Little Red Vampire Hood

Long ago, in a remote village in Transylvania, a sweet little pig-tailed girl was trying on a new hood. It was red, and it was meant for riding, but since she liked it so much, the little girl decided that she would wear it all the time. She was admiring it in the mirror, when her mother came in and said: “Will you take this basket to grandma’s house?”

“What’s in it?” queried the little girl.

“Cloves of garlic.”

“Garlic! Yuk! Gran’s breath stinks enough as it is!”

“That’s enough of that!” snapped mother.

“Sorry,” said the girl.

“I should think you are!” said mother, “and hurry up! In her note, gran says she needs it urgently...”

“She’s probably making one of her disgusting casseroles – yuk!” said the girl.

“Don’t be back late – and don’t take that short cut through the forest – use the high road, it’s safer.”

Twenty minutes later, the little girl was half way along the short cut through the forest when she saw a strange man dressed in a black cloak coming towards her. She wanted to turn and run, but it was too late.

“Where are you going, little girl?” said the man in a spooky voice.

“Grandma’s house,” she replied.

“And what are you taking her?”

“Garlic,” she said, looking down at her basket. When she looked up again, the man was nowhere to be seen, though she thought she caught a glimpse of a wolf slinking through the undergrowth at the side of the path. She ran all the rest of the way.

At last, the little girl came to the village where Grandma lived. She shuddered. It was the eeriest village in that part of Transylvania. The churchyard was full, but the village was almost empty, and most of the houses were in ruins. Only one was still lived in – Grandma’s house. Warily, the little girl went in, crept upstairs and knocked at the bedroom door.

“Come in,” said a gruff voice.

She opened the door and tiptoed up to the bed where her grandmother lay with the bedclothes pulled up to her neck.

“Oh grandma, what a gruff voice you’ve got!” she exclaimed.

“That’s because I’ve got a sore throat,” replied grandma looking hungrily at the little girl.

“Oh, grandma, what big eyes you’ve got!” she said.

“All the better to see you with,” replied grandma, trying to reassure the little girl with a smile.

“Oh grandma, what big teeth you’ve got!” said the girl, really frightened now.

“Well, I won’t try to fool you anymore – it’s because I’m a vampire,” said grandma. “What have you got in that basket?”

“Cloves of garlic.”

“Too late,” sighed grandma, “The garlic was to frighten off Dracula, but he got here before you and drank my blood and turned me into a vampire.”

The little girl turned to run, but the man she had met in the forest was blocking the door.

“It’s your turn now,” said Dracula, and knocking aside the basket of garlic, he sank his long fangs into her tender young neck.

Now there are three vampires in Transylvania, and the two most dangerous are a harmless-looking, white-haired old lady, and a sweet little pig-tailed girl who wears a red riding hood.

© Kit 2007