Today I’d like to share with you a classic Grimm’s fairy tale, “The Wolf and the Seven Kids”. This is a story about cleverness and vigilance. It tells of a mother goat who leaves her seven kids at home while she goes out to find food, and how a cunning wolf tricks the kids into opening the door with sweet talk, and swallows six of them… In the end, how does the mother goat save her children.
The story begins: Mother Goat’s advice
Once upon a time, a female goat gave birth to seven cute baby goats. She loved her children very much.
One day, Mother Goat had to go into the forest to find food. Before she left, she called her seven baby goats to her side and said, “Children, when I go out, you must be careful and never let the wolf into the house! If the wolf comes, it will pretend to be something else, but you can recognise it by its voice and its paws. The wolf’s voice is raspy and its paws are black. Remember these features.”
The lambs replied in unison, “Don’t worry, Mum, we’ll be careful!”
Although a little worried, the mother goat set off.
The cunning wolf arrives
Soon after, the wolf really came. It stood at the door and knocked, shouting, “Children, open the door quickly, mommy is back!”
As soon as the lambs heard this, they immediately became alert and replied, ”You are not our mommy! Our mommy’s voice is very pleasant, not as hoarse as yours!”
The wolf was very angry when it heard this, but it did not give up. It ran to a shop and bought something to eat that would make its voice sound thinner, and sure enough, its voice became softer.
Then the wolf went back to the goat’s house and knocked on the door, saying, “Children, open the door quickly, it’s really your mother who’s come back this time!”
The kids looked through the crack in the door and saw that the wolf’s paws were still black, so they shouted, ”You’re lying! Our mother doesn’t have paws that are this black!”
The wolf thought of another way. He went to the miller and sprinkled some white flour on his paws, disguising them as white.
The lambs’ misplaced trust
This time, the wolf knocked on the door again and said gently, “Children, open the door quickly, your mother is really back!”
The lambs saw that the wolf’s paws were white, so they thought their mother had returned and opened the door.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the wolf entered the door, he revealed his true colors and quickly swallowed the six lambs whole! Only the youngest lamb, who had cleverly hidden in the clock box, escaped.
The wolf was satisfied after eating his fill and fell asleep under a big tree.
Mother goat’s rescue operation
When Mother Goat returned home, she saw the door wide open and the house in a mess. She was scared and hurriedly asked the youngest lamb what had happened. After hearing the story, Mother Goat was heartbroken and burst into tears.
At that moment, it suddenly occurred to her that the wolf was still sleeping under the tree, so she decided to find a way to rescue her children.
Goat mother brought scissors and sewing thread, and carefully cut open the wolf’s stomach. The lambs jumped out of the wolf’s stomach one after the other, and happily pounced on their mother.
Goat mother said to her children, “Go find some big stones, we’ll teach this bad wolf a lesson!”
So the seven lambs quickly carried many big stones and stuffed them into the wolf’s stomach. Mother Goat quickly sewed up the wolf’s stomach, and the wolf, who had fallen asleep, was completely unaware of what was going on.
The wolf’s end
It wasn’t long before the wolf woke up. Feeling thirsty, it went to the well to drink. As it stooped down to drink, the heavy stones in its stomach dragged it straight into the well, and the wolf drowned.
What can we learn?
Children, this story teaches us an important lesson: never trust strangers or things that seem “harmless”. Just like the little lamb in the story, if we are not vigilant, we may be deceived by bad people.
There are also similar situations in life, such as when a stranger offers you candy, picks you up from school, or takes you somewhere you don’t know. These can be dangerous signs. Just like the youngest lamb, you must remain calm and vigilant to protect yourself!
I hope you enjoyed the story and learned how to protect yourself better!
