There once was a young person named Red Riding Hood who lived with her
mother on the edge of a large wood. One day her mother asked her to
take
a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her grandmother's house --
not because this was women's work, mind you, but because the deed was
generous and helped engender a feeling of community. Furthermore, her
grandmother was not sick, but rather was in full physical and mental
health and was fully capable of taking care of herself as a mature adult
though she was marginally age-impaired.
So Red Riding Hood set off with her basket of food through the woods.
Many people she knew believed that the forest was a foreboding and
dangerous place and never set foot in it. Red Riding Hood, however, was
so confident in her own budding sexuality that such obvious Freudian
imagery did not hinder her, especially inasmuch as the forest was all
natural and contained none of the detritus of a corrupt capitalist
order.
On her way to Grandma's house, Red Riding Hood was accosted by a Wolf,
who asked her what was in her basket. She replied,"Some healthful
snacks
for my grandmother, who is certainly capable of taking care of herself
as
a mature if age-impaired adult."
The Wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to
walk through these woods alone." Red Riding Hood said, "I find your
sexist
remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your
traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has
caused you to develop your own, entirely valid worldview. Now, if
you'll
excuse me, I must be on my way."
Red Riding Hood walked on along the main path. But, because his
status
outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear,
Western-style thought, the Wolf knew of a quicker route to Grandma's
house. He burst into the house and ate Grandma, an entirely legitimate
course of action for a carnivore such as himself. Then, unhampered by
rigid, traditionalist notions of what was masculine or feminine, he
put on
grandma's nightclothes and crawled into bed.
Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said, "Grandma, I have brought
you
some fat-free, sodium-free snacks to salute you in your role of a wise
and
nurturing matriarch." From the bed, the Wolf said softly, "Come closer,
child, so that I might see you."
Red Riding Hood said, "Oh, I forgot you are as optically challenged
as a
bat. Grandma, what big eyes you have!"
"They have seen much, and forgiven much, my dear."
"Grandma, what a big nose you have -- only relatively, of course, and
certainly attractive in its own way."
"It has smelled much, and forgiven much, my dear."
"Grandma, what big teeth you have!"
The Wolf said, "I am happy with who I am and what I am," and leaped
out
of bed. He grabbed Red Riding Hood in his claws, intent on devouring
her.
Red Riding Hood screamed, not out of alarm at the Wolf's apparent
tendency
toward cross-dressing, but because of his willful invasion of her
personal
space.
Her screams were heard by a passing woodchopper-person (or log-fuel
technician, as he preferred to be called). When he burst into the
cottage, he saw the melee and tried to intervene. But as he raised his
ax,
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf both stopped.
"And what do you think you're doing?" asked Red Riding Hood.
The woodchopper-person blinked and tried to answer, but no words
came to
him. "Bursting in here like a Neanderthal, trusting your weapon to do
your
thinking for you!" she said. "Sexist! Speciesist! How dare you assume
that womyn and wolves can't solve their own problems without a man's
help!"
When she heard Red Riding Hood's speech, Grandma jumped out of the
Wolf's mouth, took the woodchopper-person's axe, and cut his head off.
After this ordeal, Red Riding Hood, Grandma, and the Wolf felt a certain
commonality of purpose. They decided to set up an alternative household
based on mutual respect and cooperation, and they lived together in the
woods happily ever after.