Little Green Ribbon (A tale of kindness and gratitude)

There was once a little girl called Little Green Ribbon because of the green silk ribbon she always wore in her long, wavy brown hair.

And, one day, her mother sent her to the house of her Aunt Mathilda with a little wicker basket in to which she had put a loaf of bread, a block of cheese and a pot of honey.

“But remember”, her mother told her, gravely, “You must get to the house of your Aunt Mathilda before the sun sets because, when it gets dark, that’s when the evil ogre who lives in the woods comes out of his cave”.

And so agreeing to hurry as fast as she could, Little Green Ribbon, picked up the basket and off she went through the woods to the house of her Aunt Mathilda.

But as Little Green Ribbon was skipping happily through the woods she saw, perched upon the branches of an old tree, a flock of very hungry, very sad little birds and they told her,

“The ogre who lives in the woods hates our happy bird song and so he has put a spell on all the food we birds eat, making it inedible. Please do you have a crumb of bread that you could give to us?”.

Kind Little Green Ribbon smiled and, without even a thought, replied,

“I have more than a crumb of bread, I have a whole loaf of bread and I would rather give it to you poor little birds than see you or your children starve”.

And then she took the loaf of bread that her mother had put into the wicker basket and, breaking it up, she shared it among all the birds.

And, forgetting all about her Mother’s warning that she should get to her Aunt Mathilda’s house before sunset, she waited until all of the birds had gotten a bit of bread.

Then, waving goodbye to all the birds, Little Green Ribbon went on her way, laughing and smiling and skipping through the forest.

But then, up ahead, near the foot of an old oak tree, she saw a family of field mice who looked sad and thin and hungry and then the mother of the mice said to her,

“The ogre who lives in the forest hates mice so much that he has put a curse on all the food we mice eat, making it inedible and, not only that, he puts traps all over the forest so that we poor mice get killed trying to remove cheese from the traps. Please little girl, have you a crumb of cheese that you might spare for a poor starving mouse and her family”.

Kind Little Green Ribbon smiled and, without even a thought, replied,

“I have more than a small crumb of cheese. I have a great big block of cheese and I would gladly give it to you and your children, Mother Mouse, because I would hate to see such nice little creatures starve”.

And then she took the block of yellow cheese that her mother had put into the wicker basket and, breaking it up, she shared it among the Mother Mouse and her nine little baby mice.

And, forgetting all about her Mother’s warning that she should get to her Aunt Mathilda’s house before sunset, she waited until all of the mice had eaten up all of the cheese.

Then, waving goodbye to the little family of mice, Little Green Ribbon went on her way, laughing and smiling and skipping through the forest.

But as, through the forest, she went, she saw a family of very sad looking, thin and hungry bears and the father of the bears told her,

“The ogre who lives in the forest because he hates us bears and makes coats out of our fur, has cast an evil spell on all the trees and rivers that has made the food we normally eat inedible but, not only that, he puts down traps and poor starving bears are killed trying to remove the food from them. Please, little girl, have you any food that you could share with us”.

Kind Little Green Ribbon smiled and, without even a thought, replied,

“I have more than a little food, I have a big jar of honey and I would gladly give it to you and your children, Father Bear because I would hate to see such beautiful creatures starve”.

Then she took the pot of honey that her mother had put into the wicker basket and, opening it, she gave it to the Father Bear and his nine little cubs.

And, forgetting all about her Mother’s warning that she should get to her Aunt Mathilda’s house before sunset, she waited until all of the bears had eaten up all of the honey.

Then, waving goodbye to the bears, Little Green Ribbon went on her way, laughing and smiling and skipping through the forest.

But the sun was beginning to set in the sky and it was starting to get dark and, out of its cave deep in the woods, came the evil old ogre and, sniffing the air with a long droopy nose, he smelled Little Green Ribbon and soon the little girl heard the sound of the Ogre coming out of the forest towards her.

Terrified, Little Green Ribbon climbed inside her empty wicker basket to hide but the Ogre could smell her inside the basket and, picking it up by the handle, he carried the poor little girl off to his cave.

When he got back to his cave, the ogre tied up Little Green Ribbon with an old rope and started preparing a big, black cauldron to cook her in.

But, just as he was stirring the cauldron, he heard a flock of birds outside, tweeting.

They were the flock of birds that Little Green Ribbon had fed with her loaf of bread and they had heard her crying for help.

Because the Ogre hated birdsong so much, he picked up his spiky club and went out to try and shoo the birds away.

But then, crawling into his cave came the little family of field mice that Little Green Ribbon had given cheese.

They too had heard the girl crying for help and now they helped her by gnawing through the ropes with which the ogre had tied her.

Free from the ropes and while the Ogre was being distracted by the birds who were pecking at his pointy ears, Little Green Ribbon slipped out of the cave and started to run through the forest as fast as her little legs could carry her in the direction of her Aunt Mathilda’s house.

But, when the Ogre heard her running, her shoes crackling upon dry branches and fallen leaves, he forgot all about the birds and went chasing after her, getting down on all fours and leaping along through the forest.

And, just as she was inside the fence of her Aunt Mathilda’s little thatched cottage, the evil ogre caught up with her and was just about to pounce on her when, suddenly, the family of bears to whom Little Green Ribbon had given her pot of honey and who had also heard her cries for help,
leapt upon the wicked ogre and tore at him with their sharp claws, growling ferociously until, yelping in terror, the ogre ran away back to his cave.

Then, hearing the commotion, Aunt Mathilda came out of her house to see what was happening and, seeing Little Green Ribbon standing in front of her door, gave her a great big hug.

And when Little Green Ribbon told her Aunt all about her adventures in the forest, her Aunt didn’t mind that she had given away all the food in the basket.

“Just as long as your safe, my dear”, she told her little niece.

Then they invited the birds and the mice and the bears to share in their supper under the bright moon and stars and they all became the best of friends.