Little Grumpy Riding Hood by Sophia Ling {Inklings Book Contest 2022 Finalist}

Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2022 finalist Sophia Ling. Sophia finished 4th grade this past school year and wrote a story called “Little Grumpy Riding Hood.” Sophia describes her story as: “Little Grumpy Riding Hood is a girl with a temperament. She lives by herself and one day…” Enjoy!

LITTLE GRUMPY RIDING HOOD
A Fractured Fairytale
by Sophia Ling

There once was a cottage on the edge of town. The cozy outside did not match the person who lived in it. She always wore a dark cloak that her grandma gave her just before she died. However, nobody knew that it was cursed. Whoever wore it would become grumpy. That’s how Little Grumpy Riding Hood got her name. The townspeople however thought Grumpy Hood was grumpy because she witnessed her grandmother’s tragic death. 

Everyday, Grumpy Hood would look into the mirror with her heavily lidded eyes and think to herself, “That cloak goes so well with everything,” She said,  “except this house.” She would add. But one fateful day she was just tired of the house. “Today I’ll go to the woods to collect some dark wood. And I’ll use it to build my new house!” Thought Grumpy Hood. So Grumpy Hood cursed the sun to go away, and stepped into the deep, dark, mossy, damp, cold woods.

The deeper she went, the more sunlight was blocked out. The further she went into the woods, the closer and closer the trees got. Then she saw it — the perfect color of dark blackish wood. It wasn’t like the wood in her cottage, which was brightly colored. Dark as night, and as a bonus, no type of blossoming flowers grew on the trees. 

Everyday from then on, Grumpy Hood cut down a tree or two. She cut and cut and cut. On the tenth day, Grumpy Hood could not cut anymore. She rested for three days before going back for more. To her big shock, the pile where all her logs had been just three days ago disappeared! Instead, there stood a hut.

Grumpy Hood got mad, and if possible, grumpier. “How dare they, how dare anyone do such a thing?” She said aloud. Kicking open the door, she stormed inside. Three long velvet curtains draped over the holes in the wall that were meant to be windows. “There definitely is no cleaning service in the woods.” she thought to herself. Grumpy Hood could not believe that a newly built hut could get dirty this fast, even compared to her house which was a pigsty!

Crash! Bang! Boom! “Who dares enter the house of the noble Wolf?” A loud voice says suddenly out of nowhere.

“I do?” Chirped up Grumpy Hood almost proudly. And she turned around. In front of her stood the Wolf, looking surprised but recovering almost instantly. 

Grumpy Hood then replied, “Mr. Big Ears, I mean Mr. Golf Brain, I mean—” 

“Enough!” Boomed the Wolf. His tail was upright and his ears were perked, as he got onto his hind legs… ready to pounce. 

It was a split-second decision but during that time Grumpy Hood had concocted a plan, though not a very impressive escape. She simply ran for it. Missing Grumpy Hood’s head by an inch, the Wolf’s jaws squared on the cloak. Two seconds later, the cloak was down the Wolf’s massive throat. With the cursed hood gone, Grumpy Hood suddenly felt different — as if a weight was lifted, she no longer felt grumpy! But now, the Wolf was grumpy. So out the door Grumpy Hood ran. 

When she got home, Grumpy Hood wondered about all the weird stuff she had been doing over the past few years. Little Grumpy Riding Hood wondered why she wanted darker wood instead of the nice bright color her house always was, she wondered why she had never cleaned her house, and she even wondered why she was called Grumpy Hood. 

She decided to have a fresh start in life and began by changing her lifestyle. Grumpy Hood, now known as Clarie, also found new hobbies: sewing and baking. Years later, she had a child! And Clarie named her baby daughter Little Red Riding Hood and gave her a red hood that she had sewn herself. The baby daughter turned out to be a bright child that was brighter than the house! Word has it that she would even become even world famous just a few years later.

Meanwhile, the Wolf still had difficulty digesting the hood. And the Big Bad Grumpy Wolf grew grumpier by the day…