WEBVTT

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So the next section is going
to be one of these little fairy

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tales.

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And I'm going to read it to
you, not only because it's next,

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but to give you a sense of these
little interspersed sections.

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And there are also--

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those were the only sections
that my six-year-old

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was hearing when I Skyped
into Kate's class last year.

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[LAUGHTER]

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And my child would
not leave the room.

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And I was like, well,
there are about seven pages

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that you can read in this book.

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And here they are.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Once upon a time, there was
a sweet, darling, young wolf

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who lived alone in the forest
and loved pretty things.

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Now this wolf was a
strange wolf, quite small,

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maybe part coyote on
his mother's side.

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Or, maybe his father was a fox.

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No one knew.

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The pack had reared
him after his mother

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died as the pack does.

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But he knew they did not mind
his absence, found him easier

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to miss than accommodate.

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Out on his own the young wolf
had been lonely at first,

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but also happy to be in
the center of such beauty.

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The wolf loved
the little violets

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that grew in the grass,
the dappled sunlight

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on the soft pine needles, the
sharp shiny icicles hanging

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from the trees, the little
thatched cottage where

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the old human woman lived--

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maybe even the old
human woman, herself.

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He studied her every day
admiring her soft furless skin

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like fallen leaves.

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Her silver and red hair, so
like his own handsome coat.

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Her raspy bark.

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How she gestured delicately
with those thin little paws.

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He watched her read her
books by the fire soaked

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in her clawfoot tub,
meet occasionally

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with a bad smelling woodsman.

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[LAUGHTER]

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What did she think
about, he wondered.

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Why didn't she do
the things she did?

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The young wolf struck
up a camaraderie

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with an old fox who also
lived near the cottage.

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Sometimes the old fox
and the young wolf

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watched the human woman
together with no discussion.

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Did they love her?

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Want to eat her?

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The wolf didn't know.

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One morning after
having gone out

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of his way to avoid the
bad smelling woodsman,

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the wolf found himself near
the loud, bland human path

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through the undergrowth.

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He snacked on a few
blackberries here and there,

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and made one desultory
pass at a too quick rabbit

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as he wandered pleasurably
through the undergrowth.

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As he neared the path the wolf
smelled something disturbing,

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human adolescent co-mingled
with old milk, dead meat, smoke,

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and yeast.

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He could hear the
blundering human sounds--

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crunching footsteps, a low song.

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He crept closer to look, and a
child, really a maiden, passed.

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It was a younger version of
the old woman, a sort of pup,

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draped in a gorgeous,
expensive-seeming blood

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red cloak.

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The wolf thought he might
like to wear that cloak.

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He felt mysteriously
compelled to reveal himself.

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But he did not know how to
do so without frightening

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the human maiden,
and so stayed hidden.

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He consulted with
his friend, the fox.

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"Ah, yes," said
the old fox, "hmm.

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There's more to you than
meets the eye, isn't there?"

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"I don't know,"
said the wolf sadly.

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"I don't know what I am."

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The old fox smiled a
dangerous, toothy smile.

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"I will try to
teach you," he said.

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"You may learn.

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You may not."

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After many days and
nights the young wolf

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did learn some small measure
of the old fox's teaching.

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When the maiden next
came up the human path,

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the young wolf knew
mostly what to do.

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He revealed himself.

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And when the maiden
went still with fear,

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the young wolf pounced right
into her just like that.

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The young wolf stroked
his furless, soft hands,

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cuddled into the long
floor velvety red cloak,

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and set off weak,
but tall, to meet

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his beloved, old human woman.

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