Bad Wolf

There was once a little girl who was loved by everyone who met her. No one loved her more than her grandmother though. For her eighth birthday, the grandmother gave the young girl a red stocking cap. The girl treasured it. She took it with here everywhere. To the store with her mother. To school with her classmates. Even during the heat of the summer, she would never take it off. The cap soon faded from red to a muddy brown, but not before she began to be called Little Red-Cap. This story, however, is not about her.

They'd kept him for hours. They'd been grilling him over and over about what he did with Little Red-Cap. He didn't know who they were talking about. He'd just been taking a nap in the woods when they'd grabbed him and brought him in for questioning.

"They're always quick to blame us", he mumbled to himself as he started his long walk home. âEvery time there is a missing child they come running for the nearest wolf.â He gotten used to it by now. Species profiling. His kind was more likely to commit this sort of crime they'd told him. Still. He did wonder what had happened to the little girl they'd mentioned.

He told them he'd met a little girl in the woods but wasn't sure who this Little Red-Cap was. Could it have been that little girl he'd talked to on the path? She had been wearing some sort of worn out brown cap. He had been walking along when he'd heard a small voice behind him.

"Excuse me."

He'd turned around to find a small girl of around nine carrying a basket and looking quite lost.

"Yes, little girl? How can I help you?" He knew it was probably best to help her on her way. These woods were dangerous for those who didn't know them well.

"Umm." She chewed on her lip in a cute way. It reminded him of his own youngest son when he was frustrated. He waited her out.

"Umm. I'm not su'posed to talk to strangers but... uh, I need to granny's house. I have some bread for her."

"What kind of mother would send a young girl out in these woods by herself?" he mumbled to himself. He scratched his chin and looked at her again.

"Where does your granny live?" he asked her.

"Just passed the forest. Near Mr. Tree-chopper." Mr. Tree-chopper? Oh. She must mean the Woodcutter. He'd heard some rumors about that man. Living in the woods by himself all these years had done something to him. Something bad.

"How about I walk with you till the fork in the road? I need to go one way and you need to go down the other. Is that good?" She seemed to think about it.

"Okay. Mister Wolf."

They walked a few minutes more and parted ways. He down one path. Her down the darker one.

His musing had taken him the whole way home. His wife was waiting for him.

"I got picked up again," he told her. "Seems this little girl has gone missing. I was the last one to see her it seems. They thought I'd had something to do with it." His wife just nodded and motioned him to sit down.

"Your brother is dead," she told him. "They found him in a cabin in the woods. The woodcutter killed him. He said your brother had eaten a little girl and her grandmother."

He placed his head in his hands. "Just when relations between species were getting back to normal, now we have this Little Red-Cap incident. No one will trust us now."

(See original story in Grimm's Fairy Tales.)

There was once a shoemaker, who occasionally worked hard and was mostly honest to most people but was heavy in gambling debts. All he had left, after the repo man had came and went, was just enough leather make one pair of shoes. And an angry wife.

After having their daily shouting match, the shoemaker prepared to go to bed. On the couch. Before he went sleep though, he set aside the remaining leather so he could start as soon as possible. Having grown up Catholic, he decided a little prayer could not hurt his situation and so he whispered a quick prayer for help with his shoe business.

When the shoemaker went into his shop early the next morning, he saw a pair of shoes waiting for him on his workbench. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he sold the shoes to his first customer saying that they were magic shoes and would give the wearer good luck. The townspeople, not known for their brains, accepted this idea and began to flock to his store for the magic shoes.

Day after day, the shoemaker would buy more leather and, in the morning, find that shoes were being made in the night. After several weeks, his wife began to get suspicious of all the shoemaker's new found wealth. She finally cornered him one night at dinner and he confessed.

The shoes were making themselves he said. Each morning he would find new shoes, perfect shoes, waiting for him. He never questioned it. The shoemaker's wife did however and hatched a plan to catch the night workers.

That night, they hide themselves in the cupboard and waited. Right around midnight, two small naked men appeared out of thin air and started to work on the shoes.

Their work was quick but efficient. Within an hour, they had done what took the shoemaker almost all day. The shoemaker was astonished. His wife was not. She was furious that two naked men were running around in her husband's shop. At least they could put some clothes on, she grumbled. So, she decided to knit two small sets of clothes for the mysterious men.

Two nights later, the husband and wife waited again in the cupboard. Instead of leaving the leather for the shoes out on the workbench, they left the clothes.

Again, right around midnight the two naked men appeared from nowhere. Once they saw the clothes on the workbench, they immediately put them on and danced throughout the shop. No sooner had their dance stopped then they vanished again, never to return again.

With the source of his magic shoes having stopped, the shoemaker soon went back into debt again. The resentment from the effect of the plan to clothe the two naked men ultimately made the shoemaker and his wife get a divorce. With his debts high and his morale low, the shoemaker took his life.

When the police found his body, they also found a small note. They were puzzled by the only four words on the note. Never clothe naked men.

(Recommend reading of original source from Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Between the last episode and this one, Iâve been experimenting more with recording and voice acting. I had thought that recording Edgar Allen Poeâs short story âThe Tell-Tale Heartâ would be a good test. As it turns out, no. Because of the language difference, and his style of writing, I struggled to get the emphasis right on all the parts while maintaining the right tone. I did several different recording sessions but none seemed good enough. However, I felt I needed to post something.

This episode is special. I used the basic plot and tone of âThe Tell-Tale Heartâ as a base. I expanded and updated it but kept as close as I could to the story. I would highly recommend reading the original work before listening. I borrow heavy from wording in places but also add my own spin on things. Itâs more of a remix than anything else.

(This may be a new trend. Iâm considering doing a reading of another short story soon. Well, a remix of the story actually.)

I had really hoped to get another episode out sooner. With the recent holiday and having people over today, I was just too tired to attempt anything. Anyway, here is a slightly better second episode.

Iâm still declaring that this is a project in process. This second time was easier all around but I know I have things to work on with the recordings. For one, I need a microphone stand. Iâve been trying to hold a microphone and talk. It is just not working. Oh well. Maybe Iâll have it fixed before I try another episode.

Iâll give anyone who plans to listen to this a heads up right now. The sound levels vary widely. I get really quiet in sections and then really loud. I apologize for that. Iâve listened to the track several times now. I know it is not balanced. I do not yet know how to fix that and would rather have something out in the mean time.

If anyone has suggestions for story ideas: I welcome them. Turns out it fairly hard to think up original content every few days. Any help would be appreciated.

The requirements of my postings in this project are:

1. Make the recording in one take
2. Use very little preparation
3. Do very little editing

This is the test post.

I welcome any comments or thoughts on what I can do to improve any aspect of this project. Oh and I would also like any suggestions for future themes.