The two orphans looked inside the hut and saw the witch resting there, her head near the threshold, one foot in one corner, the other foot in another corner, and her knees quite close to the ridge pole.
‘Granny!’ Red Riding Hood cried, ‘What very long arms you have got!’ The Wolf answered, ‘The better to hug you, my child.’
The wolf thought to himself, ‘That tender young thing would be a delicious morsel, and would taste better than the old one.’
The poor child said to the Wolf: ‘I am going to see my grandmother, and carry her a custard and a little pot of butter from my mamma.’
When Ványa saw the smoke rolling out of the vestibule, he ran to the door, made his way through the smoke into the house, and began to waken his grandmother, but she was dazed from her sleep.
So the little girl had to walk with naked feet, which were red and blue with cold. No one had bought anything of her the live-long day; no one had given her a penny.
‘I know what you want,’ said the sea witch. ‘It is stupid of you, for it will get you in trouble, my little princess. You want to get rid of your fishtail.’
The boy, forgetting himself in a moment of alarm, was heard to exclaim: ‘Run, granny, run; run for your life!’