫它们的名字，可是没有一个出来答应牠。最后，当牠叫到最小的山羊的名字时，一个细细的声音喊叫道：「好妈妈，我在钟盒里。」老山羊把牠抱了出来，牠告诉妈妈狼来过了，并且把哥哥姐姐们都吃掉了。大家可以想像出老山羊失去孩子后哭得多么伤心！

老山羊最后伤心地哭着走了出去，最小的山羊也跟着跑了出去。当牠们来到草地上时，狼还躺在大树下睡觉，呼噜声震得树枝直抖。老山羊从前后左右打量着狼，看到那傢伙鼓得老高的肚子里有甚么东西在动个不停。「天哪，」牠说，「我的那些被牠吞进肚子里当晚餐的可怜的孩子，难道牠们还活着吗？」最小的山羊跑回家，拿来了剪刀和针线。老山羊剪开那恶魔的肚子，刚剪了第一刀，一只小羊就把头探了出来。牠继续剪下去，六只小羊一个个都跳了出来，全都活着，而且一点也没有受伤，因为那贪婪的坏蛋是把牠们整个吞下去的。这是多么令人开心的事啊！牠们拥抱自己的妈妈，像当新娘的裁缝一样高兴得又蹦又跳。可是羊妈妈说：「你们去找些大石头来。我们趁这坏蛋还没有醒过来，把石头装到牠的肚子里去。」七只小山羊飞快地拖来很多石头，拚命地往狼肚子里塞；然后山羊妈妈飞快地把狼肚皮缝好，结果狼一点也没有发觉，牠根本都没有动弹。

狼终於睡醒了。牠站起身，想到井边去喝水，因为肚子里装着的石头使它口渴得要死。可牠刚一迈脚，肚子里的石头便互相碰撞，发出哗啦哗啦的响声。牠叫道：

「是甚么东西，在碰撞我的骨头？

我以为是六只小羊，可怎么感觉像是石头？」

牠到了井边，弯腰去喝水，可沉重的石头压得牠掉进了井里，淹死了。七只小山羊看到后，全跑到这里来叫道：「狼死了！狼死了！」牠们高兴地和妈妈一起围着水井跳起舞来。