grandmother, she undressed herself and began to get ready for bed,
when she was very much astonished to find how different the old woman
looked from ordinary.

"Grandmother, what great arms you have!"

"That is to hug you the better, my dear."

"Grandmother, what great ears you have!"

"That is to hear you the better, my dear."

"Grandmother, what great eyes you have!"

"That is to see you the better, my dear."

"Grandmother, what a great mouth you have!"

"That is to eat you up!" cried the wicked wolf; and immediately he
fell upon poor Little Red-Riding-Hood, and ate her up in a moment.

THE UGLY DUCKLING

The country was lovely just then; it was summer! The wheat was golden
and the oats still green; the hay was stacked in the rich, low-lying
meadows, where the stork was marching about on his long red legs,
chattering Egyptian, the language his mother had taught him.

Round about field and meadow lay great woods, in the midst of which
were deep lakes. Yes, the country certainly was delicious. In the
sunniest spot stood an old mansion surrounded by a deep moat, and
great dock leaves grew from the walls of the house right down to the
water's edge, some of them were so tall that a small child could
stand upright under them. In among the leaves it was as secluded as in
the depths of a forest, and there a duck was sitting on her nest. Her
little ducklings were just about to be hatched, but she was nearly
tired of sitting, for it had lasted such a long time. Moreover, she
had very few visitors, as the other ducks liked swimming about in the
moat better than waddling up to sit under the dock leaves and gossip
with her.

At last one egg after another began to crack. "Cheep, cheep!" they
said. All the chicks had come to life, and were poking their heads
out.

"Quack! quack!" said the duck; and then they all quacked their
hardest, and looked about them on all sides among the green leaves;
their mother allowed them to look as much as they liked, for green is
good for the eyes.

"How big the world is to be sure!" said all the young ones; for they
certainly had ever so much more room to move about than when they were
inside the egg-shell.

"Do you imagine this is the whole world?" said the mother. "It
stretches a long way on the other side of the garden, right into the
parson's field; but I have never been as far as that! I suppose you
are all here now?" and she got up. "No! I declare I have not got you