Uncle Wolf

There was once a greedy little girl. One day during carnival time, the schoolmistress said to the children, "If you are good and finish your knitting, I will give you pancakes." But the little girl didn't know how to knit and asked for permission to go to the privy. There she sat down and fell asleep. When she came back into school, the other children had eaten all the pancakes. She went home crying and told her mother what had happened. "Be a good little girl, my poor dear," said her mother. "I'll make pancakes for you." But her mother was so poor she didn't even have a skillet. "Go to Uncle Wolf and ask him if he'll lend us his skillet." The little girl went to Uncle Wolf's house and knocked. Knock, knock. "Who is it?" "It's me!" "For years and months, no one has knocked at this door! What do you want?" "Mamma sent me to ask if you'll lend us your skillet to make pancakes." "Just a minute, let me put my shirt on." Knock, knock. "Just a minute, let me put on my drawers." Knock, knock. "Just a minute, let me put on my pants." Knock, knock. "Just a minute, let me put on my overcoat." Finally Uncle Wolf opened the door and gave her the skillet. "I'll lend it to you, but tell Mamma to return it full of pancakes, together with a round loaf of bread and a bottle of wine." "Yes, yes, I'll bring you everything." When she got home, her mother made her a whole stack of pancakes, and also a stack for Uncle Wolf. Before nightfall she said to the child, "Take the pancakes to Uncle Wolf together with this loaf of bread and bottle of wine." Along the way the child, glutton that she was, began sniffing the pancakes. "Oh, what a wonderful smell! I think I'll try just one." But then she had to eat another and another and another, and soon the pancakes were all gone and followed by the bread, down to the last crumb, and the wine, down to the last drop. Now to fill up the skillet she raked up some donkey manure from off the road. She refilled the bottle with dirty water. To replace the bread, she made a round loaf out of the lime she got from a stonemason working along the way. When she reached Uncle Wolf's, she gave him this ugly mess. Uncle Wolf bit into a pancake. "Uck! This is donkey dung!" He uncorked the wine at once to wash the bad taste out of his mouth. "Uck! This is dirty water!" He bit off a piece of bread. "Uck! This is lime!" He glared at the child and said, "Tonight I'm coming to eat you! " The child ran home to her mother. "Tonight Uncle Wolf is coming to eat me!" Her mother went around closing doors and windows and stopping up all the holes in the house, so Uncle Wolf couldn't get in; but she forgot to stop up the chimney. When it was night and the child was already in bed, Uncle Wolf's voice was heard outside the house. "I'm going to eat you now. I'm right outside!" Then a footstep was heard on the roof. "I'm going to eat you now! I'm on the roof! " Then a clatter was heard in the chimney. "I'm going to eat you now. I'm in the chimney! " "Mamma, Mamma! The wolf is here!" "Hide under the covers! " "I'm going to eat you now. I'm on the hearth! " Shaking like a leaf, the child curled up as small as possible in a corner of the bed. "I'm going to eat you now! I'm in the room! " The little girl held her breath. "I'm going to eat you now! I'm at the foot of the bed! Ahem, here I go!" And he gobbled her up. So Uncle Wolf always eats greedy little girls.