What does red riding hood look like

Little Red Riding Hood

1. Little Red Riding Hood (Charles Perrault).
2. Little Red Cap (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).
3. Little Red Hood (Germany/Poland).
4. Little Red Hat (Italy/Austria).
5. The Grandmother (France).
6. The True History of Little Golden-Hood (Charles Marelles).
7. Red Ridinghood (Ireland).
8. The Little Girl and Her Grandmother (Ireland).
9. Red Riding Hood (Ireland).
10. The Old Man and the Wolf (Romania).
11. The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (Beatrix Potter).
12. Links to additional texts and related sites.

Charles Perrault

One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter."

Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village.

As she was going through the wood, she met with a wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up, but he dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest. He asked her where she was going. The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf, said to him, "I am going to see my grandmother and carry her a cake and a little pot of butter from my mother."

"Does she live far off?" said the wolf

"Oh I say," answered Little Red Riding Hood; "it is beyond that mill you see there, at the first house in the village. "

"Well," said the wolf, "and I'll go and see her too. I'll go this way and go you that, and we shall see who will be there first."

The wolf ran as fast as he could, taking the shortest path, and the little girl took a roundabout way, entertaining herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers. It was not long before the wolf arrived at the old woman's house. He knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

"Your grandchild, Little Red Riding Hood," replied the wolf, counterfeiting her voice; "who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter sent you by mother."

The good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

The wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened, and then he immediately fell upon the good woman and ate her up in a moment, for it been more than three days since he had eaten. He then shut the door and got into the grandmother's bed, expecting Little Red Riding Hood, who came some time afterwards and knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the big voice of the wolf, was at first afraid; but believing her grandmother had a cold and was hoarse, answered, "It is your grandchild Little Red Riding Hood, who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter mother sends you."

The wolf cried out to her, softening his voice as much as he could, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.

The wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bedclothes, "Put the cake and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come get into bed with me."

Little Red Riding Hood took off her clothes and got into bed. She was greatly amazed to see how her grandmother looked in her nightclothes, and said to her, "Grandmother, what big arms you have!"

"All the better to hug you with, my dear."

"Grandmother, what big legs you have!"

"All the better to run with, my child. "

"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"

"All the better to hear with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"

"All the better to see with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!"

"All the better to eat you up with."

And, saying these words, this wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.

Moral: Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf," but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all.

• Source: Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book, 5th edition (London: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1891), pp. 51-53. Lang's source: Charles Perrault, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités: Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Paris, 1697).
• The French title of this famous tale is "Le Petit Chaperon rouge."
• Link to a French-language text of Le Petit Chaperon rouge.
• Link to D. L. Ashliman's home page for Charles Perrault's Mother Goose Tales.
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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

One day her mother said to her, "Come Little Red Cap. Here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine. Take them to your grandmother. She is sick and weak, and they will do her well. Mind your manners and give her my greetings. Behave yourself on the way, and do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass, and then there will be nothing for your sick grandmother. "

Little Red Cap promised to obey her mother. The grandmother lived out in the woods, a half hour from the village. When Little Red Cap entered the woods a wolf came up to her. She did not know what a wicked animal he was, and was not afraid of him.

"Good day to you, Little Red Cap."

"Thank you, wolf."

"Where are you going so early, Little Red Cap?"

"To grandmother's."

"And what are you carrying under your apron?"

"Grandmother is sick and weak, and I am taking her some cake and wine. We baked yesterday, and they should give her strength."

"Little Red Cap, just where does your grandmother live?"

"Her house is a good quarter hour from here in the woods, under the three large oak trees. There's a hedge of hazel bushes there. You must know the place," said Little Red Cap.

The wolf thought to himself, "Now there is a tasty bite for me. Just how are you going to catch her?" Then he said, "Listen, Little Red Cap, haven't you seen the beautiful flowers that are blossoming in the woods? Why don't you go and take a look? And I don't believe you can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking along as though you were on your way to school in the village. It is very beautiful in the woods."

Little Red Cap opened her eyes and saw the sunlight breaking through the trees and how the ground was covered with beautiful flowers. She thought, "If a take a bouquet to grandmother, she will be very pleased. Anyway, it is still early, and I'll be home on time." And she ran off into the woods looking for flowers. Each time she picked one she thought that she could see an even more beautiful one a little way off, and she ran after it, going further and further into the woods. But the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and knocked on the door.

"Who's there?"

"Little Red Cap. I'm bringing you some cake and wine. Open the door for me."

"Just press the latch," called out the grandmother. "I'm too weak to get up."

The wolf pressed the latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, went straight to the grandmother's bed, and ate her up. Then he took her clothes, put them on, and put her cap on his head. He got into her bed and pulled the curtains shut.

Little Red Cap had run after flowers, and did not continue on her way to grandmother's until she had gathered all that she could carry. When she arrived, she found, to her surprise, that the door was open. She walked into the parlor, and everything looked so strange that she thought, "Oh, my God, why am I so afraid? I usually like it at grandmother's." Then she went to the bed and pulled back the curtains. Grandmother was lying there with her cap pulled down over her face and looking very strange.

"Oh, grandmother, what big ears you have!"

"All the better to hear you with."

"Oh, grandmother, what big eyes you have!"

"All the better to see you with."

"Oh, grandmother, what big hands you have!"

"All the better to grab you with!"

"Oh, grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!"

"All the better to eat you with!" And with that he jumped out of bed, jumped on top of poor Little Red Cap, and ate her up. As soon as the wolf had finished this tasty bite, he climbed back into bed, fell asleep, and began to snore very loudly.

A huntsman was just passing by. He thought it strange that the old woman was snoring so loudly, so he decided to take a look. He stepped inside, and in the bed there lay the wolf that he had been hunting for such a long time. "He has eaten the grandmother, but perhaps she still can be saved. I won't shoot him," thought the huntsman. So he took a pair of scissors and cut open his belly.

He had cut only a few strokes when he saw the red cap shining through. He cut a little more, and the girl jumped out and cried, "Oh, I was so frightened! It was so dark inside the wolf's body!"

