Red and the Wolves

Everyone knows the story of how the Woodcutter had rescued Little Red Riding Hood from the Big Bad Wolf. But that was decades ago, and a lot had happened since then. The Woodcutters had taken over the woods, put themselves in charge, and banished all wolves. But all had not ended happily ever after.

Red had grown in size and wisdom, having learned more street smarts from the Wolf incident, and was elected to lead her tribe. The younger generation was born into a world with no Wolf or fear, so they innocently wandered through the woods without a care in the world. They didn’t even have to feed themselves, because the Woodcutters provided everything, and only demanded total compliance in return.

But total compliance is always expensive in the end, and Red realized that the Woodcutters were becoming tyrants. Worse yet, nobody would help her stop them, because the people had grown soft and knew only their compliant life. Red, however, remembered a time when people were not safe and it made them stronger. She wondered, could it happen again?

Red walked deep into the wilderness beyond the woods until she finally found a Wolf that had survived the banishment. The Wolf, her ancient enemy, snarled and savagely bared its sharp teeth and claws. But Red had dealt with wolves before and was here for a purpose. She took a deep breath… and offered the wolf a deal.

She would protect the Wolf from the Woodcutters and it could eat soft people, as long as it stayed in the woods and never approached the village. The hungry Wolf agreed and moved back into the woods where it began eating the most weak and foolish wanderers — often by impersonating their grandmothers. Red soon found another wolf and offered it the same deal, and then another, and soon the woods were filled with wolves.

Life for the townsfolk changed swiftly. The weak and foolish could no longer wander carefree, so they ended up either smarter, stronger, or dead. The younger villagers even noticed their faces changing, telling each other, “What big eyes/ears you have!”, the better to see/hear their surroundings. Even the wolves had to respect them, just as they had a respectful wariness of the wolves. Life was no longer a guarantee, but something to be protected and celebrated. 

The next generation not only had larger eyes and ears, but sharper teeth as well. They were raised to fight for their own lives from birth, and so perhaps it is no surprise that they were eventually willing to fight against the tyrant Woodcutters and chase them out of the town. Red’s dream had come true.

But what of the wolves? The townsfolk wanted them banished again, so Red went into the woods. But she saw that just as the townsfolk had grown sharper wolf-like teeth, the wolves had grown some human-like empathy, thanks to decades of impersonating grandmothers. The two groups were, perhaps, not so different. And without the wolves, the townsfolk would never have been able to stand against the tyrant Woodcutters. Red didn’t want to return to the days of a helpless village. She took a deep breath and offered a new deal…a treaty to share the lands in peace.