Little Bad Wolf had imagined the prison before she actually saw it. In her mind it was a horrible place. When she saw it for real it was even more horrible. It was a huge, dark, mean-looking building crowned with barbed wire, and everywhere there seemed to be humans with riffles. Little Bad Wolf looked at for some time. She thought of just running away, but she had come this far and wanted to see her father so much. She walked around the whole of the prison.
She eventually came back to the front gate and walked up slowly towards it. There was a bridge over a large trench and she walked over it. She got to the edge of the bridge and was just before the gate, when suddenly there was a huge noise of an alarm and loud voices shouted at her.
“Halt!” they shouted. “Who goes there?”
“Hey look,” one of the guards shouted at another one. “It’s a wolf!”
His friend started laughing, then started singing “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”. It was not long before he had some of the other guards joining him in this song.
“I bet it’s the rescue party for that Big Bad guy,” said the second guard interrupting the singing. “Pity they couldn’t send someone a bit bigger.”
“Come on,” said another guard. “Let’s give the dogs some fun and set them on this little pup.”
With that, a small gate opened in the fence and six ferocious looking dogs came out barking and leaping and looking like they were very soon going to savage Little Bad Wolf. They ran towards her with a fantastic pace, all the time snarling and barking.
Little Bad Wolf was stunned. She was not sure what she had expected to happen to her, but she did not expect to killed by some ferocious dogs. She knew she must run, she must get out of there, but she couldn’t move.
Then she heard the dog in front shout in canine, “Wolf, you must run! Go run ahead and when we are out of sight we will talk. Turn now and run to your left where the forest is.”
Little Bad Wolf did not have to be told this twice. She turned and she ran for all she was worth. She ran exactly to where the lead dog told her to run and eventually got to the forest. When she was well inside the forest, she heard the lead dog tell her to stop. “It’s OK. They cannot see us here.” He then sent two of the six dogs to the edge of the forest and told them to howl and bark like crazy. Another one of the dogs was told to find old animal skins. They intend using this to give the impression that they had killed the wolf.
“You must be something to Big Bad Wolf,” said the lead dog.
“I’m his daughter,” replied Little Bad Wolf.
“And crazy too,” said another of the dogs. “What were you thinking going to the prison? Humans can be very nasty. They would shoot you just for practice.”
The lead dog calmed everyone down by saying it was only natural she wanted to see her father. He said that the dogs in the prison say that Big Bad Wolf was very sad and very upset. “He spends most of his time just crying about your mother. I heard they will bring him to court tomorrow and will charge him with murder.”
“But they did not die,” said Little Bad Wolf .
“You don’t think they will mind a little thing like that,” said the lead dog. “Look, we have to go back or they will send out the guards to find us. We will get a message to your father that we met you and you are OK. But I don’t think you should come back here. It is not safe for a wolf.”
“You would need to be able to smooth talk them like a human in order to get in there,” said the dog who had previously called Little Bad Wolf crazy.
She said goodbye and left them for her den, knowing that what the dog had said was true. She would have to learn to speak the humans language if she ever wanted to see her father again, let alone get him released.
Chapter 5 The Court
The courtroom had a special cage for Big Bad Wolf. It was a very large cage with thick iron bars. It was meant to make Big Bad Wolf look more dangerous and meaner, but it did not. He was lying there ignoring what was happening, thinking of Madame, looking sad and sometimes crying. None of the wolves had been allowed near the court. Big Bad Wolf had been assigned a lawyer who had just finished his studies, and this was his first case. The lawyer who was prosecuting was one of the most experienced and successful lawyers in the country. Big Bad Wolf was happy with this. He knew that if he was convicted that he would be killed. He thought that this would let him be with Madame again. He was so sad, this was all he wanted.
The buzz of noise stopped when a clerk banged the desk and told the court to rise for the Judge. Everyone stood up and a small pleasant man with curly hair, round glasses and black robes entered the room and sat in a chair at the head of the room.
“This is the case of the state versus Big Bad Wolf, Judge Jones presiding,” said the clerk.
The Judge looked at some papers in front of him for a while, then looked all around the room. He did not stare at Big Bad Wolf for long but the wolf knew that the Judge was looking at him carefully.
“Would the prosecutor please outline the charges,” said the Judge.
“Thank you, Your Honour,” said the prosecutor. “This wolf that we see before us, this Big Bad Wolf, is a dangerous and vicious animal who has killed. Big Bad Wolf is accused of viciously killing the woodcutter, the Granny Hood and Little Red Riding hood in a horrific attack on them and their property.”
“Big Bad Wolf,” began the Judge but he was looking at the defence lawyer and not the wolf. “How do you plead?”
The defence lawyer stood up and looked even more nervous and inexperienced then when he was sitting. “Your Honour,” he began. “My client has instructed me to plead guilty on all counts.”
“Does your client know that conviction of these charges will mean that he will be executed?” asked the Judge.
“My client understands this,” answered the lawyer.
“Let me get this straight”, said the Judge. “This wolf is accused of breaking into the house of Little Red Riding Hood’s granny, and when he was there he killed Little Red Riding Hood, her granny and the woodcutter and did so in a vicious and horrible manner. Is this correct?”
