The Wolf and the Three Girls

Once there were three sisters who worked in a certain town. Word reached them one day that their mother, who lived in Borgoforte, was deathly ill. The oldest sister therefore filled two baskets with four bottles of wine and four cakes and set out for Borgoforte. Along the way she met the wolf, who said to her, "Where are you going in such haste?" "To Borgoforte to see Mamma, who is gravely ill." "What's in those baskets?" "Four bottles of wine and four cakes." "Give them to me, or else—to put it bluntly—I'll eat you." The girl gave the wolf everything and went flying back home to her sisters. Then the middle girl filled her baskets and left for Borgoforte. She too met the wolf. "Where are you going in such haste?" "To Borgoforte to see Mamma, who is gravely ill." "What's in those baskets?" "Four bottles of wine and four cakes." "Give them to me, or else—to put it bluntly—I'll eat you." So the second sister emptied her baskets and ran home. Then the youngest girl said, "Now it's my turn." She prepared the baskets and set out. There was the wolf. "Where are you going in such haste?" "To Borgoforte to see Mamma, who is gravely ill." "What's in those baskets?" "Four bottles of wine and four cakes." "Give them to me, or else—to put it bluntly—I'll eat you." The little girl took a cake and threw it to the wolf, who had his mouth open. She had made the cake especially for him and filled it with nails. The wolf caught it and bit into it, pricking his palate all over. He spat out the cake, leaped back, and ran off, shouting, "You'll pay for that! " Taking certain short cuts known only to him, the wolf ran ahead and reached Borgoforte before the little girl. He slipped into the sick mother's house, gobbled her up, and took her place in bed. The little girl arrived, found her mother with the sheet drawn up to her eyes, and said, "How dark you've become, Mamma!" "That's because I've been sick so much, my child," said the wolf. "How big your head has become, Mamma! " "That's because I've worried so much, my child." "Let me hug you, Mamma," said the little girl, and the wolf gobbled her up whole. With the little girl in his belly, the wolf ran out of the house. But the townspeople, seeing him come out, chased him with pitchforks and shovels, cornered him, and killed him. They slit him open at once and out came mother and daughter still alive. The mother got well, and the little girl went back and said to her sisters, "Here I am, safe and sound!"