BBL 3207 Language in Literature

Trisem 8/2010 (Exec)

SECTION A

Take a third person story that you know well, such as fairy tale o fable, and rewrite using a
first person narrative.

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, there was a wolf, and of course that wolf is me. I lived in a thick wood

where people love to hike and camp. Unfortunately I ran out of food storage in my place and this

force me to hunt for food outside. To my surprise, I couldn’t find anything that I can munch for

my hunger. As I was wandering around the wood, I found a lovely little girl walking alone in that

thick wood. My stomach alarms me of the hunger I’m in and my mouth was watering as I was

thinking about tasting the little girl’s flesh. I keep on following the little girl to where she is

going. Then in the middle of her way, I showed up myself with my cute face and asked her

“Hello cute girl, how you doing?” and she replied “I’m doing just well”. Then I offered her

company to her destination and continued my conservation. “What’s your sweet name, my dear

girl?” I asked. She replied “I’m little riding hood”, you’re such a good wolf to accompany me to

my grandma’s house”. “Ah, you’re going to your grandma’s house, that’s wonderful. Does your

grandma live all by herself?” I asked. She said “yes indeed as my grandpa has just passed away

last year”. I was so happy to know that I could satisfy my hunger for this few days by eating this

little girl and her grandma. This can hold up for several weeks as the winter season is around the

corner. To make the journey longer, I decided to bring her to a place where there are plenty of

fruits such as apples, strawberries and oranges. She says “wow, thank you very much Mr. Wolf

for bringing me to this place. I think I can bring some of this fruits to my grandma who is sick at

home. That’s go good of you Mr. Wolf”. “I’m so sorry to hear that your grandma is sick. Does

she walk or she is just bed resting?” I asked the little girl. This makes me happier to know that

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Trisem 8/2010 (Exec)

her grandma is helpless and alone to fight when I bite her. The little red riding hood says “Oh,

Mr. Wolf, it’s getting late, we should be moving by now. It will be dark soon. I don’t want to be

lost in this jungle and of course my grandma would be waiting for me”. “Well don’t you want to

bring your grandma some flowers? I asked her to make her stay for a longer time. “That’s a good

idea though, is it far from here?” she asked. I replied “Not that far, actually it’s near to your

grandma’s house”. After plucked some flowers for her grandma, I bring her to her grandma’s

house. It’s already dark by the time we reach her grandma’s house. The little red riding hood

says “Thank you for your kind heart of accompanying me to my grandma’s house. My mother

have said that there is a fierce wolf, who would wander around to eat humans especially little girl

like me. But you’re so nice to me”. “Wait, I have a present for you” I said. She replied “Present?

I love present. Where are they?” I bring her to the back of the house and without wasting a

second; I swallowed the little red riding hood. Right after that I dressed up like her and went

knocking on the grandma’s door. The grandma replies “Who is that?” I try my best to change my

voice as the little girl and answered “It’s me red riding hood, grandma”. “Open the latch and

come in” she replied. I went in and the grandma was shocked to see me and yelled so loud. I was

afraid that someone would come to respond to her scream. So acting out of fright, I ate the old

lady. I didn’t know what else to do. I was not hungry but I ate her for the sake of my own safety.

As I’m full, I went down to bed to rest and didn’t think of closing the door. When I was awake,

there are a bunch of hunters in front of me together with the little girl’s mother. The hunters

discovered that I ate the old lady and the little girl. The hunters cut through my stomach and let

the grandma and the little red riding hood free alive. I felt to so much pain and close my eyes

forever.

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Trisem 8/2010 (Exec)

Discuss how the story changes with this new treatment of first person narration.

A story whether it’s a fairy tale or a horror story or any other story, will be told in third

person narrative. This is applicable majorly for all stories. The reason of writing a story in third

person narrative is to explain the story in all angles and from the point of view of all characters.

This enables us to understand the flow of the story well enough. I choose the Little Red Riding

Hood as my choice of fairy tale to be written in first person narrative. I choose wolf as my first

person narrator for the wolf have much to say about the story and as an antagonist in the story.

The wolf is giving less priority in the original fairy tale. I choose to change the antagonist into

protagonist in my narration of story mainly to explain the purpose on why the wolf had to eat the

little girl and her grandmother. I’ve also changed the story line a little to explain the condition of

the wolf and what makes him to act in such a cruel way; by killing the old lady and the girl. In

the original fairy tale of The Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf are not emphasized and the little

girl being very cautious when walking through the wood. But in my first person narration, I’ve

changed the girl to be very calm and didn’t scare about the wolf. In the other hand, the wolf

being so nice to the girl. They had also talked so much and become like a friend. In the original

story, the wolf didn’t bring the girl to any fruit garden or flower garden, but in my story I make

the wolf bring the little girl to those places to drag the time, so that the wolf can eat the girl. They

went places together and spend a longer time than the time spent in the original story. I’ve also

made some changes in the order of who is going to be eaten by the wolf. In the original story, the

grandmother is the first person to be eaten by the wolf. Then the wolf disguised as the

grandmother to eat the little girl. In my narration, I’ve made the wolf to eat the little girl and

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disguise as the girl to eat the old lady. This change seems relevant to me as the easiest way to

enter anybody’s house is by the people who have relation to the person staying inside the house.