And then the grandmother came out alive as well. Then Little Red Cap fetched some large heavy stones. They filled the wolf's body with them, and when he woke up and tried to run away, the stones were so heavy that he fell down dead.

The three of them were happy. The huntsman took the wolf's pelt. The grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine that Little Red Cap had brought. And Little Red Cap thought to herself, "As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the woods by myself if mother tells me not to."

They also tell how Little Red Cap was taking some baked things to her grandmother another time, when another wolf spoke to her and wanted her to leave the path. But Little Red Cap took care and went straight to grandmother's. She told her that she had seen the wolf, and that he had wished her a good day, but had stared at her in a wicked manner. "If we hadn't been on a public road, he would have eaten me up," she said.

"Come," said the grandmother. "Let's lock the door, so he can't get in."

Soon afterward the wolf knocked on the door and called out, "Open up, grandmother. It's Little Red Cap, and I'm bringing you some baked things."

They remained silent, and did not open the door. The wicked one walked around the house several times, and finally jumped onto the roof. He wanted to wait until Little Red Cap went home that evening, then follow her and eat her up in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what he was up to. There was a large stone trough in front of the house.

"Fetch a bucket, Little Red Cap," she said. "Yesterday I cooked some sausage. Carry the water that I boiled them with to the trough." Little Red Cap carried water until the large, large trough was clear full. The smell of sausage arose into the wolf's nose. He sniffed and looked down, stretching his neck so long that he could no longer hold himself, and he began to slide. He slid off the roof, fell into the trough, and drowned. And Little Red Cap returned home happily and safely.

• Source: "Rothkäppchen," Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 1st ed. (Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1812), v. 1, no. 26, pp. 113-18. Translated by D. L. Ashliman.
• The Grimms' source for the first variant (the main story) was Jeanette Hassenpflug (1791-1860). Marie Hassenpflug (1788-1856) provided them with the second variant (the concluding episode, introduced with the sentence "They also tell how Little Red Cap was taking some baked things to her grandmother another time. ..."
• The German title of this tale is Rotkäppchen (Rothkäppchen in the nineteenth-century spelling of the Grimm brothers).
• Link to an English translation of the Grimms' final version (edition of 1857) of Little Red Cap.
• Link to the German text of the Grimms' final version: "Rothkäppchen," Kinder- und Hausmärchen, gesammelt durch die Brüder Grimm, 7th edition, vol. 1 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 26, pp. 140-44.
• Link to the Grimm Brothers Home Page.
• Return to the table of contents.

Lower Lusatia

Once her mother said to Red Hood, "Go; here is a slice of cake and a bottle of wine; carry them to old granny. She is ill and weak, and they will refresh her. But be pretty behaved, and don't peep about in all corners when you come into her room, and don't forget to say 'Good-day.' Walk, too, prettily, and don't go out of the road, otherwise you will fall and break the bottle, and then poor granny will have nothing."

Red Hood said, "I will observe everything well that you have told me," and gave her mother her hand upon it.

But granny lived out in a forest, half an hour's walk from the village. When Red Hood went into the forest, she met a wolf. But she did not know what a wicked beast he was, and was not afraid of him.

"God help you, Red Hood!" said he.

"God bless you, wolf!" replied she.

"Whither so early, Red Hood?"

"To granny."

"What have you there under your mantle?"

"Cake and wine. We baked yesterday; old granny must have a good meal for once, and strengthen herself therewith."

"Where does your granny live, Red Hood?"

"A good quarter of an hour's walk further in the forest, under yon three large oaks. There stands her house; further beneath are the nut trees, which you will see there," said Red Hood.

The wolf thought within himself, "This nice young damsel is a rich morsel. She will taste better than the old woman; but you must trick her cleverly, that you may catch both."

For a time he went by Red Hood's side Then said he, "Red Hood! Just look! There are such pretty flowers here! Why don't you look round at them all? Methinks you don't even hear how delightfully the birds are singing! You are as dull as if you were going to school, and yet it is so cheerful in the forest!"

Little Red Hood lifted up her eyes, and when she saw how the sun's rays glistened through the tops of the trees, and every place was full of flowers, she bethought herself, "If I bring with me a sweet smelling nosegay to granny, it will cheer her. It is still so early, that I shall come to her in plenty of time," and therewith she skipped into the forest and looked for flowers. And when she had plucked one, she fancied that another further off was nicer, and ran there, and went always deeper and deeper into the forest.

But the wolf went by the straight road to old granny's, and knocked at the door.

"Who's there?"

"Little Red Hood, who has brought cake and wine. Open!"

"Only press the latch," cried granny. "I am so weak that I cannot stand."

The wolf pressed the latch, walked in, and went without saying a word straight to granny's bed and ate her up. Then he took her clothes, dressed himself in them, put her cap on his head, lay down in her bed and drew the curtains.

Meanwhile little Red Hood was running after flowers, and when she had so many that she could not carry any more, she bethought her of her granny, and started on the way to her. It seemed strange to her that the door was wide open, and when she entered the room everything seemed to her so peculiar, that she thought, "Ah! My God! How strange I feel today, and yet at other times I am so glad to be with granny!"

She said, "Good-day!" but received no answer.

Thereupon she went to the bed and undrew the curtains. There lay granny, with her cap drawn down to her eyes, and looking so queer!

"Ah, granny! Why have you such long ears?"

"The better to hear you."

"Ah, granny! Why have you such large eyes?"

"The better to see you."

"Ah, granny! Why have you such large hands?"

"The better to take hold of you."

"But, granny! Why have you such a terribly large mouth?"

"The better to eat you up!"

And therewith the wolf sprang out of bed at once on poor little Red Hood, and ate her up. When the wolf had satisfied his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, and began to snore tremendously.

A huntsman came past, and bethought himself, "How can an old woman snore like that? I'll just have a look to see what it is."

He went into the room, and looked into the bed; there lay the wolf. "Have I found you now, old rascal?" said he. "I've long been looking for you. "

He was just going to take aim with his gun, when he bethought himself, "Perhaps the wolf has only swallowed granny, and she may yet be released."

