he may always be known by his hoarse voice and black paws."

"Dear mother," answered the kids, "you need not be afraid, we will take
good care of ourselves." And the mother bleated good-bye, and went on her
way with an easy mind.

It was not long before some one came knocking at the house-door, and crying
out, "Open the door, my dear children, your mother is come back, and has
brought each of you something."

But the little kids knew it was the wolf by the hoarse voice.

"We will not open the door," cried they; "you are not our mother, she has a
delicate and sweet voice, and your voice is hoarse; you must be the wolf."

Then off went the wolf to a shop and bought a big lump of chalk, and ate it
up to make his voice soft. And then he came back, knocked at the
house-door, and cried, "Open the door, my dear children, your mother is
here, and has brought each of you something."

But the wolf had put up his black paws against the window, and the kids
seeing this, cried out, "We will not open the door; our mother has no black
paws like you; you must be the wolf."

The wolf then ran to a baker.

"Baker," said he, "I am hurt in the foot; pray spread some dough over the
place."

And when the baker had plastered his feet, he ran to the miller.

"Miller," said he, "strew me some white meal over my paws." But the miller
refused, thinking the wolf must be meaning harm to some one.

"If you don't do it," cried the wolf, "I'll eat you up!"

And the miller was afraid and did as he was told. And that just shows what
men are.

And now came the rogue the third time to the door and knocked. "Open,
children!" cried he. "Your dear mother has come home, and brought you each
something from the wood."

"First show us your paws," said the kids, "so that we may know if you are
really our mother or not."

And he put up his paws against the window, and when they saw that they were
white, all seemed right, and they opened the door; and when he was inside
they saw it was the wolf, and they were terrified and tried to hide
themselves. One ran under the table, the second got into the bed, the third
into the oven, the fourth in the kitchen, the fifth in the cupboard, the
sixth under the sink, and the seventh in the clock-case. But the wolf found
them all, and gave them short shrift; one after the other he swallowed
down, all but the youngest, who was hid in the clock-case. And so the wolf,
having got what he wanted, strolled forth into