Rothkäppchen (1857)

Name: Rothkäppchen (1857)
Availability: InStock
Author: Brothers Grimm

Little Red Cap (1857)

by Brothers Grimm

Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf on her way to Grandmother’s.

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Original language: GermanLevel: Intermediate3,175 characters · ≈ 5 minSource: Wikisource

Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
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Sample: three-line reading

Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.

Eswareinmalonce upon a time there waseinekleinesüßeDirnea little sweet girldiehattejedermannliebwhom everyone loveddersienuransahwhoever just looked at heramallerliebstenmost of allaberihreGroßmutterbut her grandmotherdiewußtegarnichtwho did not know at allwassiealleswhat alldemKindegebensollteshe should give the child

Once there was a small, sweet girl whom everyone loved who only looked at her, but most of all her grandmother, who did not know at all what all she should give the child.

Einmalonceschenktegavesiesheihmto hereinaKäppchenlittle capvonofrothemSammetred velvetundandweilbecauseihmon herdasitsowohlstandsuited so wellundandesshenichtsandersmehrnothing else anymoretragenwearwolltewantedhießwas calledesitnuronlydastheRothkäppchenRed Cap

Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, and because it suited her so well, and she would wear nothing else anymore, it was called only the Red Cap.

EinesTagesone daysprachsaidseineMutterhis motherzuihmto himkommcomeRothkäppchenLittle Red Capdatherehastduyou haveeinStückKuchena piece of cakeundandeineFlascheWeina bottle of winebringbringdasthatderGroßmutterto the grandmotherhinausoutsiesheistiskranksickundandschwachweakundandwirdsichdaranlabenwill enjoy it

One day her mother said to her, "come, Red Cap, there you have a piece of cake and a bottle of wine, bring that to the grandmother out; she is sick and weak and will enjoy it.

Machdichaufset off / get goingbevorbeforeesitheißhotwirdbecomes / getsundandwennwhenduyouhinausoutkommstcomesothengehwalk / gohübschnicelysittsamproperly / well-behavedundandlaufrunnichtnotvomWegfrom the pathaboff (separable prefix of ablaufen)sonstotherwisefällstfallduyouundandzerbrichstbreakdasGlasthe glassundanddieGroßmutterthe grandmotherhathasnichtsnothing

Get going before it gets hot, and when you come out, go nicely and well-behaved and do not run off the way, or you will fall and break the glass and the grandmother will have nothing.

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About the book

This is the opening of the German version of Little Red Riding Hood: the mother asks the girl to bring cake and wine to her sick grandmother and warns her not to leave the path, and she meets the wolf in the woods. The text keeps the old spelling of the Grimms' standard edition, told in a plain, steady voice that feels like a familiar fairy tale.

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

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