Therefore he did not shoot, but took a knife and began to cut open the sleeping wolf's maw. When he had made several cuts, he saw a red hood gleam, and after one or two more cuts out skipped Red Hood, and cried, "Oh, how frightened I have been; it was so dark in the wolf's maw!"

Afterwards out came old granny, still alive, but scarcely able to breathe. But Red Hood made haste and fetched large stones, with which they filled the wolf's maw, and when he woke he wanted to jump up and run away, but the stones were so heavy that he fell on the ground and beat himself to death.

Now, they were all three merry. The huntsman took off the wolf's skin; granny ate the cake and drank the wine which little Red Hood had brought, and became strong and well again; and little Red Hood thought to herself, "As long as I live, I won't go out of the road into the forest, when mother has forbidden me. "

• Source: A. H. Wratislaw, Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources (London: Elliot Stock, 1889), no. 15, pp. 97-100.
• Lower Lusatia (German Niederlausitz, Polish Dolne Łużyce) is a mixed German and Slavic historical and cultural region in today's eastern German and western Poland.
• Note by Wratslaw:

  "Little Red Hood," like many folklore tales, is a singular mixture of myth and morality. In Cox's Comparative Mythology, vol. ii., p. 831, note, Little Redcap, or Little Red Riding Hood, is interpreted as "the evening with her scarlet robe of twilight," who is swallowed up by the wolf of darkness, the Fenris of the Edda. It appears to me that this explanation may suit the color of her cap or hood, but is at variance with the other incidents of the story. I am inclined to look upon the tale as a lunar legend, although the moon is only actually red during one portion of the year, at the harvest moon in the autumn. Red Hood is represented as wandering, like Io, who is undoubtedly the moon, through trees, the clouds, and flowers, the stars, before she reaches the place where she is intercepted by the wolf. An eclipse to untutored minds would naturally suggest the notion that some evil beast was endeavoring to devour the moon, who is afterwards rescued by the sun, the archer of the heavens, whose bow and arrow are by a common anachronism represented in the story by a gun. Though the moon is masculine in Slavonic, as in German, yet she is a lady, "my lady Luna," in the Croatian legend no. 53, below ["The Daughter of the King of the Vilas"]. In the Norse mythology, when Loki is let loose at the end of the world, he is to "hurry in the form of a wolf to swallow the moon " (Cox ii., p. 200). The present masculine Slavonic word for moon, which is also that for month, mesic, or mesec, is a secondary formation, the original word having perished. In Greek and Latin the moon is always feminine.

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Italy/Austria

After a while Little Red Hat set out for her grandmother's house, and she met an ogre, who said, "Hello, my dear Little Red Hat. Where are you going?"

"I am going to my grandmother's to take her some soup."

"Good," he replied, "I'll come along too. Are you going across the stones or the thorns?"

"I'm going across the stones," said the girl.

"Then I'll go across the thorns," replied the ogre.

They left. But on the way Little Red Hat came to a meadow where beautiful flowers of all colors were in bloom, and the girl picked as many as her heart desired. Meanwhile the ogre hurried on his way, and although he had to cross the thorns, he arrived at the house before Little Red Hat. He went inside, killed the grandmother, ate her up, and climbed into her bed. He also tied her intestine onto the door in place of the latch string and placed her blood, teeth, and jaws in the kitchen cupboard.

He had barely climbed into bed when Little Red Hat arrived and knocked at the door.

"Come in" called the ogre with a dampened voice.

Little Red Hat tried to open the door, but when she noticed that she was pulling on something soft, she called out, "Grandmother, this thing is so soft!"

"Just pull and keep quiet. It is your grandmother's intestine!"

"What did you say?"

"Just pull and keep quiet!"

Little Red Hat opened the door, went inside, and said, "Grandmother, I am hungry."

The ogre replied, "Go to the kitchen cupboard. There is still a little rice there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took the teeth out. "Grandmother, these things are very hard!"

"Eat and keep quiet. They are your grandmother's teeth!"

"What did you say?"

"Eat and keep quiet!"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm still hungry. "

"Go back to the cupboard," said the ogre. "You will find two pieces of chopped meat there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took out the jaws. "Grandmother, this is very red!"

"Eat and keep quiet. They are your grandmother's jaws!"

"What did you say?"

"Eat and keep quiet!"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm thirsty."

"Just look in the cupboard," said the ogre. "There must be a little wine there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took out the blood. "Grandmother, this wine is very red!"

"Drink and keep quiet. It is your grandmother's blood!

"What did you say?"

"Just drink and keep quiet!"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm sleepy."

"Take off your clothes and get into bed with me!" replied the ogre.

Little Red Hat got into bed and noticed something hairy. "Grandmother, you are so hairy!"

"That comes with age," said the ogre.

"Grandmother, you have such long legs!"

"That comes from walking."

"Grandmother, you have such long hands!"

"That comes from working."

"Grandmother, you have such long ears!"

"That comes from listening."

"Grandmother, you have such a big mouth!"

"That comes from eating children!" said the ogre, and bam, he swallowed Little Red Hat with one gulp.

• Source: Christian Schneller, "Das Rothhütchen," Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Sagenkunde (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1867), no. 6, pp. 9-10. Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 2007.
• The Italian title of this story is "El cappelin rosso."
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France

So the little girl set forth. Where two paths crossed she met the bzou [werewolf], who said to her, "Where are you going?"

"I am carrying a hot loaf and a bottle of milk to my grandmother. "

"Which path are you taking? said the bzou. "The one of needles or the one of pins?"

"The one of needles," said the little girl.

"Good! I am taking the one of pins."

The little girl entertained herself by gathering needles.

The bzou arrived at the grandmother's house and killed her. He put some of her flesh in the pantry and a bottle of her blood on the shelf.

The little girl arrived and knocked at the door. "Push on the door," said the bzou. "It is blocked with a pail of water."

"Good day, grandmother. I have brought you a hot loaf and a bottle of milk."

"Put it in the pantry, my child. Take some of the meat that is there, and the bottle of wine that is on the shelf."

