There once lived a wolf in a forest, deep within a cave atop the hill. In the outstretched forest, he had to himself his only companion, his wife, whom he loved dearly. She would accompany him on hunts, catching the finest prey, from mighty moose and bison to the appetizing hares. She was quick, cunning, and the very best of hunters. The wolf would follow her lead through their hunts and always have great luck. They always slept with full bellies under the moonlight at the day’s end, talking to each other till they fell asleep.

One day the wolf’s wife realizes she carries a new life in her belly, whom she’ll need to care for and feed. Upon hearing this news, the wolf is ecstatic and wants to celebrate the coming of his newborn. With no daylight to lose, he rushes into the forest to catch a mighty elk for his wife. And so he goes off, deep into the woods, to find the best catch.

His wife waits patiently for him under the sunlight out near the cave entrance. Time passes by slowly, but he is late to come back, until  it is almost noon. This has the wife worried, and she decides to look for him. Thoughts are rampant in her head, and she couldn’t help thinking of worst-case scenarios, imagining her husband in harm’s way. But she shakes her thoughts, clears her head and heads off after him.

As she tries searching far and wide on her way through the forest, she comes across a path that leads to a cottage nearby. The cottage belongs to a woodcutter who lives with his mother.

The woodcutter is feared and hated by the animals of the forest. He occasionally hunts, mercilessly hunting animals and birds of all kinds, taking pride in it. And she knows it would do her good to avoid his sight. She is about to leave, but she notices a young girl, fair as the moon, wearing a red dress, with a basket in her hand approaching her. The wolf is ready to take flight, but the red riding hood grabs a piece of red meat from her basket and offers it to her.

The wolf’s wife, famished by now, does not dare to reject her kind offer. Her belly growls, and so does the life within her. She draws closer to the young girl, and as their eyes meet, the little girl whistles and the wolf hears a loud bang, her belly now covered in red.

A red canvas is drawn across her lower belly. She is barely able to move and aches in pain. Her wound is deep and starts bleeding. She makes haste to run away, back to her home, but the woodcutter follows her, shooting at her, frustrated at not being able to kill her in one fell swoop.

She doesn’t look back and runs as fast as she can while whimpering in pain and losing balance intermittently, only to balance herself again. By the time she gets deep into the woods and near her home, the woodcutter has left her tail, and she can no longer hear his screams of agony from losing his prey. She walks slowly towards her home, limping here and there, losing consciousness as she goes. By the time she reaches her cave, she is alerted by a presence, but a familiar scent passes her nose, and she is finally relieved of the danger following her.

The Wolf comes back from his hunt with the mightiest of a catch. He battles an elk for hours without aid, finally bringing it down to its knees. Dusk is now upon him, so he decides to carry the meat from the elk back home. It’s a long and tiring journey back home. But he keeps wondering about the expression of joy on his wife’s face when she sees his mighty catch. When he reaches the cave, he finds no one home and starts to worry sick and howls for her. As he begins to do so, he catches a whiff of her scent and hurries towards it. Relieved to see his wife, he leaps towards her, overjoyed at her return and shuffles around her but then picks up another scent, entirely unwelcome on his lover, and his amber eyes shine ever so brightly.

The wolf notices that his wife is bleeding from under her belly. She is badly injured and in pain. He asks her to lie down, save her energy, and inquires about the cause of her grim fate. She tells him about her encounter with the Little Red Riding Hood and the merciless woodcutter. How she was offered a piece of meat by the little girl, catching her off guard and leading to being shot in the belly.

The wolf looks at her guiltily for leaving her side when she needed him most. But she reassures him that it wasn’t his fault but rather her folly that brought about this state. She is now at death’s door, and she barely has much time left. She feels life fading away in her with every moment passing by. The wolf lies down by her side to give her company as she whimpers, breathing slowly. He kisses her slowly, licking at her wounds, but she gently closes her eyes and finally fades away into eternity. The wolf howls till dawn, with red, amber eyes and his heart aching, but his head, set on taking revenge.