The original story seems exposed that the wolf knows the home where the little girl is coming

but in my narration the place is unknown till the little girl revealed it. The part where the wolf

forgot to close the door and the hunter with the little girl entered the house also vary from the

original story where a hunter comes to ask for a drink in that house. I kept the part where the

hunter slash the wolf’s stomach to let the lady and girl out, is unchanged. The narration from the

perspective of wolf is much more limited as we don’t know what happen when the wolf is

asleep. Maybe the mother of the little girl might go out looking for her lost daughter. So as in

summary, a story should always have third person narrative so that we could understand the story

quite well from all angles.

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 BBL 3207 Language in Literature
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[The original story]

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time in the middle of a thick forest stood a

small cottage, the home of a pretty little girl known to
everyone as Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her Mummy
waved her goodbye at the garden gate, saying: "Grandma is
ill. Take her this basket of cakes, but be very careful. Keep to
the path through the wood and don't ever stop. That way, you
will come to no harm."

Little Red Riding Hood kissed her mother and ran off. "Don't
worry," she said, "I'll run all the way to Grandma's without
stopping."

Full of good intentions, the little girl made her way through
the wood, but she was soon to forget her mother's wise
words. "What lovely strawberries! And so red."

Laying her basket on the ground, Little Red Riding Hood

bent over the strawberry plants. "They're nice and ripe, and
so big! Yummy! Delicious! Just another one. And one more.
This is the last. Well, this one Mmmm."

The red fruit peeped invitingly through the leaves in the

grassy glade, and Little Red Riding Hood ran back and forth
popping strawberries into her mouth. Suddenly she
remembered her mother, her promise, Grandma and the
basket and hurried back towards the path. The basket was
still in the grass and, humming to herself, Little Red Riding
Hood walked on.

The wood became thicker and thicker. Suddenly a yellow

butterfly fluttered down through the trees. Little Red Riding
Hood started to chase the butterfly.

"I'll catch you! I'll catch you!" she called. Suddenly she saw
some large daisies in the grass.

"Oh, how sweet!" she exclaimed and, thinking of Grandma,

she picked a large bunch of flowers.

In the meantime, two wicked eyes were spying on her from

behind a tree a strange rustling in the woods made Little Red

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Riding Hood's heart thump.

Now quite afraid she said to herself. "I must find the path
and run away from here!"

At last she reached the path again but her heart leapt into
her mouth at the sound of a gruff voice which said: "Where
are you going, my pretty girl, all alone in the woods?"

"I'm taking Grandma some cakes. She lives at the end of

the path," said Little Riding Hood in a faint voice.

When he heard this, the wolf (for it was the big bad wolf
himself) politely asked: "Does Grandma live by herself?"

"Oh, yes," replied Little Red Riding Hood, "and she never
opens the door to strangers!"

"Goodbye. Perhaps we'll meet again," replied the wolf. Then

he loped away thinking to himself "I'll gobble the grandmother
first, and then lie in wait for the grandchild!" At last, the
cottage came in sight. Knock! Knock! The wolf rapped on the
door.

"Who's there?" cried Grandma from her bed.

"It's me, Little Red Riding Hood. I've brought you some
cakes because you're ill," replied the wolf, trying hard to hide
his gruff voice.

"Lift the latch and come in," said Grandma, unaware of

anything amiss, till a horrible shadow appeared on the wall.
Poor Grandma! For in one bound, the wolf leapt across the
room and, in a single mouthful, swallowed the old lady. Soon
after, Little Red Riding Hood tapped on the door.

"Grandma, can I come in?" she called.

Now, the wolf had put on the old lady's shawl and cap and
slipped into the bed. Trying to imitate Grandma's quavering
little voice, he replied: "Open the latch and come in!

"What a deep voice you have," said the little girl in surprise.

"The better to greet you with," said the wolf.

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"Goodness, what big eyes you have."

"The better to see you with."

"And what big hands you have!" exclaimed Little Red Riding
Hood, stepping over to the bed.

"The better to hug you with," said the wolf.

"What a big mouth you have," the little girl murmured in a

weak voice.

"The better to eat you with!" growled the wolf, and jumping
out of bed, he swallowed her up too. Then, with a fat full
tummy, he fell fast asleep.

In the meantime, a hunter had emerged from the wood, and

on noticing the cottage, he decided to stop and ask for a
drink. He had spent a lot of time trying to catch a large wolf
that had been terrorizing the neighborhood, but had lost its
tracks. The hunter could hear a strange whistling sound; it
seemed to be coming from inside the cottage. He peered
through the window and saw the large wolf himself, with a fat
full tummy, snoring away in Grandma's bed.

"The wolf! He won't get away this time!"

Without making a sound, the hunter carefully loaded his gun

and gently opened the window. He pointed the barrel straight
at the wolf's head and BANG! The wolf was dead.

"Got you at last!" shouted the hunter in glee. "You'll never

frighten anyone again.

He cut open the wolf's stomach and to his amazement, out

popped Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood, safe and
unharmed.

"You arrived just in time," murmured the old lady, quite

overcome by all the excitement.

"It's safe to go home now," the hunter told Little Red Riding
Hood. "The big bad wolf is dead and gone, and there is no
danger on the path.

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Still scared, the little girl hugged her grandmother. Oh, what
a dreadful fright!"

Much later, as dusk was falling, Little Red Riding Hood's

mother arrived, all out of breath, worried because her little girl
had not come home. And when she saw Little Red Riding
Hood, safe and sound, she burst into tears of joy.

After thanking the hunter again, Little Red Riding Hood and
her mother set off towards the wood. As they walked quickly
through the trees, the little girl told her mother: "We must
always keep to the path and never stop. That way, we come
to no harm!"

The End

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