While she was eating, a little cat that was there said, "For shame! The slut is eating her grandmother's flesh and drinking her grandmother's blood."

"Get undressed, my child," said the bzou, and come to bed with me."

"Where should I put my apron?"

"Throw it into the fire. You won't need it anymore."

And for all her clothes -- her bodice, her dress, her petticoat, and her shoes and stockings -- she asked where she should put them, and the wolf replied, "Throw them into the fire, my child. You won't need them anymore."

When she had gone to bed the little girl said, "Oh, grandmother, how hairy you are!"

"The better to keep myself warm, my child."

"Oh, grandmother, what long nails you have!"

"The better to scratch myself with, my child!"

"Oh, grandmother, what big shoulders you have!"

"The better to carry firewood with, my child!"

"Oh, grandmother, what big ears you have!"

"The better to hear with, my child!"

"Oh, grandmother, what a big nose you have!"

"To better take my tobacco with, my child!"

"Oh, grandmother, what a big mouth you have!"

"The better to eat you with, my child!"

"Oh, grandmother, I have to do it outside!"

"Do it in the bed, my child!"

"Oh no, grandmother, I really have to do it outside. "

"All right, but don't take too long."

The bzou tied a woolen thread to her foot and let her go. As soon as the little girl was outside she tied the end of the thread to a plum tree in the yard.

The bzou grew impatient and said, "Are you doing a load? Are you doing a load?"

Not hearing anyone reply, he jumped out of bed and hurried after the little girl, who had escaped. He followed her, but he arrived at her home just as she went inside.

• Source: Conte de la mère-grand, from a website sponsored by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 2007.
• Collected by folklorist Achille Millien (1838-1927) in the French province of Nivernais, about 1870.
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Charles Marelles

Only listen. The story begins something like the tale.

There was once a little peasant girl, pretty and nice as a star in its season. Her real name was Blanchette, but she was more often called Little Golden-Hood, on account of a wonderful little cloak with a hood, gold- and fire-colored, which she always had on. This little hood was given her by her grandmother, who was so old that she did not know her age; it ought to bring her good luck, for it was made of a ray of sunshine, she said. And as the good old woman was considered something of a witch, everyone thought the little hood rather bewitched too.

And so it was, as you will see.

One day the mother said to the child, "Let us see, my Little Golden-Hood, if you know now how to find your way by yourself. You shall take this good piece of cake to your grandmother for a Sunday treat tomorrow. You will ask her how she is, and come back at once, without stopping to chatter on the way with people you don't know. Do you quite understand?"

"I quite understand," replied Blanchette gaily. And off she went with the cake, quite proud of her errand.

But the grandmother lived in another village, and there was a big wood to cross before getting there. At a turn of the road under the trees, suddenly, "Who goes there?"

"Friend wolf."

He had seen the child start alone, and the villain was waiting to devour her; when at the same moment he perceived some woodcutters who might observe him, and he changed his mind. Instead of falling upon Blanchette he came frisking up to her like a good dog.

"'Tis you! my nice Little Golden-Hood," said he.

So the little girl stops to talk with the wolf, who, for all that, she did not know in the least.

"You know me, then!" said she. "What is your name?"

"My name is friend wolf. And where are you going thus, my pretty one, with your little basket on your arm?"

"I am going to my grandmother, to take her a good piece of cake for her Sunday treat tomorrow."

"And where does she live, your grandmother?"

"She lives at the other side of the wood, in the first house in the village, near the windmill, you know."

"Ah! yes! I know now," said the wolf. "Well, that's just where I'm going; I shall get there before you, no doubt, with your little bits of legs, and I'll tell her you're coming to see her; then she'll wait for you."

Thereupon the wolf cuts across the wood, and in five minutes arrives at the grandmother's house. He knocks at the door: toc, toc.

No answer.

He knocks louder.

Nobody.

Then he stands up on end, puts his two forepaws on the latch and the door opens. Not a soul in the house. The old woman had risen early to sell herbs in the town, and she had gone off in such haste that she had left her bed unmade, with her great nightcap on the pillow.

"Good!" said the wolf to himself, "I know what I'll do."

He shuts the door, pulls on the grandmother's nightcap down to his eyes, then he lies down all his length in the bed and draws the curtains.

In the meantime the good Blanchette went quietly on her way, as little girls do, amusing herself here and there by picking Easter daisies, watching the little birds making their nests, and running after the butterflies which fluttered in the sunshine.

At last she arrives at the door.

Knock, knock.

"Who is there?" says the wolf, softening his rough voice as best he can.

"It's me, Granny, your Little Golden-Hood. I'm bringing you a big piece of cake for your Sunday treat tomorrow."

"Press your finger on the latch, then push and the door opens."

"Why, you've got a cold, Granny," said she, coming in.

"Ahem! a little, a little . . ." replies the wolf, pretending to cough. "Shut the door well, my little lamb. Put your basket on the table, and then take off your frock and come and lie down by me. You shall rest a little."

The good child undresses, but observe this! She kept her little hood upon her head. When she saw what a figure her Granny cut in bed, the poor little thing was much surprised.

"Oh!" cries she, "how like you are to friend wolf, Grandmother!"

"That's on account of my nightcap, child," replies the wolf.

"Oh! what hairy arms you've got, Grandmother!"

"All the better to hug you, my child."

"Oh! what a big tongue you've got, Grandmother!"

"All the better for answering, child."

"Oh ! what a mouthful of great white teeth you have, Grandmother!"

"That's for crunching little children with!"

And the wolf opened his jaws wide to swallow Blanchette.

But she put down her head crying, "Mamma! Mamma!" and the wolf only caught her little hood.

Thereupon, oh dear! oh dear! he draws back, crying and shaking his jaw as if he had swallowed red-hot coals. It was the little fire-colored hood that had burnt his tongue right down his throat.

The little hood, you see, was one of those magic caps that they used to have in former times, in the stories, for making oneself invisible or invulnerable. So there was the wolf with his throat burnt, jumping off the bed and trying to find the door, howling and howling as if all the dogs in the country were at his heels.