The next day the wolf buries his wife near the cave and is on his way to find the woodcutter’s house. He runs down the hill and tries to track the woodcutter’s scent, but in a forest so deep, he has barely any luck. Deep in the woods, he walks a path and comes across a young girl wearing red, with a basket in her hands. He identifies the young girl as the Red Riding Hood, which her wife described but does not dare to do anything yet to keep her for last.

He approaches her, changing his persona into a nice friendly wolf, and asks her cunningly where she is headed. She hesitates to answer at first but eventually tells him she’s going to her grandmother’s to drop off an apple pie that her mother made.

He asks her if he can race her and see who’s the fastest among them. Red Riding Hood loves challenges and decides to take him on as she points towards the direction of the cottage, which is their destination. The wolf, quick on his feet, sets off and leaves her in his dust, reaching the destination hours ahead.

The wolf finds himself in front of a beautiful cedar cottage near a waterfall, up high in the mountains. He can hear the woodcutter singing from the shed nearby—busy cleaning his gun, readying himself for his next hunt.

The wolf decides to let him be for now and sneaks past him into the grandmother’s house. The grandmother is weak and old, barely able to move. She spends most of her time in bed by the crystal window, where she can look out at the waterfall and down at the beautiful scenery from the hill. The Wolf notices her gazing out, distracted by the birds chirping outside. So he takes this opportunity, sneaks up behind her, and digs his claws into her stomach, and she lets out an agonizing scream before finally making her meet her end. The cry echoes through the forest. The woodcutter rushes inside, brings his gun with him, and hurries through the stairs to his mother’s room.

When the woodcutter reaches his mother’s room, it is far too late, as the floor is painted red with blood. His anger reaches its height, and he screams for her murderer to face him, frantically looking for him in her room. As he walks around the room, he hears a slow growl from her mother’s closet; realizing it might be a wild animal, he approaches it carefully and slowly, opening both the doors, searching for signs of the murderer, but finds nothing. But when he turns around, the wolf springs at him from atop, digs his teeth deep into his throat, bringing him to the ground. He tries to free himself and struggles, but the wolf’s hold is as sure as death and taxes. The woodcutter finally breathes his dying breath and is no more. The wolf howls in joy and eventually finds some peace. But almost, as he is left with one more to kill to bring upon retribution. The wolf drags their bodies, stuffs them into the closet, and he grabs the grandmother’s clothes. He gets into bed in the woodcutter’s room as this one is now painted red. He wears her clothes, her cap, and her slippers and now patiently awaits his final prey.

The Red Riding Hood finally arriving at her grandmother’s house, gasping for breath, knowing she has lost the race against the wolf. She is worried the wolf might have harmed her family, so she shouts out for her grandmother, but she only hears silence at first. Then a voice from upstairs calls to her to join her. She asks the little girl to join her in the woodcutter’s room.

She is confused to find her grandmother, not in her room but her son’s, and inquires about it.

To which the wolf disguised as the grandmother responds, “Your dear uncle has been away on travels for days, so missing him today I decided to sleep in his bed instead to bathe in his scent.”

But oh how the Wolf was lying through his teeth, as he despised his odour so very much. This clears the little girl’s suspicions, and she brings over the basket with the tasty apple pie over to her. At which the grandmother asks her to place it over the window sill and join her in bed. She proceeds to do so and takes off her shoes.

As she is about to get in, she notices the abnormal proportions on her grandma and questions her. “Grandmother! What big ears you have,” she says, as she edges closer to him.

“The better to hear you with,” replies the wolf.

“But Grandmother! What big nose you have,” she says again.

“The better to smell the delicious apple pie with, dear,” he says.

And lastly, she asks, “But grandmother! What mighty sharp teeth you have”.

And this time, the wolf answers frighteningly, “The better to take my revenge with,” and plunges on her. And the Red Riding Hood meets her end.

The wolf howls one last time before he heads back home. He doesn’t make a long, sad, crying sound, but a sound filled with contentment and retribution. He hurries back to his home and finds his wife’s grave. He places his head on her grave, kisses it, and goes into a deep slumber beside her

Ahmed chose to reverse the roles of protagonist and antagonist in this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. He did this to increase the reader’s sympathy for the wolf in this story. By retelling the story in this way, Ahmed said he was able to sympathize with the character of the wolf and he hopes his readers will look at the story through a different lens as well.