Both the prosecutor and defence lawyers nodded their heads in agreement.
The Judge was then silent for a few minutes. He looked around the room. He seemed to be looking for someone and when he found the person he pointed in their direction.
“Excuse me, but would you please stand up.”
A tall lady in a green dress stood up.
“I am sorry - I meant the girl to your left,” said the Judge.
The lady in the green dress sat down, and a teenage girl with a red cape and a wicker basket stood up.
“Can you please tell the court what your name is,” said the judge.
“I am Little Red Hiding Hood,” said the girl.
There was a gasp in the court and the prosecutor looked down at his shoes.
“Can the two people sitting to your left also stand up and tell the court what their names are,” asked the judge.
An old lady and a bearded man in work clothes stood up.
“I am Little Red Riding Hood’s granny,” said the old lady.
“I am the woodcutter,” said the man.
“I think we may have a problem,” said the Judge. “None of these people look very dead to me, but this wolf has admitted to the charges of killing these people.”
“He certainly did kill me,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
“Excuse me, but are you dead?” asked the Judge.
“No,” answered Little Red Riding Hood.
“Then, how could this wolf have killed you?”
“I can assure you, Mr Judge, this wolf wanted to kill me,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
“So what did the wolf do?”
“Well he was in my Granny Hood’s house with another wolf. They were both huge big dangerous wolves and they were moving about like they were dancing.”
“Dancing?”
“Yes, Mr Judge. T
here was some Elvis Presley song on the radio and they were dancing to it.”
“So how exactly did the wolf threaten you?”
“Well! I wanted to get into the house and the wolves were just looking dangerous.”
“And you, madam?” said the Judge looking at Granny Hood. “May I ask whether the wolf killed you and what exactly he did?”
“Mr Judge,” said Granny Hood. “I am very surprised that you are questioning an old lady in this manner. You are almost saying that I am lying.”
“Did this wolf kill you?” asked the Judge.
“Yes he did!”
“In that case, I am calling you a liar. Now can you please tell me exactly what happened?”
“I was upstairs having a nap and I heard this dangerous noise from downstairs.”
“Dangerous noise?”
“Well it was the radio, playing Elvis Presley and I could hear the sound of two terrifying creatures jumping about as if they were dancing. The next thing I heard the woodcutter and my grandchild. The woodcutter had fired his gun and the wolves ran off. I then went downstairs, and the woodcutter explained to me that unless something serious had happened, the wolves would get away with this. He said that if we phoned up the police and said that the wolves had killed us all, then we would see justice.”
“I don’t understand. You were upstairs sleeping and when you came down the wolves had already gone. So what exactly did you see?”
“Mr Judge, the woodcutter told me everything.”
“Ah!” the Judge said and looked at the woodcutter. “So it is you who can tell me everything.”
“I certainly can,” said the woodcutter smiling at the Judge and then looking all around the courtroom to show he meant business. “There were two of them, Your Honour. Huge, mean, vicious wolves. They had broken into granny’s house and were destroying the place.”
“Excuse me, but I have heard no reports that they damaged anything,” said the Judge. “Can you tell me what they destroyed?”
“I certainly can. They had the radio on full blast and were gyrating and shaking and moving to the music. It was Elvis Presley singing that ‘Hound Dog’ song, and those wolves were even trying to sing along to it in their mean vicious wolf voices.”
The Judge managed not to smile at the image of wolves singing along to the radio, but others in the court did not.
The woodcutter continued, “Those wolves were clearly dangerous. When I got there they were already planning to kill both Little Red Riding Hood and her granny.”
This changed the mood in the courtroom, making the smiles disappear.
“I was going to deal with these wolves,” continued the woodcutter. “I took my shotgun and went inside the house. However, something went wrong. Granny’s house had one of those springs and when I pushed it open and stood in the doorway it came back and hit me. I was totally knocked out and when I woke up they were gone. I knew the only way the police would get these wolves was if they thought they had done something really, really bad. The wolves may not have actually hurt us yet, but they wanted to. That mean, vicious wolf over there was planning to kill Little Red Riding Hood, her granny and me. I knew it. They had to be stopped, but I knew the police would not do anything if they just thought that these wolves were dancing to rock and roll records.”
“Excuse me,” said the Judge. “From what I have heard so far that is exactly what they were doing.”
“Mr Judge,” said the woodcutter. “I am a good citizen and Little Red Riding Hood and Granny Hood are good citizens. We help our fellow citizens. We told the police that we had been killed, and they caught these dangerous animals.”
The Judge looked at him. “You have not been killed, and neither has Little Red Riding Hood or Granny Hood. It appears that the wolves did not break into the house, as the door was open. It also appears that no damage was done unless you damaged the door hitting it with your head. It appears that no crime was committed. This case is dismissed.”
At this point the prosecutor stood up and said, “Excuse me, Your Honour, but you have forgotten that this wolf has also been charged with being an extremely dangerous animal and as such should be dealt with. I submit that his behaviour is dangerous enough for him to be put down.”