Just at this moment the grandmother arrives, returning from the town with her long sack empty on her shoulder.

"Ah, brigand!" she cries, "wait a bit!" Quickly she opens her sack wide across the door, and the maddened wolf springs in head downwards.

It is he now that is caught, swallowed like a letter in the post. For the brave old dame shuts her sack, so; and she runs and empties it in the well, where the vagabond, still howling, tumbles in and is drowned.

"Ah, scoundrel! you thought you would crunch my little grandchild! Well, tomorrow we will make her a muff of your skin, and you yourself shall be crunched, for we will give your carcass to the dogs. "

Thereupon the grandmother hastened to dress poor Blanchette, who was still trembling with fear in the bed.

"Well," she said to her, "without my little hood where would you be now, darling?" And, to restore heart and legs to the child, she made her eat a good piece of her cake, and drink a good draught of wine, after which she took her by the hand and led her back to the house.

And then, who was it who scolded her when she knew all that had happened? It was the mother.

But Blanchette promised over and over again that she would never more stop to listen to a wolf, so that at last the mother forgave her. And Blanchette, the Little Golden-Hood, kept her word. And in fine weather she may still be seen in the fields with her pretty little hood, the color of the sun. But to see her you must rise early.

• Source: Andrew Lang, The Red Fairy Book, 5th edition (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1895), pp. 215-19.
• Lang's source: Charles Marelles.
• Return to the table of contents.

Ireland

The wolf said, "All right" and went away. He ran as quickly as he could, and he reached the house before her, and he went into the room and ate the grandmother. He then put on her hat and coat and went into the bed.

When Red Ridinghood arrived she knocked at the door, and the wolf said, "Lift the catch and walk in."

She did so and went into the room. When she saw the wolf inside she thought it was her grandmother, but she thought she had very big eyes and mouth.

"Grandma what great big eyes you have," she said.

"Just for to see you, my dear," said the wolf.

"Grandma, what great ears you have."

"Just for to hear my dear."

"Grandma what great big mouth you have."

"Just for to eat you my dear," and he jumped out of the bed and ate her.

I got this story from
Thomas Burke,
Cluide,
Corrandulla,
Co. Galway.
Aged 43 years.

Annie O'Dowde
Cluide,
Corrandulla,
Co. Galway.

• Source: dúchas.ie >> The Schools' Collection >> Co. Galway >> Caisleán hAicéid, pp. 129-30.
• The material on this site is made available under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
• The Schools' Collection is a manuscript collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s.
• Return to the table of contents.

Ireland

When the little girl came to her grandmother's house she went into the kitchen. There was nobody there before her. Then she went into the room, and the wolf was inside in bed before her.

She thought it was her grandmother, and she began talking to the wolf and she said to the wolf, "Isn't it great big ears you've got," and after a awhile she spoke again. She said, "Isn't it great big hands you've got." And then she said to the wolf again, "Isn't it a great big mouth you'e got," and then the wolf sprang, and he was going to eat the little girl, and the little girl began roaring, and there were men cutting wood in the wood, and they heard the roaring, and one of them ran to the house and cut off the wolf's head.

The little girl escaped.

• Source: dúchas.ie >> The Schools' Collection >> Co. Clare >> Effernan, Cill an Dísirt, pp. 171-72.
• The material on this site is made available under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
• The Schools' Collection is a manuscript collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s.
• Return to the table of contents.

Ireland

When she was going through the wood she met a wolf. The wolf asked her where she was going. She told him she was going to her granny who was ll. When the wolf heard the news he ran on before her and got into her granny's cottage and killed her. Then he got into the bed and put the granny's glasses on his eyes. Then he got her nightgown and put it on. Next he got her night cap and put it on his head. Then he got into the bed and covered himself up.

After a while he heard a knock at the door. The wolf told the little girl to come in. When the little girl came in she wondered how strange looking her granny was. Before she had said the words the wolf leaped out of the bed. Then the little girl began to scream. Her father was cutting timber in the wood. When he heard the noise he ran in and killed the wolf.

When he had the wolf killed the little girl's granny jumped out of the wolf's stomach again.

Michaél O Loinseach, Crannagh, Co. Laois.

• Source: dúchas.ie >> The Schools' Collection >> Co. Laois >> Ballyadams, pp. 141-42 .
• The material on this site is made available under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
• The Schools' Collection is a manuscript collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s.
• Return to the table of contents.

Romania

Whenever he went into the village to buy food he would say to his grandchildren, "Dear little children! If anyone comes to the door do not let them inside. Some day the wolf might come by, and he would eat you up!"

Once he went into the village, and the wolf did come to the door and called out, "Dear children, open the door for me!"

The children thought about their grandfather's warning not to open the door, and they said nothing.

Then the wolf said, "Open up! Your grandfather sent me!"

Then the oldest child said, "Why did grandfather send you?"

The wolf answered, "He sent a sweet cake for you!"

The children could no longer resist. They opened the door. The wolf sprang inside and ate up all four of the children. He looked around in the room to see if he might find something else to eat. He found a large bottle filled with brandy. He put the bottle to his mouth and drank it empty. He became so drunk that he could not move from the spot and had to lie down in the hut.

Toward evening the grandfather returned home and saw the snoring wolf lying on the floor in the middle of the room. At once he knew what had happened to his grandchildren. He took a sharp knife and slit open the wolf's belly. The children jumped out, and the grandfather hid them.

Then the grandfather took some dry lime, filled the wolf's belly with it, and then sewed the opening shut. When the wolf woke up he was thirsty and ran to the brook, where he drank a lot of water. The lime in his belly began to boil and to burn. The wolf burst apart and died a miserable death.

• Source (books.google.com): Heinrich von Wlislocki, "Der alte Mann und der Wolf," Märchen und Sagen der transsilvanischen Zigeuner (Berlin: Nicolaische Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1886), no. 58, pp. 130-31.
• Source (Internet Archive): Heinrich von Wlislocki, "Der alte Mann und der Wolf," Märchen und Sagen der transsilvanischen Zigeuner (Berlin: Nicolaische Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1886), no. 58, pp. 130-31.
• Return to the table of contents.

