Out of all the books in the library, this one peculiar shaped book, gold tipped pages, sturdy snake patterned spine, caught my eyes. The book lured me in, hooking me in like a fish on a line. It was casually waiting for me on the dusty bookshelf. Almost as if a magnet was pulling me in, but little did I know what the book had in store for me, what trouble it was going to behold upon me. I just couldn’t resist the alluring sight.
Atlas, the book was in my grasp. Running my fingers down the rugged cover, I examined the neat ink, black but distinct handwriting. After my fingers lifted off the cover, the writing vanished in a flash. Staring in awe, I noticed a glimpse of the title appear, shining brightly and then fading into nothing. At that very moment, I relieved myself of that thought and gradually began to open the book. When the cover hit the wooden table, brisk wind rushed heavily towards my face enthralling me even more. Turning the page over, I braced myself for the next wind blast, instead I was greeted with words. The words wore the same writing form as the cover title had, but slimmer and this time golden. I skimmed through the entire book, going on a short but informative adventure. I then stopped on a tale that I had known very well. A story of adventure and mischief. The tale of Little Red Riding hood.
I read aloud the tale to myself. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a village near the forest. Whenever she went out, the little girl wore a red riding cloak, so everyone in the village called her Little Red Riding Hood”. As I continued to read, the book began to glow. Being the curious girl I am, I read more of the tale to see the output. “One morning, Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if…..”. Before I could finish the sentence, the pages began to flip violently, I stood shaking, confused about the situation. The book then shook intensively, creating a small whirlpool which then grew larger and larger. I turned to run, when what felt like a hook, clutched onto my collar, pulling me unwillingly to the whirl pool. SWOOSH!. I found myself spiraling like a human tornado, stopping unexpectedly in mid air. Moments later, I sunk rapidly downwards, unable to catch my breath. It felt like one of those dreams where you fall off a cliff, but you never meet the ground. I spoke too soon, I shot down to the earth like a bullet, crashing into rose bushes. I thought that I would have been pricked all over my body, but I thought wrong. I stood in the bush perfectly unharmed, that was when I had realised, I was stuck in a fairy tale, not an ordinary fairy tale, but the tale of Little Red Riding hood. Right now, I was the one in the red cloak.
Looking at the red silky riding cloak, I thought of the times I wanted to wear it and to think I was, at this very moment. I also thought of the wolf, of how big his ears were, it’s triangular shaped ears. Of how big his eyes were, bulging almond eyes, that stalks it’s prey all day long. Of how big his teeth were, razor sharp with a hint of blood in between. My thoughts were interrupted by a female voice, a voice almost robot like, which left me cringing with confusion. “Attention. You know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Play the part, later on regaining yours back. Good luck!”.
“Play the part….. and later regain mine back. Ohhhh play Little Red Riding hood, finishing the story and I get to be myself again, and go back to the real world. I got all of that out of a sentence with eight words,” I proposed aloud. I began my quest to fulfill the story, but with my own twist.
After walking a long distance without knowing where to actually go, I finally admitted that I was lost. From the distance, I saw a large crowd of trees. I remembered in the story that Grandma’s house was in the woods so I made my way there. As I stood in front of the woods, the tree branches waved at me. All of a sudden, a basket of goods appeared, I instantly knew the purpose of it. My red riding hood instincts kicked in, though I knew they were for Grandma, I couldn’t resist the delicious aroma, “One couldn’t hurt”. So I took a sweet and carried on with the journey. I eventually knew, that I would come nose to snout with the big bad wolf. In a matter of seconds, after entering the woods, a fury presence arrived.
“Oh how could I accompany you, madam,” Mr Wolf belowed.
“Not necessary, Mr.Wolf, for I know your sinister plan of……..actually, would you sincerely make a stop at grandma’s house. She lives at the edge of the woods, quite dangerous, but she’s there all alone,” I say this with a disturbed face, then taking a peek at the wolf who was caught up in my words, licking his lips. I then smirked quickly, going back to my sad phase. “I must meet up with you there, and thank you for the unexpected visit. Oh Mr. Wolf, please go instantly!,” I cry.
“Certainly, little red. I will take care of poor, poor grandma,” Mr.Wolf said. As the wolf disappeared into the west area of the forest, I went east, where grandma actually lived.
On the way I sang one of the folk songs, “I knew the path clearly, the light mostly good. The woods being trees and the trees being wood, I have no fear nor no one should”. Once again, my thoughts failed me, I had indeed every right to be frightened. The trees were dancing horrendously, the wind teasing me, pushing me back and forward. As I regain my balance, I felt eyes shoot at me, turning around I see Mr. Wolf on his two hind legs stalking me. I make a run for it not knowing that the wolf had already made his way to grandma’s. Unaware of the wolf’s where abouts, I rushed down the path to Grandma’s house passing alarming creatures but none were intimidating so I shrugged my shoulder, not caring at all. As I came closer to grandma's, the wooden door was wide open and I knew what that meant. I mean, who wouldn’t?.
I was getting tired of the tale, so I decided to play along. The wolf’s plan was quite obvious, but I acted as if it weren’t. Rolling my eyes, I entered Grandma’s house, “Oh, grandma!,” I called out, “Are you there?”. The wolf replied instead, giving a utterly horrible impression of Grandma, “In..the bed darling”. I entered her bedroom, where the foolish wolf lay in bed, with Grandma’s pink spotted bonnet and white night gown. For all I knew, Grandma worked the outfit better. Looking at Mr. Wolf, I snickered and coughed, trying to remember the words that Little Red riding hood had once spoken at this moment.
“Ohh…..oh grandma. What big ears you have,” I said as I edged closer to the bed.
“The better to hear you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But grandma, what big eyes you have,” I said.
“The better to see you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But grandma, what big teeth you have,” I said pretending to quiver.
“The better to eat you with, my dear," roared the wolf and he leapt out of the bed and began to chase me. I ran outside to where I knew the woodsman would spot me.
“Help!, Help!,” I cried. The woodsman spotted me and charged at the wolf, grabbing him with one hand. The wolf then spat out poor grandma, who was frazzled by the whole experience but was still in one piece. I ran over to grandma, comforting her and said “I’m sorry grandma, I’ll never speak to strangers or linger in the forest ever again. Here, I brought some treats for you!”. As I handed the basket to grandma, everything stood still. Grandma suddenly glowed horrifically, the woodsman glowing too!. Soon I was glowing aswell and I began to levitate. I then shot up into the sky like a rocket, floating in mid air. After a long period of time, I started spiralling swiftly, shot upwards once again and stumbled out of the book. I was out.
Without any hesitation, I slammed the book shut. Something brushed on my hand as I did this, it was red and silky. I ran to the nearest computer, admiring the person in the mirror. Lying on my back was Red Riding Hood’s cloak, I was astonished!. I finally figured out how the book worked. “When you read a tale you get transported into the fairy tale, to get out you need to play the role of one of the characters and as a token for completing the story, you receive a souvenir from the character you play,” I whispered to myself. This book was very special and I knew it from the start. As I continued to admire the cloak, from the peek of my eye, I could see the book suddenly glowing. I ran quickly to see what it was, a story in the book was glowing. I opened the book, once again greeted with heavy wind. The title of the story glowed, The Three Little Pigs. I looked around the library to see if anyone was here and I started to read the first sentence of the book before saying. “Time for another adventure”.
