Little Red Riding Hood - alternate ending

The other day, my daughter wanted me to tell (not read, but tell) her a bedtime story. She picked Little Red Riding Hood. When she was younger, I used to tell her a censored version where no one got eaten by the wolf. I thought that now that she's seven, she might be able to handle the "usual" version.

Wrong. I only let the wolf eat the grandmother, and that was too much (even though she was rescued unscathed). My daughter insisted I tell the story in a different way, and I decided that the best way to go about it would be to let her help me. She did, and together we made certain changes. I decided that the huntsman wasn't necessary to the story - these are no damsels in distress - and my daughter wanted to give the tale a certain Viking twist.

When we were done, she said, "Can we now write the story in the blog?"
I wasn't aware she knew there were such things as blogs. "Um, you know what a blog is?"
"Yes, it's a story place - a place where you can put stories. Isn't it?"
I told her that yes, anyone can have a blog and they can write what they want there, including stories. Anything! She was very excited by this idea, and I promised her we'd write her Little Red Riding Hood here.

So this one is for my daughter (or from her, as the following is in her own words):

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Little Red Riding Hood. Her mother asked her to take a basket of goodies to her grandmother. The basket contained sweet rolls and bagels, cupcakes, and some goat meat which Vikings were particularly fond of. Little Red Riding Hood said, "Yes, mother," and walked into a forest.

She saw bunnies, foxes, beautiful blue anemones, hedgehogs and deer and raindeer. Then she saw the big, bad wolf.

The wolf said, "Hello, little girl. Who are you?"
"I'm called Little Red Riding Hood."
"I see", said the wolf. "Hurry on."

But the wolf hurried, too, and was the first to arrive at the grandmother's cabin. The grandmother quickly hid herself in a closet. The wolf put on grandmother's cap and went to bed.

Little Red Ridinghood arrived and asked, "But grandmother, why do you have such big eyes?"
"The better to see you."
"But grandmother, why do you have such enormous ears?"
"The better to hear you."
"But grandmother, why do you have such a big mouth?"
"The better to EAT YOU!"
"EEEEK!" Cried Little Red Riding Hood.

That's when the grandmother jumped out of the closet with her Viking mace! The big, spiky one! She chased the wolf away from the cabin, yelling, "Get away, get away!"

The wolf hid in his cave and whined because his head had a big bump and it hurt.

The grandmother took her spare Viking mace and gave it to Little Red Riding Hood to protect herself with.

(The illustration above is by my daughter and shows the wolf and the very happy grandmother with her enormous mace.)