Beatrix Potter

-- Listen to the story of Jemima Puddle-duck, who was annoyed because the farmer's wife would not let her hatch her own eggs.

Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Rebeccah Puddle-duck, was perfectly willing to leave the hatching to some one else -- "I have not the patience to sit on a nest for twenty-eight days; and no more have you, Jemima. You would let them go cold; you know you would!"

"I wish to hatch my own eggs; I will hatch them all by myself," quacked Jemima Puddle-duck.

She tried to hide her eggs; but they were always found and carried off.

Jemima Puddle-duck became quite desperate. She determined to make a nest right away from the farm.

She set off on a fine spring afternoon along the cart-road that leads over the hill.

She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet.

When she reached the top of the hill, she saw a wood in the distance.

She thought that it looked a safe quiet spot.

Jemima Puddle-duck was not much in the habit of flying. She ran downhill a few yards flapping her shawl, and then she jumped off into the air.

She flew beautifully when she had got a good start.

She skimmed along over the tree-tops until she saw an open place in the middle of the wood, where the trees and brushwood had been cleared.

Jemima alighted rather heavily, and began to waddle about in search of a convenient dry nesting-place. She rather fancied a tree-stump amongst some tall fox-gloves.

But -- seated upon the stump, she was startled to find an elegantly dressed gentleman reading a newspaper.

He had black prick ears and sandy coloured whiskers.

"Quack?" said Jemima Puddle-duck, with her head and her bonnet on one side -- "Quack?"

The gentleman raised his eyes above his newspaper and looked curiously at Jemima --

"Madam, have you lost your way?" said he. He had a long bushy tail which he was sitting upon, as the stump was somewhat damp.

Jemima thought him mighty civil and handsome. She explained that she had not lost her way, but that she was trying to find a convenient dry nesting-place.

"Ah! is that so? indeed!" said the gentleman with sandy whiskers, looking curiously at Jemima. He folded up the newspaper, and put it in his coat-tail pocket.

Jemima complained of the superfluous hen.

"Indeed! how interesting! I wish I could meet with that fowl. I would teach it to mind its own business!"

"But as to a nest -- there is no difficulty: I have a sackful of feathers in my wood-shed. No, my dear madam, you will be in nobody's way. You may sit there as long as you like," said the bushy long-tailed gentleman.

He led the way to a very retired, dismal-looking house amongst the fox-gloves.

It was built of faggots and turf, and there were two broken pails, one on top of another, by way of a chimney.

"This is my summer residence; you would not find my earth -- my winter house -- so convenient," said the hospitable gentleman.

There was a tumble-down shed at the back of the house, made of old soap-boxes. The gentleman opened the door, and showed Jemima in.

The shed was almost quite full of feathers -- it was almost suffocating; but it was comfortable and very soft.

Jemima Puddle-duck was rather surprised to find such a vast quantity of feathers. But it was very comfortable; and she made a nest without any trouble at all.

When she came out, the sandy whiskered gentleman was sitting on a log reading the newspaper -- at least he had it spread out, but he was looking over the top of it.

He was so polite, that he seemed almost sorry to let Jemima go home for the night. He promised to take great care of her nest until she came back again next day.

He said he loved eggs and ducklings; he should be proud to see a fine nestful in his wood-shed.

Jemima Puddle-duck came every afternoon; she laid nine eggs in the nest. They were greeny white and very large. The foxy gentleman admired them immensely. He used to turn them over and count them when Jemima was not there.

At last Jemima told him that she intended to begin to sit next day -- "and I will bring a bag of corn with me, so that I need never leave my nest until the eggs are hatched. They might catch cold," said the conscientious Jemima.

"Madam, I beg you not to trouble yourself with a bag; I will provide oats. But before you commence your tedious sitting, I intend to give you a treat. Let us have a dinner-party all to ourselves!

"May I ask you to bring up some herbs from the farm-garden to make a savoury omelette? Sage and thyme, and mint and two onions, and some parsley. I will provide lard for the stuff-lard for the omelette," said the hospitable gentleman with sandy whiskers.

Jemima Puddle-duck was a simpleton: not even the mention of sage and onions made her suspicious.

She went round the farm-garden, nibbling off snippets of all the different sorts of herbs that are used for stuffing roast duck.

And she waddled into the kitchen, and got two onions out of a basket.

The collie-dog Kep met her coming out, "What are you doing with those onions? Where do you go every afternoon by yourself, Jemima Puddle-duck?"

Jemima was rather in awe of the collie; she told him the whole story.

The collie listened, with his wise head on one side; he grinned when she described the polite gentleman with sandy whiskers.

He asked several questions about the wood, and about the exact position of the house and shed.

Then he went out, and trotted down the village. He went to look for two fox-hound puppies who were out at walk with the butcher.

Jemima Puddle-duck went up the cart-road for the last time, on a sunny afternoon. She was rather burdened with bunches of herbs and two onions in a bag.

She flew over the wood, and alighted opposite the house of the bushy long-tailed gentleman.

He was sitting on a log; he sniffed the air, and kept glancing uneasily round the wood. When Jemima alighted he quite jumped.

"Come into the house as soon as you have looked at your eggs. Give me the herbs for the omelette. Be sharp!"

He was rather abrupt. Jemima Puddle-duck had never heard him speak like that.

She felt surprised, and uncomfortable.

While she was inside she heard pattering feet round the back of the shed. Some one with a black nose sniffed at the bottom of the door, and then locked it.

Jemima became much alarmed.

A moment afterwards there were most awful noises -- barking, baying, growls and howls, squealing and groans.

And nothing more was ever seen of that foxy-whiskered gentleman.

Presently Kep opened the door of the shed, and let out Jemima Puddle-duck.

Unfortunately the puppies rushed in and gobbled up all the eggs before he could stop them.

He had a bite on his ear and both the puppies were limping.

Jemima Puddle-duck was escorted home in tears on account of those eggs.

She laid some more in June, and she was permitted to keep them herself: but only four of them hatched.

