THE BIG BAD WOLF |
| There was once a Little Bitty Kid whose horns
had just begun to grow, and that made him think he was a
grown-up Billy Goat and therefore quite able to take care of himself. So one evening
just before dark, when the
flock started home from the high mountain pasture, his mother called out to
everyone, "Come on. We have to stay together or the Big
Bad Wolf will catch us, one by one."
So, the Little Bitty Kid moved over very casually and got behind a big tree so that if his mother did look back she would not see him, but think that he was somewhere down ahead, in the flock of goats going home. After a time he felt almost alone. "That suits me fine," he said -- and the Little Bitty Kid kept right on nibbling the tender green grass. You are invited to continue reading in the next frame. |
The Little Bitty
Kid shook his head and looked up proudly at his cute little
horns and he rocked his head from side to side as he said to
himself, "I'm too big to be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.
Why, one look at me and -- and he will crawl away -- never to
come back." Make SURE your family has all
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| But, just a little while later when he lifted his
head, he saw that the flock was gone completely out of his sight. The
Little Bitty Kid was all alone, really, truly alone
-- and it did not feel quite as good to him as it
had just a few minutes before.
The sun was sinking fast. Long, thin shadows from the deep, dark forest came creeping, creeping over the ground. At the same time, as it always will, a chilly little wind came creeping with the long, thin shadows and it made scary little noises in the grass. The Little Bitty Kid turned his head sideways and looked up hopefully at where his horns had begun to grow, and right then -- his horns no longer looked quite so big. In fact, his horns did not look any longer than the little bitty nubbins found on the baby kids. The Little Bitty Kid shivered as he thought of the BIG terrible Wolf his mother had warned him about. What a monster that thing was, TEN FEET TALL and with fangs three inches long. Oh, the Little Bitty Kid was so scared that he jumped at every shadow that moved. First a shadow jumped at him from the right side, then the left, then from right behind him. The Little Bitty Kid started and jumped and whirled in every direction, his eyes looking everywhere, everywhere except up at his horns that now seemed to be so little bitty that they could not be seen! The Little Bitty Kid was so scared that he trembled and shook like a little bitty earthquake. If he looked to his left then he was scared that the wolf would creep up on him from the right, or from behind, and the Little Bitty Kid twirled and whirled like a little whirlwind as he tried to see everywhere around him at the same time. Oh, but it was so useless for those long, thin shadows were growing everywhere now. Then the Little Bitty Kid became too scared to stand in one spot any longer so he started running wildly about the field. "Mama, Mama," he bleat for his mother. "Mama, Mama, come save me. I didn't mean to stay behind and get lost. Mama! Mama!" The Little Bitty Kid's mother did not hear him because she still thought the Little Bitty Kid was tucked somewhere safe in the flock, but the Big Bad Wolf heard him because HE was right close by, near a clump of big, dark trees. The Little Bitty Kid saw the Big Bad Wolf and he shivered and trembled all over. "Is that really the wolf, or maybe, maybe it's a shadow." Then the shadow moved and there was no doubt any longer. That WAS the wolf. He could see the Big Bad Wolf quite plainly, and it was plainly sure that the Big Bad Wolf could see him, too. The Little Bitty Kid was shaking so badly he could hardly stand up and he raised his little bitty chin and he cried out: "MAMA!" just as loud as he could bleat. His mother could not hear his cry, but the Big Bad Wolf did, and he opened his mouth in a great big, wide grin. "AH," he said, and he looked right at the Little Bitty Kid when he said it. The Little Bitty Kid knew there was no hope for him now. The wolf could run faster than he could, and the wolf was now between him and the only way home. The Little Bitty Kid looked to his left, and to his right, but yes, the only way he could run was deeper, deeper into the big, deep, dark forest. He shivered because he did not want to run deeper and deeper into the big, deep, dark forest. So, the Little Bitty Kid sucked in a big, deep breath and turned himself around so that he was almost nose to nose with the Big Bad Wolf. "Please, Mr. Wolf," he said in a high, thin, trembling voice. "I know you are going to eat me now because I have no place to run except deeper and deeper into the big, deep, dark forest. But --" and the Little Bitty Kid sucked in another big, deep breath -- But, first -- First will you please pipe me a tune, maybe just a little bitty tune, for I want to dance, and, and be merry for just as long as I can." The Big Bad Wolf sat up straight and he smiled. "I like the idea of having a little music before I eat. I like the idea of having a little music before I eat even if I have to make the music myself. You are invited to continue reading in the next frame. |
| So the Big Bad Wolf
reached into his frock and he whipped out a
flute and the Big Bad Wolf struck up a
very merry little tune and the Little Bitty Kid
let all his air out in one great big, "WHEW!"
then he leaped and he tapped, and he leaped and
he rapped, and he frisked about so gaily that
the Little Bitty Kid almost forgot the wolf was
even there.
"Wow, this is fun," he said - and the wolf grinned and the wolf fluted a brave little tune as loud as he could for he was having fun too. "Do you think we are good enough that we could get a spot on the stage?" asked the Big Bad Wolf. "Why, what a marvelous idea," said the Little Bitty Kid -- "I'm sure we could. And my mother would be just the one to set it all up for us. She is just so good at things like this. Shall I run home and ask her?" "Well, sure!" said the Big Bad Wolf with a fine, theatrical wave of his arm. He piped three more long notes on the flute. The notes were so long and so clear that he grinned widely, from ear to ear. "But hurry back." So, the Little Bitty Kid took a big, deep breath and he ran quickly right by the Big Bad Wolf, and he hurried his way on home. In the still evening air the Wolf's piping had carried far and the Shepherd Dogs had pricked up their ears. "Why, that's the song that the Big Bad Wolf sings just before he has a little feast with all the trimmings." Then they came racing back to the pasture where they met the Little Bitty Kid. "Where is the Big Bad Wolf?" they asked him. So, he turned and pointed his chin at the long deep shadows where the wolf still tooted his flute in ecstatic little twirls. Then the Little Bitty Kid hurried on home. Behind him, the Wolf's song ended suddenly, and the wolf began to run for his life with the Dogs snapping at his heels the way silly dogs do. "What a fool am I," he said. "I turned piper just to please a Kid, when I should have stuck fast to my butcher's trade." Aesop Says the moral to this story is: Do not let anything turn you from your purpose. |
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