Once upon a time there was a wolf named Ralph. He lived on the Arctic tundra in Alaska. One day Ralph was home twiddling his thumbs, and wondering whet he should make for his grandmother who lived on the far side of the tundra from his house. Then he had it. Ralph said he would whip up a bowl of akutaq (Eskimo ice cream) because he just remembered she loved to eat akutaq. While he was

whipping the ingredients, Ralph noticed that he Just needed 4 more cupsof blue berries to finish the recipe. So he decided to run over to his neighbor who was simply a little ole rabbit and not very bright and even a little coo-coo. When Ralph arrived at the rabbit's house he saw that it was made out of Avens and he remembered that he was allergic to them. But he decided to go and ask the rabbit if he could borrow some berries so that he could whip up the bowl of akutaq he was making for his grandmother. Ralph thought he could cover his nose while speaking to the rabbit.

When Ralph went up to the door and knocked, the door fell right to the floor. So he Just peeked in and shouted, "Little rabbit, little rabbit are you in." There was no answer so he shouted once again, "Little rabbit, little rabbit are you in."

Before he was about to speak again he let go of his paw from his nose and smelled the Avens. When he felt a sneeze coming on, he huffed and he puffed and he blew a huge sneeze. The poor rabbit's house fell into thousands of pieces, and right in the middle of the floor there lay the rabbit deader than a smashed thumb tack. Out instead of leaving it there to rot he decided to eat it.

Then he decided to pay a visit to the little rabbit's brother who didn't live very far from the first rabbit's house. Ralph was really hoping he would get the blue berries so he could make the batch of akutaq for his grandmother. He also hoped that the rabbit's house wasn't made of some other flower that he was allergic to. When Ralph got to the little rabbit's house, he saw that it was made of Fireweed which was another flower he was allergic to. But before reaching the house he covered his nose to keep from sneezing. He knocked on the door and the little rabbit said, "Who is it?" Ralph replied, "My name is Ralph and I was wondering if you had some blue berries that I could borrow." When the little rabbit didn't answer him back, Ralph decided to knock once again and said,"Little rabbit, little rabbit let me come in." Finally, after the wolf repeated himself a few times, the little rabbit said, "No, not by the hairs of my little fluffy tail." Then all of a sudden Ralph accidently took his paw off his nose and he felt a sneeze coming on. So he huffed and he puffed and he blew a great big sneeze. At that the little rabbit's house fell into thousands of pieces and the rabbit lay there deader than a smashed thumb tack. But instead of leaving the rabbit there to spoil in the hot summer Arctic sun he decided to eat him for his supper.

So Ralph didn't get to borrow his four cups of berries after all. Instead the county police came and picked him up and brought him to the jail. He was sentenced to life in prison without porole. And that's how the people of Alaska thought of the Big Bad Wolf.

By Natalia Sergie