As dusk fell on the small wooded village, Little Red, as she was called, gathered her basket and filled it with rolls and salted beef. She was running late, and still had over a half-hour walk to her grandmother's house before she could call it a day.
With her raven, wavy hair and big pouty eyes, Red was quite pretty, in a very natural way. She earned the nickname "Little" because of her petite form, and earned the name "Red" from the bright red hooded cape her grandmother made for her. A hard worker, Red carried no extra weight, but instead hid a very tight and fit body under her often layered set of clothes.
She pondered lighting the candles to pierce the encroaching darkness, but decided to hurriedly pack her basket instead. Just as she finished, and reached for her bright red cape, the Woodsman appeared at her doorstep.
"Wolf's been sighted,' was all he said.
"So what?" she replied. "I have business to do." She started throwing her cape over her shoulder, but the Woodsman stopped her, plucking it deftly from her hands in a split-second.
"Wolf's been sighted," he said again, keeping her cape just out of her reach as she grasped the air for it.
"I don't have time for your games tonight, Woodsman! My Grammy needs me." She noticed that he held his other hand behind him the whole time. Just what was he hiding?
"I won't let you go out tonight," he said, changing his words for the first time. "Wolf's been sighted and the moon is full."
"Okay," she said, "I hear you. It's not safe and you don't want me to get hurt." While she spoke, she tried to see what he was hiding behind his back, but whenever she turned to look, he turned to keep hiding it. "But I'm a grown woman who needs to go and feed her Grammy, so give me my cape and get out of my way!"
"I really can't tonight - It's not safe." When he relaxed his stance for a moment, she reached around behind him, revealing a long coil of rope he was hiding.
"Rope? You brought rope with you? What is that for? Do you fashion to bind me with it to keep me inside?"
The Woodsman nodded his head up and down.
"Well, you better start tying me then, because I'm leaving now!"
As she tried to push past him, her petite frame was no match for his strong arms and the years of work that earned him his equally strong woodsman physique. He grabbed her by the waist and threw her like a small bundle of sticks onto his shoulder. Her fists found no firm strike on his strong back and shoulders as he carried her further into her wooded shack.
He put her down and faced her, making eye contact for just a moment. "Damn," she thought, "he's really trying to protect me." She could see it in his eyes - he meant her no harm.
As quickly as their eyes met, he twirled her around and grabbed her wrists, pinning them together behind her in the small of her back. He lashed her wrists tightly together, much in the same manner he would bind bundles of wood before heading off to market.
In a moment he was done with her wrists. As soon as he let go of them, she struggled to get free. She knew instantly she could not free herself on her own, as the rope held firm against her struggles; the knots too tight and just out of reach. She ran for the door, but he quickly grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back.
Again he said, "It's not safe out there." With that, he tossed her over his shoulder yet again, this time taking her into her own bedroom.
"You will not enter my bedchamber just like that!" she protested, her complaints falling on deaf ears.
"There are rules, you know!" she protested even louder.
He entered anyway and tossed her onto the bed. He pulled out another piece of rope and tightly bound her ankles together, wrapping the rope around and around and finally tying it off tightly with a huge knot.
"Are you quite finished, now?" she asked, half-complaining. Without responding or missing a beat, he grabbed another piece of rope and tied it around her upper body, lashing her arms to her sides and her wrists firmly to the small of her back. Without her cape to cover and protect her, the lashings revealed her very tight form and wonderful breasts through her soft cotton top, as the ropes he lashed around her got tighter and tighter.
"I hope you're having fun," she yelled at him, "Because I've had enough of this." A man of few words, he ignored her completely as he wrapped and lashed the long section of rope around her.
As he finished, she started to scream for help. Her voice was quickly silenced with a rolled-up piece of soft leather, bound tightly between her teeth. As the Woodsman tightened the knot behind her head, as if on cue, a wolf sounded off loudly in the not-so-far-away distance.
"You're safe now," he said to Red, admiring his handiwork. She struggled on the bed in silence, making frustrated "Harumphing" noises the whole time. She kicked at her feet, but her ankles remained tightly tied together. She pulled more at her wrists, but being tightly lashed together, with her arms equally lashed to her upper body, her movement was very limited.
The Woodsman certainly knew just exactly how to bind things, and tonight she would have to stay put as long as he wanted her bound.
Again, the wolf's call sounded off, and she stopped struggling for the moment as the sound pierced the night air.
The Woodsman noticed as she stopped trying to get free and listened to the wolf's howl. "I will never let anything bad happen to you, Red," he whispered in her ear.
"But, my Grammy," she thought, but certainly couldn't voice, all trussed-up like a gaming hen as she was.
At the third call of the wolf, the Woodsman headed for the door, leaving Red hopelessly bound and gagged.
"Murrumpph mm nommph iss" she said, trying to say, "You're not leaving me like this!" She struggled even harder and louder, trying to get his attention. He came back for a moment and watched her almost roll off the bed. Placing his fingers up to his chin, he thought for a moment.
Seconds later, he pulled out yet another section of rope and tied her ankles to the ropes lashing her upper body, arms and wrists together, as if she was some type of hog, trussed up and ready for roasting. His actions now left her even more helplessly bound on her soft bed.
"Must stop the wolf now," he said, as he reached down and softly kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be back."