Cambridge 15 | Test 3 | Passage 3

Why fairy tales are really scary tales

People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story—but which version? In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter hears her cries and comes to her rescue.

dispose of someone/something (phrasal verb)

/dɪˈspoʊz/

to get rid of someone or something or deal with something so that the

e.g., He never uses that bike any more, but he's very reluctant to dispose of it.

swallow up something/someone (phrasal verb)

to take someone or something in so that it is destroyed or no longer independent

e.g., I watched her walk down the road until she was swallowed by the darkness.

get the better of someone (idiom)

to defeat someone

e.g., It would be hard to get the better of someone as experienced as she is.

e.g., She knew she shouldn't open the package, but her curiosity finally got the better of her and she opened it.