Save me a Story – Granny’s House

This is the continuing story of my adventures in the tale: Save me a Story. If you wish to read the introduction to understand what is happening, click this link: 

https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=3431 

Otherwise, I’ve tried to summarize what happened at the beginning of most of the sections of this story.  

Granny’s House

Having successfully made it to the kingdom of Selat, given the quest to find all the lost stories somewhere in the northern part of Selat, taken by a talking beaver to the house of the three bears, finding only Red Riding Hood’s red cloak and a message that she’d gone to Granny’s house, I was now riding over a river and through the woods to Granny’s house. 

Though I knew the horse I was riding could talk, it didn’t say a word from when we left the bears’ house until we reached Granny’s, no matter how much I tried to engage it in conversation. I guess animals in Selat talk only when they want to. 

The trip was long. Without the horse, who obviously knew the way, I never would have found it. There were so many twists, turns, and forks in the roads that I would have been lost within minutes, even if I had a map or GPS, which I didn’t have. Based on the buildings and roads I have seen so far, I don’t think a GPS would have worked here. Technology was not the mode of operation in Selat; possibly magic was. I was wary throughout this journey and cautiously looked for a wolf, which I expected would show up at any moment. 

Eventually, we came to a single cottage in the woods. I got off the horse and moved towards the front door. On the other hand, the horse turned and returned the way it had come. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would Red be inside? Would Granny be inside? Would a wolf be inside, and if so, in what condition would it be in?

I held the red cloak as I knocked on the door. From inside, I could hear an old quivering woman’s voice call out, “Red, is that you?”

“No,” I replied. “I found Red’s cloak at the Three Bears’ house with a note that said she was coming here and that I would know the way. I guess she was expecting me to come here.”

“That certainly sounds like Red,” answered who I assumed was Granny. “Yes, you can come in. But don’t you be bringing any wolves in with you!” An angry-sounding Granny was obviously getting more confident.

I walked in through the door and did not see what I expected. Standing on her bed with a broomstick raised over her head was Granny. She was dressed in her nightclothes and looked ready to hit whatever came into her house with the broom. On seeing me with Red’s cloak, she slowly put the broom down and got off of the bed. 

“Can I make you a cup of tea?” she asked. 

I did not know how to respond. This transformation from an angry old woman to “Can I make you tea?” was way beyond my experience. 

I stuttered, “Ah…No thanks.”

Granny asked for the cloak and note, and I explained everything that had happened to me since this adventure started. 

“Well,” she said, “That explains a lot. The only way to effectively eliminate all the stories would be to eliminate all the characters in them.”

“But where would they all go?” I asked. Goldilocks and the three bears were gone, and as far as I could tell, so was Red. I continued, “What would convince them to leave? Could the wolf be involved in this plot? And why didn’t they take you? You are clearly an important part of at least one story I know.” 

That was a risky thing to say as I wasn’t sure if the characters in all these stories knew that they were part of the stories.

Granny had some of the same questions. She told me that Red had stopped by and told Granny that there was a meeting Red had to go to. Red left a note behind to pass on to a woodsman. Red had told her that she suspected a wolf might be coming by who might try to trick her and Granny. Red said under no circumstances should Granny let the wolf in. 

Granny ended with, “The wolf never came, and then you showed up.” 

“Can I see the note?”

Granny pulled a piece of paper out from the folds of her nightgown and handed it to me. 

It read:

Dear kind Woodsman,

Please keep an eye on my granny. I fear that there is a plot afoot to do her harm. I have been invited to a meeting in the village to discuss the recent decrease in peoples’ belief in our stories.  All of the characters from Selat have been invited. 

I will return after the meeting to take over for you. I’m hoping it will be a short meeting. 

Yours in story friendship,

L.R.R.H.

“That message was given to me by Red two days ago,” Granny said. 

Granny seemed to know a shortcut through the woods to take us to the village. That being said, Granny and I left a note for Red should she return while we were gone, explaining that we went to the village to see if we could find something out about the disappearing stories. 

Locking the door behind us, Granny led the way to the village. 

Continued in…Hook