Jemima Puddle-duck said that it was because of her nerves; but she had always been a bad sitter.

• Source: Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (New York: Frederick Warne and Company, 1908).
• Return to the table of contents.

Additional texts

• Bates, Clara Doty. Little Red Riding-Hood. Versified by Mrs. Clara Doty Bates, illustrated by Mrs. C. D. Finley (Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, 1883).
• Barker, James N. "Little Red Riding Hood," Specimens of American Poetry with Critical and Biographical Notices, edited by Samuel Kettell, vol. 2 (Boston: S. G. Goodrich and Company, 1829), pp. 338-41.
• Calvino, Italo. "The Wolf and the Three Girls," Italian Folktales (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1992), no. 26, pp. 75-76.
• Carryl, Guy Wetmore. "The New Red Riding Hood," Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press throughout the World on All Important Current Topics, vol. 30 (January - June 1901), pp. 542-44. First published in the Saturday Evening Post.
• Carryl, Guy Wetmore. "How Little Red Riding Hood Came to Be Eaten," Grimm Tales Made Gay (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1902), pp. 21-28.
• Cattarinetta, a folktale from Italy of type 333A about a careless girl who is eaten up by a witch.
• Croser, Nigel. Little Red Riding Hood. Words by Nigel Croser, illustrated by Leanne Argent (Flinders Park, SA, Australia: Era Publications, 2003).
• Dahl, Roald, "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf," Fiction and Poetry Texts, year 5, edited by Julie Orrell and Eileen Jones (Cheltenham, U.K.: Nelson Thomes, 2004), p. 23.
• Dundes, Alan, ed. Little Red Riding Hood: A Casebook, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989).
• Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Grimm Brothers' Little Red Cap, version of 1857. This version is only slightly different from the version of 1812, translated above.
• Mieder, Wolfgang, "Little Red Riding Hood," Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry (Hanover [New Hampshire] and London: University Press of New England, 1985), ch. 7, pp. 95-114.
• The Rescue of Little Red Riding Hood: A Juvenile Operetta in Five Acts (Nashville: C. R. and H. H. Hatch, 1883).
• Riley, James Whitcomb. "Maymie's Story of Red Riding-Hood," The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley, collected and edited by Edmund Henry Eitel, vol. 4 (© 1913), pp. 412-18.
• Ritz, Hans, Die Geschichte vom Rotkäppchen: Ursprünge, Analysen, Parodien eines Märchens (Emstal: Muriverlag, 1981),
• Thackeray, Miss [Anne Thackeray Ritchie]. Little Red Riding Hood (Boston: Loring, 1867).
• Thurber, James. "The Little Girl and the Wolf," Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (New York: Harper Collins, 1983), p. 3.
• Tieck, Ludwig. Leben und Tod des kleinen Rothkäppchens (1800). This is a large pdf file (8.54 megabytes) containing facsimiles of three dramas from Ludwig Tieck's Schriften, vol. 2 (Berlin: G. Reimer, 1828). His version of "Little Red Riding Hood" is found on pages 327-62.
• "The Wolf-King; or, Little Red-Riding-Hood: An Old Woman's Tale," Tales of Terror, 2nd edition (London, 1808), no. 4, pp. 22-28.
• Zipes, Jack. The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood: Versions of the Tale in Sociocultural Context, (South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, 1983).

Essays and Internet sites

• The Annotated Little Red Riding Hood from the SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages by Heidi Anne Heiner.
• Little Red Riding Hood from Wikipedia.
• Le Petit Chaperon rouge, an article from the French-language Wikipedia.
• Rotkäppchen, an article from the German-language Wikipedia.
• Charles Perrault's Mother Goose Tales.
• Grimm Brothers' Home Page.

Return to

• The table of contents.
• D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.

Revised April 25, 2021.

“Little Red Riding Hood” — A Tale of 18th Century Fashion? — Ahlstrom Appraisals LLC

June 11, 2018Courtney Ahlstrom Christy

Once upon a time, there was a story about a girl in a red cape. Little Red Riding Hood has endured throughout the centuries, and her encounter with the big, bad Wolf of the nearby forest continues to be told to subsequent generations. Since Charles Perrault’s first publication of the narrative in 1697, “Little Red Riding Hood” has become a classic of children’s literature. Despite the various interpretations, one characteristic remains relatively intact with each version: the importance of clothing. 

From the heroine’s namesake to the Wolf’s disguise, clothing is especially evident in the illustrations. The portrayed costumes remain antiquated despite the progression of time. In particular, there is a trend among illustrators to depict the characters in eighteenth-century dress. A comparison can be especially made between the portrayal of “Little Red Riding Hood” and surviving examples of eighteenth-century clothing from various museums. An interesting question arises: has the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” become a vehicle for transmitting eighteenth-century fashion?

Like most fairytales, the writing of “Little Red Riding Hood” derives from peasant folklore. Originally part of an oral tradition, there were many versions of the story throughout Europe including the Italian tale of the “False Grandmother” and the French yarn known as “The Grandmother. ”[i] Some folklore scholars even argue that the plot - a girl’s interaction with a wolf and its dire consequences for her grandmother - is medieval in origins.[ii]

Despite many variations of the oral tale, its written form has one definitive written origin. In 1697, the Frenchman Charles Perrault published a collection of tales titled, Histoires ou Contes du temps passé, avec es moralités (Stories or Tales of Past Times, with morals). Included among the story collection was the first publication of  “Le Petite Chaperon Rouge.” Although later versions have relied on Perrault’s narrative, the tale’s seventeenth-century roots did not become a model for later illustrators. Instead, the nineteenth-century French artist Gustave Doré created a series of illustrations for “Little Red Riding Hood” that had a profound influence on later illustrators.[iii] In particular, Doré chose to represent his characters in eighteenth-century costume, or rather, in what he thought was a previous century’s style of dressing. Thus, the heritage of “Little Red Riding Hood” in literary form is a hybrid of a seventeenth-century text and nineteenth-century imagery.

