Chapter 4 Little Red Hood

Only a mild breeze to break the monotony of the sunlit day. These rustled leaves and disturbed the pollen from flowers. It distracted Rose’s attention to a branch temporarily while the children slowly moved into the circle. She watched a fuzzy round caterpillar munching away at one of the plants nearby. It’s beady round eyes intrigued her. Even its body looked like two sets of wiggly eyes. And all it did was munch, munch, munch.

The children linked hands and spun in a circle while singing: “To the edge we dare not go. Beware The Frost, beware the cold. In the darkness he does lie and creeps and stings the brittle air. Those he touches surely die. The ones who see his blue eye fair, Crackle, rustle, Crackle, Crackle, rustle.”

Hilda fell dragging the others along with her. At the end of the line, Rose simply let go and watched them all topple. She sighed with frustration. “Can we at least finish a song?”

Hilda got up like a snorting ram. “We did finish it! And I am tired! Besides, we should not sing about Frost anyway! He is stupid!” The younger children helped each other up and looked around fearfully as if the wicked Frost would come out and snatch them right then. Rose was not afraid.

In all the nine years she had lived she had never seen Frost or even felt a cold chill. She had never heard of hunger or felt its pangs beyond the slight rumblings just before the dinner horn. She lived in a little valley that was the warmest most beautiful place of all the nearby lands. And it was also the most boring.

Most of the children here were much younger than Rose. All the older boys had left in search of fortune or wives. And the two eldest girls in town Hilda and Nina were close to their wedding ceremony in the neighboring yet far off village of Volpi. They were beastly girls and bragging bullies. During the day they herded all of the children around like cattle.

Rose tried to obey them as best she could while her Mother was in the fields and her Grandmother in the garden. They seemed to like tormenting and teasing her. Grandmother said it was because they were jealous. For it was well known that she was growing up as lovely as her mother. Rose considered her age and thought more sensibly that it was because she was the headman’s daughter.

It was her position these two envied as well as the attention she got from all of the villagers. It was not as if Rose wished for the attention. Being the only child of her household was something of a sore subject. It grieved her Mother that her womb failed her. The strong and noble Ivan had no sons to carry on his name.

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To add to this injury the other women of the town continually were bearing children one after the other. And since there was no scarcity of food or good weather families continued to sustain themselves well. They all pitied the circumstances of Ivan and Elena so everyone praised his one and only daughter whenever they could. After all, wasn't it her lucky birth that changed the entire valley into a place of bliss?

Ivan himself did not acknowledge the shame. Yet hardly too did he acknowledge his daughter. It was only his Mother that Ivan seemed eager to please. Of course with his wife he took comfort in her comforts and provided the basic needs. He never struck her and took care of whatever she asked. That alone was proof of his love to Elena. She tended not to want any part of thinking past the simple chores. Even from a young age Rose saw who his true confidant was so she not only respected but revered her Grandmother. All in the hopes that one day she could become half so wise. That was the only reason she behaved long enough to stay in the garden with the others, most days.

Rose sighed because Nina had as usual latched onto her sister’s avarice and was making up the difference of Hilda’s panting with a long winded lecture. She often pointed at the small children for no reason except to see them nod obediently to her. Nina spoke so slowly, repetitively and loud that Rose often had visions of ringing her neck just to get her to spit out whatever point she thought she was making.

“That’s right Rose. Remember, it is very wicked to speak of Frost. It might summon him. Hilda and I remember those terrible winters of long ago where as you do not. Besides we should all save our strength and take a nap. Remember, your Mother said that you could come and learn to cook dinner with us this afternoon. If you don’t get some sleep like the rest of us you tend to get very grumpy remember.”

“What I do remember is that this is the third nap today.” Rose folded her arms and turned around. “It used to be we only took one.”

“Well forgive us headman’s daughter if we have disturbed your plans and disrupted the orders you have given us.” Hilda sat back down with a defiant plop.

“You can stand around all you want and wear yourself out. Our cooking will just turn out better than yours.” Nina added with a very phony yawn for the little children. Looking up at the sky, Rose realized it was not nearly the hottest part of the day. That was when Grandmother usually came out to the garden. It was when the bones in her legs hurt the least. It used to be the only time they took their nap. Rose was beyond well rested and more than agitated. She felt like exploring.

Of course, the girls would not let her wander off on her own. Yet once she was gone they were often too lazy to really look for her. She squatted a bit so that her hooded cloak covered her calves and feet.

“I will sit here and wait for Grandmother to come.” She said stubbornly.

“Yes oh great daughter of the huntsman.” Nina said this time with a real yawn. Before the snoring even started Rose arranged her cloak on the branches before her just so. Unhooking the special silver clasp her Father had made for her she easily slid out and away. She crept around to the big bushes on the other side to see that her cloak continued to hover like a ghost image of her once crouching, pouting self. It tickled her that even the slight breeze helped the branches that held her puppet give the illusion of slight movement.