Wolves and 7 Goat Children

There was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, and loved them with all the love of a mother for her children. 1 day she wanted to go into the forest and fetch some food. She called all seven to her and said, dear children, I have to go into the forest, be on your guard against the wolf, even when he comes in, he will devour you all - hair, skin, and all. The wretch often disguises himself, however you'll know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet. The kids explained, dear mother, we'll take good care of ourselves, you may go away with no anxiety. Then the old one bleated, and went on her way with a simple mind.

youtube.com

It wasn't long before some one knocked at the house-door and called, open the door, dear children, your mother is here, and has brought something back with her for each of you. But the little kids knew that it was the wolf, by the rough voice. We are not going to open the door, cried they, you are not our mom. She has a soft, pleasant voice, but your voice is rough, you are the wolf. Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and bought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it.

Read to : The Seven Ravens

He then came back, knocked at the door of the house, and called, open the door, dear children, your mother is here and has brought something back with her for each of you. But the wolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children saw them and cried, we are not going to open the door, our mother has not black feet like you, you are the wolf. Then the wolf ran to a baker and said, I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me. When the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said, strew a white meal over my feet for me. The miller thought to himself, the wolf wants to deceive someone, also denied, but the wolf said, if you won't do it, I will devour you.

Really, this the way of mankind.

So now the wretch went for the next time into the house-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 back from the forest with her. The little kids cried, first show us your paws that we may know if you are our dear little mother. Then he put his paws in through the window, and when the kids saw that they were white, they believed that all he said was accurate, and opened up the door.

But who should come in but the wolf they were terrified and wanted to conceal themselves. One sprang under the table, the second to the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the seventh to the clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no great ceremony, one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. The youngest, who was at the clock-case, was the only one that he didn't find. When the wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and began to sleep. Soon afterwards the old goat came home again from the forest. Ah. What a sight she saw there. The dining table, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the washing-bowl lay broken to bits, and the quilts and pillows were pulled off the mattress. She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She called them one after another by name, but no one replied. At last, when she caame to the youngest, a soft voice cried, dear mother, I am in the clock-case. She took the child out, and it told me that the wolf had come and had eaten all the others.

Then you may imagine how she wept over her poor children. When they arrived at the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree and snored so loud that the branches shook. She looked at him on every side and noticed that something was moving and struggling in his gorged belly. Ah, heavens, she said, can it be possible that my poor children whom he has swallowed down for his supper, can be still living.

They embraced their dear mother, and jumped like a sailor at his marriage. The mother, however, said, now go and search for some big stones, and we will fill the wicked beast's stomach with them while he's still asleep. Then the seven kids dragged the stones thither with all speed, and put as many of them to his stomach as they could get in, and the mother sewed him up again in the best haste, so that he was not aware of anything and never once stirred.

When the wolf at length had had his fill of sleep, he got on his legs, and as the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well to drink. However, when he began to walk and move about, the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled. What rumbles and tumbles against my poor bones. I believed 'twas six children, Nonetheless, it feels like big stones. When he got to the well and stooped over the water to drink, the heavy stones made him fall in, and he had to drown miserably. When the seven kids saw that, they came into the spot and cried aloud, the wolf is dead. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86qeLlC5lHU