Good Bad Wolves

As a part of the Werewolf project that I have undertaken with students, ranging in age from from Prep through to Diploma of Education students at LaTrobe University, we read a few versions of Little Red Riding Hood.

Apart from fracturing this old fairy story we decided that there were so many variations to this classic tale that the wolf could have been framed - might well have been innocent all along. Grade Two and Three students have had a wonderful time making good/bad wolf masks and they have put forward defenses and also had the wolf admit it's guilt.

Ruth Stott, from Reservoir East got right into the spirit of the project and has shown her students the good and bad wolves. You be the judge as to what the truth really is about that big bad wolf that featured in so many clssic tales.

The Guilty Wolf



You know why I am here sitting in this jail. I was caught trying to catch and eat Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.

You know those stories about me trying to eat them well they are true. But that is not all of it. Not everyone knows about my other little ventures, which alas have failed.

It was me who tried to catch and eat those cutesy pie little pigs.

It wasn't a mean old witch who tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. It was me. I am really good at disguises.

And it was me that caused Sleeping Beauty to prick her finger on the spinning wheel. That stupid prince foiled my plan.

It wasn't the wicked stepmother who poisoned Snow White with the apple. I had already eaten her stepmother, which I wasn't really happy about because I admired how her brain worked. As I said, I am really good at disguises.

And I am good at escaping, which is what I am about to do in a few minutes.

My final piece of advice is to check out your teacher because I have done my homework. Teachers always have kids near them and I love to eat kids. If there is a kid in your grade missing after lunch they may not have gone home sick or to the dentist. They may jsut have been my lunch.

I Have Been Framed



I suppose you are wondering why I am sitting here in this cage. Well this is why! That girl is a liar. She tells really big whoppers. She is Little Red Riding Hood. I didn't try to eat her grandmother. All those stories she told about me are lies. This is what really happpened.

It was a beautiful spring morning and I was wandering through the woods picking flowers for my grandmother. Suddenly out from behind a tree jumped Little Red Riding Hood. Boy did she give me a scare. She gave me the evil look and asked what I was doing and where I was going. I was so frightened I told her that I was picking flowers for my grandmother who was sick and that I was going to give them to her. She asked me where grandmother lived. I told her in the cave at the end of the woods. Then just as quickly she disappeared.

What I didn't know was that Red Riding Hood had run to my grandmother's cave, tricked here way inside by pretending to be me and locked my grandmother in the cupboard. Then she hopped in to my grandmother's bed and pulled the blankets up to her head and pretended to be asleep.

When I got to my grandmother's cave I called out to her to let her know I was there. I didn't just walk in because that would have been rude.

I walked up to my grandmother's bed to give her the flowers and ask how she was. I thought it was unusual that my grandmother would hide her face from me but maybe she didn't want me to catch whatever was making her sick.

I sat on the floor next to my grandmother's bed to talk to her and tell her what I had been doing at school. Then I noticed something strange. My grandmother had shrunk and lost a lot of weight. She wasn't taking up very much space in bed. Slowly I stood up and went up to the top of the bed and gently pulled back the blankets.

Boy did I get a fright. Out of that bed jumped Little Red Riding Hoood with a hatchet in her hand and a mean look on her face. Well I screamed and ran. I ran until I could run no longer. She was getting closer. I was so out of breath. I stopped to try to catch my breath. I could see a man cutting wood. I thought he would be able to help. But I was wrong. Red Riding Hood had seen him too. She suddenly stopped chasing me and screamed and yelled.
"Help! Help! The wolf is trying to catch me."
I couldn't believe my ears,

Well do you think that man was goin going to believe me. No way. He took one look at me and one look at her and decided it was me trying to hurt her.

I turned around and ran. I was so tired I couldn't run very fast. He quickly caught me and threw me to the ground. Then he hit me on the head with a big pieces of wood. It knocked me out.

When I woke up I was all tied up in a cage. Red Riding Hood was standing there telling the police that I had attacked her grandmother. Did anyone believe me? No.

So that is why I am sitting here in this cage in the zoo. The worst thing is that I don't even know what happened to my grandmother and my mother thinks I am mean and horrible. There is no way that I can get her to hear my side of the story.

Ruth Stott - Reservoir East Primary School