wolf and seven little kids
Response to The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids by the Brothers Grimm The story begins when a nanny goat leaves her seven kids at home with the instructions not to let the wolf into their home as he will devour them. She leaves, and a while later, the wolf comes calling. He asks to enter, but the kids do not let him in. They tell him that they know that he is not their mother by his rough voice. He makes his voice soft and comes back, but the kids still do not let him in and tell him it is because his paws are black. The wolf goes to the miller, who at first refuses to rub white flour on the wolf’s paws because he (the miller) knows that the wolf is trying to deceive someone. The miller eventually agrees to make the wolf’s paws white after the wolf threatens to devour the miller. The kids let the wolf in after he shows them his newly white paws and he swallows all but one. Then the wolf leaves and the nanny goat comes home. She cuts the wolf’s stomach open and all her children pop out, unharmed. Then she fills the wolf’s stomach with stones. When the wolf wakes up, he goes to a well to drink some water, falls in, and drowns miserably, after which the goats celebrate. This is a good story to tell children because it uses animals to symbolize different kinds of people. The wolf is the evil person that preys on the innocent little kids. The story teaches important lessons like ‘Don’t take candy from strangers’ and ‘Don’t let anyone in if you’re home alone.’ It’s also less disturbing than it would be if it were about humans. A story involving a human swallowing babies whole, then getting his stomach cut open and filled with stones would haunt children for weeks and would be banned from most schools.