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Applaud Sophie from Surrey!

Applaud Sophie from Surrey!

Sophie from Surrey (the one and only Empress Fenella Sherbet) is our fourth winner of the Finish the Story competition!

Sophie wrote Cathy Cassidy’s favourite ending to her story starter Don’t Believe the Fairy Tale. Read Cathy’s story here, and then check out Sophie’s ending below!

Not all wolves are bad….She read again. Whoever could this be from? Skye asked herself. Why was there no name at the bottom? Maybe it has been mis-sent, she reassured herself. She would look at it again tomorrow.

That night Skye couldn’t sleep. Whenever she tried to think about more pleasant things than wolves, the howling started again, forcing her to think about the coat and the letter.

In the morning, Skye took another look at the mysterious note. What did the writer mean by “Don’t believe the fairy tale. The legends are wrong.”? More of a puzzle was the howling. Skye gazed out of the window at the city spread around her. If someone wanted her to wear the coat and prove the legend wrong, where on earth was she supposed to find a wolf? And her grandmother, Scarlett, lived on a river boat, not in a sweet cottage in the woods! She was very wise though; maybe she would have some idea about the strange parcel…

As Skye approached the river Scarlett appeared suddenly from the door of her boat, waving. Skye pulled out the red cloak and Scarlett smiled mysteriously “I have a story to tell you my dear…… When I was younger I had a special red coat, so everyone used to call me Little Red Riding Hood.”

Amazed, Skye said “Wow! You are Little Red Riding Hood?! Why didn’t you ever tell me before?”

“Because I needed to protect my dear, faithful friend, Fang. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is a lie.”

Scarlett paused at the look of confusion on Skye’s face.
“Let me explain……. My Grandmother was a horrible witch and I absolutely hated her. She had forbidden me and your grandfather to marry, or she would put a spell on us. Since childhood I had played in the woods with my tame pet wolf, Fang. Fang was upset that I was so miserable. He decided something needed to be done – he ate old grandma witch!

Of course we covered up for him – the rest of the village thought Grandmother was a sweet old lady and wolves were dangerous! We claimed although Grandmother had died of fright, the wolf was slain, and so the legend of Little Red Riding Hood was born.”

Skye stuttered, “But, why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I need your help,” said Scarlett. “Fang is still alive, hidden in a secret cave on the outskirts of the city. I used to visit him regularly but now I am too old for such a long walk. Fang gets lonely; please will you visit him for me?”

So one chilly autumn night Skye found herself on the city edges, the twinkling lights far behind her. Thank goodness for the warmth of the red cloak! She heard the soft pad of paws and suddenly, silhouetted in the moonlight, a dark shape appeared.

“Hello” she said softly “You must be Fang”.

Not all wolves are bad…


Sophie has won £100 worth of books, and her story will go through to the judging for the overall winner at the end of October.

Cathy thought the story was fantastic! She said: “I loved the way Fenella brought the ‘real’ Red Riding Hood into her story and uncovered the ‘truth’ about the old fairy tale… I thought it was clever, imaginative and inventive. I also loved the way Fenella’s story picked up on the style of my story-starter and used it to create a strong yet subtle ending to the story. Fab!”

What did you think of the story? Tell us in Chat!

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