The wolf and the seven kids

Erinnern Sie sich an das Märchen Der Wolf und die sieben Geißlein? Hier stellen wir Ihnen eine moderne Version vor – zum Schmunzeln und zum Englischlernen. Von DAGMAR TAYLOR

We all know at least a few fairy tales: Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. The structure of these tales is familiar to us. They begin with the phrase “Once upon a time…” and use repetitive language to create drama: “Grandma, what big teeth you have! Grandma, what big ears you have!”

We have rewritten 24 fairy tales for the 21st century. Each one includes examples of a specific grammatical structure. This structure is explained in the notes at the end, where you will also find some related exercises. This month, we present a new version of The Wolf and the Seven Kids.

Once upon a time…

there was a nanny goat who lived with her seven little kids in an old caravan at the edge of the woods. One day, mother goat called her kids and said, “I’m going into the woods to look for berries. If they’re ripe, we’ll all go back tomorrow and have a fine feast!”

“Yeeeeaaah!” cried the kids.

“Be good and look out for the wolf. Whatever you do, don’t let him in! If he gets in, he’ll eat you all up,” warned their mother. “He might disguise himself, but you’ll know it’s him because he has a deep voice and black feet.”

“Mammy,” said the oldest kid, “we know what a wolf looks like! Don’t worry about us.”

“Bye,” bleated the nanny goat gently, and off she went.

It wasn’t long before there was a tapping at the door and a voice called out,

MEDIUM AUDIO

“Open the door, my dears. This is your mother speaking. I’ve got something nice for each of you.”

But the little kids knew it was the wolf because he had such a deep voice.

“We’re not opening the door!” they bleated. “You’re not our mammy. She has a soft and gentle voice, but your voice is deep. You’re the wolf!”

“Damn it!” said the wolf, and off he went to the nearest village. He stopped the first woman he met and asked her to record a message for the kids on his phone. At first, she refused, but the wolf threatened her. “If you don’t, I’ll eat you up,” he said, and the frightened woman did as she was told. “That’s people for you!” mumbled the wolf.

The wolf went back to the caravan and knocked on the door. He pressed “play” on his phone and the kids heard a woman’s trembling voice say, “Open the door, my dears. This is your mother speaking. I’ve got something nice for each of you.”

But the wolf had laid one of his black paws against the window. The kids saw it and cried out, “We’re not opening the door! You’re not our mammy. She doesn’t have black feet. You’re the wolf!”

“Damn it!” said the wolf. Not one to give up easily, he set off for the village again. He hadn’t got very far when he saw some road workers. They were painting white lines in the middle of the road. “That’ll do it,” thought the wolf, and he quickly jumped into the trolley that held the paint.

“Oi!” shouted the road workers, but the wolf was off, leaving a trail of white paw prints behind him.

The wolf went back to the caravan, knocked on the door a third time and pressed “play”. “Open the door, my dears. This is your mother speaking. I’ve got something nice for each of you,” said the recording.

The little kids replied, “You can’t fool us! Show us your paws so that we know that you’re our mammy.”

The wolf put one of his paws against the window, and when the kids saw that it was white, they opened the door.

On seeing the wolf, the terrified kids ran off in all directions — one hid under the kitchen table, the second under the bed, the third under the bed covers, the fourth in the fridge, the fifth in a cupboard, the sixth behind the curtains and the seventh kid shut himself inside the grandfather clock.

One by one, the wolf found them, swallowing each of them whole. He didn’t

Exercise 1

Find one more example of an emphatic refusal in the text.

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