The Judge then asked Big Bad Wolf’s lawyer, “How does your client plead to this charge?”
Big Bad Wolf had not been paying much attention to what was happening in the court until the Judge had dismissed the case. He felt very sad. He knew that the aunts would take care of Little Bad Wolf and he wanted with all his heart to be with Madame. The prospect that they might kill him was a very welcome release for Big Bad Wolf. That was why he had pleaded guilty to charges which he knew were false. He now told his lawyer to plead guilty to the new charge. He hoped this would still lead the Judge to sentence him to death.
The Judge frowned after hearing this. “Big Bad Wolf has admitted to being a dangerous animal. I have no choice in finding him guilty of this. I sentence Big Bad Wolf to prison until such a time when a court is convinced he is no longer dangerous.”
He banged his hammer on the table and at the same time the prosecutor was standing up and shouting that the sentence is the death penalty. The Judge ignored him and walked out of the court. That day was the first day of Big Bad Wolf’s life in prison. It was also the day that Little Bad Wolf promised herself that one day she would get her daddy out of prison.
Chapter 6 The Plan
The plan was simple. Little Bad Wolf would learn the language of humans. She would go to school, learn to write as well as speak their language better. When she learnt this she would be able to write to the court and speak to a Judge and get her dad out of prison. In her mind she had this vision that as soon as she could speak to humans in their own language they would understand her father was not dangerous. They would know what the Judge seemed to know - that no crime was actually committed. She would just have to explain and everything would be OK.
She was explaining all this to her corgi friends, ET and Rosie, when a problem was spotted.
“But can you speak the way humans speak?” asked ET.
“I am not sure, I have not tried,” answered Little Bad Wolf.
“I can speak like a human,” said Rosie. “They love it when I do it. Watch!”
Rosie then moved almost like a cat and positioned herself so she could sing to the sky. She howled! “Hoooww looww”.
ET and Little Bad Wolf laughed but this little demonstration also showed how hard it was for a dog or a wolf to speak like a human. When Little Bad Wolf tried she could not even say a word like ‘hello’ in a way a human would understand it.
The plan was simple, but putting it to work would not be. Little Bad Wolf went home to her den feeling very dejected and lonely. She didn’t answer when her aunts asked her what she had been up to. She just rolled up in a ball in her corner of the den and felt helpless.
The next day she decided she would give up. It was just impossible for a wolf to learn to speak, and if she could not do that she could not go to school and be able to learn how to speak to the Judge to get her dad out of prison. She had decided it was just a dream and a wolf could never take on the human and put wrongs right. She wandered towards the town feeling dejected and lost.
Then she heard a song. A woman was snoozing in their garden and she had the radio on loud enough for most human and all wolves within 100 metres to hear it clearly. The voice on the radio said “I am never sure which version I prefer but this is Ryan singing Wonderwall”.
The song started very softly but determined. The first lines made Little Bad Wolf think she would have to fight to get her dad out of prison and get him back home.
The singer sang about knowing what you’ve got to do. Little Bad Wolf thought she did and did not do what it was she had do. She knew what she had to do. She just didn’t know how to do it.
Little Bad Wolf knew that the task ahead of her would not be the easy. The road wo
uld be winding. The song seemed to describe the difficulties which were ahead, the confusion, the difficulty of finding the right path but more than anything the song was saying she had to do this because she loved her dad. She knew as she was listening to this song that she was not going to give up. She was going to learn the language of the people. She was going to get her daddy released. She also had an idea how she was going to do it and who was going to teach her. She knew her idea was completely crazy and most definitely impossible, but she was going to do it and it was going to work. She had decided that she would listen to songs to learn the language of the people. She loved music, and her mum and dad loved music, and it was only right that music could help her get her dad out of prison. She was going to learn how to speak like a person by listening to music.
As soon as Little Bad Wolf was feeling pleased with herself that she had come up with a plan to solve her problem, she realized she had another big problem. She knew in order to be able to get her dad out of prison she would have to be able to read and write as well as speak. Right now she could not say anything the way a human would understand it. The plan was good. She knew it could work. She just did not know how to get past the first step. All morning she went around with a heavy heart. She had decided what to do, but she now realized it would not work.
“You need a radio,” said ET after this horrendous problem was explained to her.
“Yeah, I should just go into a shop and buy one,” replied Little Bad Wolf.
“I’ve not seen you being sarcastic before,” said ET. “You must be really upset with this.”
“I’m sorry, but how am I going to get a radio? You are right. That would be perfect. But I cannot speak so that a person could understand me and I could go into a shop and ask for one. Even if I could do that, I don’t have any money, and even if I could speak and had money, there are very few shops that would be happy to see a wolf stroll in.”
While ET and Little Bad Wolf had been talking, Rosie had gone. Little Bad Wolf and ET were silent because they knew all this was true. There was no way that Little Bad Wolf could buy a radio. Every so often ET would think she should say something to cheer up her friend but she could not think of anything. Not until Rosie came darting out of the house with a very big box-like thing in her mouth.