Author: Ashima Kaushik

Tina came to visit her grandma. Grandma’s house was beautiful, like a fairy tale castle with lovely jasmine and morning glory creepers climbing on the walls and covering most of the balcony.

Tina wanted to run around and sing loudly with joy, but Poppy, grandma’s attendant, hushed her.

‘Grandma is resting,’ Poppy whispered. She told Tina to be as quiet as a mouse. ‘Your grandma is a very light sleeper, and it is not good to disturb her afternoon nap.’ So, she took Tina to the library.

The library was huge, with many rows and racks full of books. Thick, large books.

‘Are they dusty? Will they fly away if I touch them?’ thought Tina.

Poppy smiled and pointed at a small table, which had some shiny, colourful books on it. Tina smiled, ‘Are these fairy tales?’

She loved fairy tales. Poppy nodded and left. Tina sat down to look at the books. She opened Little Red Riding Hood. She looked at the pictures.

Tina looked out of the window. It was raining. She saw a straw basket on the side of the door. There were plastic fruits in it.

Tina smiled and picked it up. She put on her red raincoat and red rain boots and hopped out to play in the garden, dangling the fruit basket.

She pretended to be Little Red Riding Hood.

In her imagination, the garden soon turned into woods with tall trees, and there was a garden path by the bird bath.

A crow was sitting in the bird bath, splashing water. Tina pretended to make friends with it and said that she was going to meet her grandma, who lives across the woods, in a small cottage.

The crow crowed, ‘So, what is in the basket?’

Little Red Riding Hood replied, ‘Fruits to make Grandma feel better.’

The crow crowed again, ‘If I were you, I would be careful in the woods!’

‘Why so?’ asked Little Red Riding Hood innocently.

‘Woods have eyes,’ the crow said as he ruffled his feathers, ‘and are full of big bad wolves!’ Then, he flew away.

Little Red Riding Hood walked further. She heard a rustle in the bushes.

She got a little scared but carried on. Just a few steps ahead, she saw something move in the bush. ‘The big bad wolf,’ she yelled and threw the basket hard in the direction of the bush.

Little Red Riding Hood stopped. She heard some sounds. The crow flew back and sat on her hood and crowed, ‘Looks like you killed the big bad wolf with your basket!’

Little Red Riding Hood skipped and hopped to the basket in the bush.

But lo and behold! The basket moved.

The crow jumped off her head. He crowed loudly, almost screeching.

The basket moved here and there.

Little Red Riding Hood wondered, ‘The big bad wolf cannot be this small to fit under the basket.’

She went closer and boldly removed the basket. She was right, under the basket, there was no big bad wolf. It was a tiny puppy, all scared and whimpering.

‘Oh. You poor little thing,’ Little Red Riding Hood picked the puppy up, ‘Did the basket hurt you? I am so sorry!’ And she stroked it. It was all wet and scared, hurt and hungry.

She heard Grandma’s voice calling her for tea and biscuits.

‘Oh! Grandma is up and calling me!’ By now, it was raining harder. She quickly gathered all the plastic fruits in the basket. She held the puppy under her arms and ran back inside the house.

Grandma gave an old blanket to the puppy, and Poppy got a bowl of milk. Tina put the puppy in the blanket to dry and kept the bowl of milk in front of it. In a jiffy, the puppy wagged its tail and sipped all the milk. ‘He is just like a hungry wolf,’ laughed Tina. She forgot to remove her hood and boots and still held the basket of fruits by her side.

Grandma looked at her and smiled. Poppy smiled as well.

“Were you reading that Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale?’ they asked together.

Tina turned pink, ‘Yes, but how do you both know?’

‘Why don’t you remove your red hood and boots, my Little Red Riding Hood?’ said Grandma, all smiling. ‘What do you have in your basket? Is there something for me to eat?’

Tina laughed and played along, ‘Yes, Grandma. I got you some fruit, tea and biscuits!’

‘Also, we have fresh, hot pakoras, ’ said Poppy, bringing in a plate full of hot, crispy pakoras.

By now, the wet crow also came and crowed loudly. Poppy offered him homemade bread from a jar labelled ‘Crow’.

‘Does he live in the backyard?’ asked Tina, noisily sipping warm tea after she changed her clothes.

‘Oh, yes. He calls himself my guard. He mostly comes at teatime and crows at any rustling sound in the garden!’ laughed Grandma.

Poppy explained, ‘Everything is a big bad wolf to him!’

Tina nodded. The crow crowed softly and nibbled the bread crumbs, all the while looking at the puppy with his round eyes.

The puppy looked cute and fluffy and was dry and well-fed now. But a wolf by no means, laughed Tina. She told her version of Little Red Riding Hood to Grandma.

After tea, Tina took the puppy to her room and tucked him in while she read him the goodnight fairy tale.

As she closed the book, she felt she heard something by the window. She looked closely. Of course, it was the black crow, still looking at the puppy!

Tina laughed and told him to go off and have a good night’s sleep, there was no big bad wolf around and just a cute little puppy