Once Upon a Time… We asked students to come up with their own Beijing adaptation of their favorite childhood fairy tales. Thank you to all the students who have submitted their work. We’ll be publishing them online and selecting the best story that fits all the criteria to be included in the upcoming issue of Jingkids.
Little Blue Riding Hood and the Squirrel
By Amalia Mazart (age 9)
Once upon a time, there was a little girl whom everybody liked. Her grandmother knew that she loved the color blue, that’s why her grandmother made a beautiful hood from blue velvet for her. Because the little girl always wore it and looked so pretty with it everybody called her “Little Blue Riding Hood.”Granny also liked the blue hood very much, because she could not see very well anymore, but she was able to see the bright blue color.
One day Little Blue Riding Hood’s mother told her: “Today is your grandmother’s birthday. I baked a blueberry nut cake for her! Would you go and bring it to her?” Little Blue Riding Hood was really happy to see her granny. “Of course mummy, I would love to!” she said. So she put on her blue boots and her blue hood while her mother packed a basket of treats for granny.
“Oh no!” said her mother. “I haven’t got time to pick some flowers for granny. Would you please leave the path on your way to granny’s house to pick some flowers?” Her mother reminded her: “Don’t forget: Be nice to everyone you meet on your path. Granny has many animal friends in the woods.”Of course mummy, l would love to!”
Little Blue Riding Hood picked up the basket and skipped down the hill. On her way into the woods, she greeted the wild boars who were cleaning themselves in a puddle. She waved to the kind wolves who waved back to her with a smile. Little Blue Riding Hood walked deeper and deeper into the woods until she saw the sunny forest glade which marked half-way to her granny’s house. Some deer came up running to her to be petted. There was a majestic tree in the middle of the forest glade, beautiful birds were singing, and under the tree, there were the prettiest flowers she had ever seen in her whole life.
What she did not know was that there was a little cheeky squirrel that loved blueberry nut cake. She put her basket into the shade under the tree and started picking flowers just as her mother had told her.“Who is waking me up so early?” the sleepy squirrel wondered. As Little Blue Riding Hood enjoyed picking blue violets, the cheeky squirrel had discovered the blueberry nut cake in the basket, that was still under the tree.
“Mmm” whispered the very hungry squirrel, while Little Blue Riding Hood was distracted by all the colorful flowers. When the bouquet of flowers was bigger than Little Blue Riding Hood‘s hands could hold, she came back to get the basket and caught the squirrel eating cake.
“Oh no, what happened to the cake?” she called out. The squirrel had scrounged all the nuts from the blueberry nut cake and the cake looked terrible. First the little squirrel thought of running away…But no. Anyway, the little girl would be faster than me” the squirrel thought.
At the same time, Little Blue Riding Hood remembered the words of her mother: “Be nice to everyone!“ So she looked at the squirrel and smiled. The cheeky squirrel said, “I am sorry! I was very hungry.” “It is ok. We can bake a new cake together” suggested Little Blue Riding Hoodwhoinvited the squirrel to come with her to her granny ́s house.
Together they happily skipped down the path until they were at Little Blue Riding Hood‘s grandparents’ house.
“Oh no, I forgot the basket with the flowers in it. Go inside to granny and chat a bit with her. I will just fetch the basket and come back quickly” said Little Blue Riding Hood. The little squirrel knocked at the door and granny said “Come in!” When the squirrel came through the door, granny was just taking blueberry nut cake out of the oven. She said: “Little Blue Riding Hood! How nice to see you! Why do you have such small eyes?” So I can sleep faster” the squirrel answered.“Little Blue Riding Hood, why do you have such small ears?” granny asked again. And the squirrel replied, “So I don’t have to listen!” But why do you have such small teeth?“ granny kept asking. “So I don’t have to brush my teeth for a long time!” the squirrel responded.“Why are you not blue today?” granny asked at last.
The squirrel thought of Little Blue Riding Hood and wished she would come soon to help it out of this situation. Luckily Little Blue Riding Hood had met the deer on her way to the forest glade. They had been so nice to bring the basket, so Little Blue Riding Hood was back at granny ́s house quickly. She had just come through the door and heard the last question of her granny, “Why are you not blue today?” The girl called out: “Here is my blue hood!” she said, dancing in circles towards her granny. “Happy Birthday, Granny!” she said.
“By the way, I am not blue, because I like my fur!” the squirrel said. They all laughed.
The singing started outside and when granny, Little Blue Riding Hood, and the squirrel stepped out of the house the kind wolves, the friendly deer, and the clean wild boars were singing “Happy Birthday” for granny.
They all celebrated and ate cake until it was time to go to bed. They stayed friends and lived happily ever after.
THE END
KEEP READING: She Tried to Abandon Her Step-kids in Sanlitun…
Amalia Mazart is a student at Western Academy of Beijing.
Images: Amalia Mazart, pexels
