I

AM going to tell you a story about a very wonderful

thing that happened a long, long time ago. The thing is indeed so very wonderful that I dare say some of you will doubt at first if it really happened in just the manner I relate; but of one thing I can assure you-namely, that it is just as true as all other fairy tales, and a great deal more marvellous than many.

But to commence :-Once upon a time there stood a quiet village, but a very pretty village, of neat little cottages, with gardens before them filled with flowers and vegetables, and beautiful corn-fields all round. In this quiet village there lived a good woman, who had a very pretty little daughter. The child had large dark eyes, and long hair falling in chestnut curls all over her neck. Her cheeks were as rosy as two ripe peaches, and her laugh was the merriest you would hear on a summer's day; and what was better than all this, was that this little girl was a kind, good child, with a gentle heart and obliging manners. She would do anything to give pleasure to others. You never heard a cross or an ill-tempered word

from her mouth; and as for teasing or ill-treating a dumb creature, Little Red Riding Hood never thought of such a thing. There, now I have told you her name-Little Red Riding Hood. It slipped out quite unawares; and the next thing I must do is to tell you how she got this name. You must know that every one who knew her liked her-good children are always liked; but those who loved her most was her mother and an old, old lady, her grandmother. Old people are always ready to make pets of their grandchildren, and this little girl's grandmother, to show how much she loved her, gave her a beautiful little cloak of red cloth, with a hood to draw over her head, such as the ladies wore when they rode along the highway in their grand, fine coaches. The little girl looked very nice indeed when she wore this present, and when the neighbours saw her tripping along the village street, looking as bright as the sunshine itself

Like as the damask rose you see,
Or like the blossom on the tree,
Or like the dainty flower in May,

Or like the morning of the day

with the scarlet cloth covering drawn over her pretty little head, they would say, "Here comes Little Red Riding Hood."

But the poor old grandmother fell sick, and could not come out to see them as usual, but had to lie all alone in bed. And let me tell you it is a very dreary thing to be in bed alone and ill. So the mother, who had been making some nice cheesecales, said to Little Red Riding Hood, "I hear your grandmother is ill; so go, my child, and see how she does, and come back and tell me."

And presently her mother continued: "See, I want to send your grandmother a little present, and you shall be the messenger. We will find a basket, and put a clean cloth in it, and when you go to your grandmother to see how she is to-day, for she has been very ill, you shall

carry her some of these cakes and a little pot of butter." This was right and kind; for we should always remember our friends when they are absent, and the more so when they are ill.

Little Red Riding Hood was, as I have said, a good-hearted child: nothing pleased her so well as to make herself useful and to give pleasure to those around her, and that was one reason why she was so well liked. There is no more certain way of gaining esteem and love, than by always trying to be useful; and this is a thing well worth my young friends' while to remember. Thus our little friend was glad, for she loved to carry a present to any friend, and to be useful

to others, and above all to her kind grandmother. So she went at once and brought a little basket for the cakes and

in Red Riding Hood's basket made them look very good indeed; for Little Red Riding Hood had quite a taste for neatness, and she did not fail to make use of it on the present occasion. You may believe me, there is a great deal more in the way in which things are arranged than we are apt to consider. Who would like to eat baked apples out of a fireshovel?

Now, it was not very far from Little Red Riding Hood's home to the village in which her grandmother lived; so her mother, who loved her most dearly, thought she might venture to send the little girl there alone. she told her to be very careful, and not to loiter too long by the way. She also charged her with a great many kind mes

Still, on parting with her,

NOTE. The story of "Little Red Riding Hood," which occurs in the French of Perrault as "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge," and in German as "Rothkäppchen," evidently had its origin in the popular superstition which especially attributed to the wolf the power of assuming for a time the attributes and even the form of a human being; while, in the opposite sense, the wizard and the unfortunate man possessed by satanic influence were supposed to appear for a time as Wehr-wolves.