The Fairy Book, 1913

Dinah Maria Craik

Macmillan & Co., London

Red Wool Hooded Cape

Wool broadcloth

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Of all the articles of clothing mentioned and illustrated in “Little Red Riding Hood,” the red cape is the most memorable as well as the most faithfully maintained aspect of the story. After all, what would our heroine[iv] be called without her red cape? Yet, early tellings do not describe her hood as being red. It is likely that Perrault started the tradition of the iconic red cape.[v] In one version of the story written in the nineteenth century, the narrative beings with an explanation of how the little girl came to be named after her hood:

“This good woman had a little red riding hood made for her - the kind ladies wear to go riding - and it made her look so very pretty that everybody called her Little Red Riding-Hood. ”[vi]

It is interesting that the term “riding hood” references equestrian wear for women, a fashion category that was greatly influenced by male tailoring. Perhaps the common red color of these cape garments derives from men’s military uniform. There are several surviving examples of red capes from the eighteenth century including the Red Wool Hooded Cape at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This cape or cardinal is made out of English wool broadcloth. Broadcloth was a popular textile for capes because of its felt-like texture, making it an ideal material for staying warm and dry. Another reason capes made out of broadcloth became a common garment for women was due to the boom in the wool trade.[vii] In The Fairy Book of 1913, the protagonist wears a red cape quite similar to the example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the hood attached to the cape.

Other garments worn by Little Red Riding Hood in fairytale illustrations are inspired by everyday dress from the eighteenth century such as the shift, the petticoat, and the apron. Early texts of the tale describe Little Red Riding undressing before getting into bed with the Wolf in disguise as her grandmother. For example, an 1885 text in French describes the scene:

“And each time she asked where she should put all her clothes; the bodice, the dress, the petticoat, the long stockings, the wolf responded: “Throw them into the fire, my child, you won’t be needing them any more.”[viii]

While there’s the mention of underpinnings fir Little Red Riding Hood’s outfit, illustrators often choose not to depict the moment possibly because it was not considered appropriate for a children’s book. Instead, artists more frequently represent the moment with the girl already in bed with the Wolf. One the most well-known images is by Doré, who depicts the heroine in what is most likely a linen shift. Several items from Colonial Williamsburg including their examples of a linen shift, corset and wool petticoat have textile parallels to this scene.

Le Petite Chaperon Rouge, 1867

Gustave Doré

J. Hetzel, Paris

Woman’s Shift, Corset, Petticoat, c.1750

linen, cotton, wool (crewel work)

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

In Walter Crane’s 1875 series of illustrations for Red Riding Hood, there is an image illustrated in the beginning of the story when Little Red Riding Hood’s mother tells her to bring a basket of food to her grandmother. The young girl is shown wearing a white apron along with her signature red cape. And while aprons are apart of eighteenth-century attire for women and girls, they were not for everyday wear.[ix] For example, the English Embroidered Apron from Colonial Williamsburg, with its thin muslin material and ornately embroidered Dresden work, demonstrate how aprons were for intended for formal occasions and not a jaunt through the forest.

Despite this common misconception about aprons when depicting Little Red Riding Hood’s outfit, it nevertheless provides the opportunity to discuss the function of such an accessory in eighteenth-century fashion. Another point would be the similarity between the clothing of children and adults during the eighteenth century. Although the character of Little Red Riding Hood is a child, her clothing would be identical to that of an adult woman.[x] Consequently, both the description and representations of “Little Red Riding Hood” in children’s fairytale literature provide an opportunity to discuss aspects of dress during the eighteenth century ranging from the simple linen shift to the richly colored red cape.

Little Red Riding has also been shown in a dress reminiscent of a polonaise gown with the gathering of fabric in the back. This specific draping is made more obvious when looking at the Polonaise Striped Dress from the Kyoto Costume Institute. Yet like the apron, a Polonaise styled dress was an unlikely part of a woman’s everyday attire. Walter Crane’s and other illustrators’ interpretation of eighteenth-century clothing was more likely informed by what was worn by middle-class women during the nineteenth century, which included the changed function of the apron and the draping of fabric for a woman’s dress.

Little Red Riding Hood, early 20th century

Source Unknown

Polonaise Striped Dress, c. 1780

Striped silk, fly fringe

Kyoto Costume Institute, Japan

Little Red Riding Hood is not the only character to be antiquated costume. The attire of the Wolf gradually evolves to clothing that is also evocative of the eighteenth-century. Not only is there the difficulty of depicting a animal wolf in human clothing, but portraying his attire with an eighteenth-century flare adds to the challenge. In an early twentieth-century illustration, the Wolf is depicted wearing a coat, breeches, and a tricorner hat. This outfit is suggestive of a country gentleman’s suit, which can also seen in the painting Monsieur Seriziat by Jacques-Louis David. Although both the Wolf and Monsieur Seriziat wear a white ruffle and top boots, the fullness of the Wolf’s coat refers to a cut earlier than the late-eighteenth century coat as that worn by Monsieur Seriziat.

Monsieur Seriziat, 1795

Jacques-Louis David

oil on canvas

Musée du Louvre, Paris

Linen Shift, late 18th century

Linen

Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Illustrators rarely depicted the Wolf accurately when disguised as the grandmother. However, part of this inaccuracy is due to the lack of knowledge of what was actually worn for sleep during the eighteenth-century. It was possible that the linen shift, like the one from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, functioned as a form of nightgown. For the book Household Stories from the Collection of Brothers Grimm in 1875, the Wolf is shown in guise of the Grandmother likely wearing a linen shift.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, fairytales for children’s literature fell out of favor and were criticized for their lack of moral pedagogy. Yet during the nineteenth century, these tales experienced a revival of popularity partly due to the Grimm Brothers.[xi] In 1812, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published traditional German folklore and fairytales in the book Kinder und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales) which included a retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

In contrast to Perrault, the Grimm’s take on “Little Red Riding Hood” has the addition of the Hunter as the heroic character who saves Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother.[xii] It makes sense that when the Hunter is depicted, he is often shown not in eighteenth-century garb, but clothing that is more reminiscent of the nineteenth century. Like the Wolf, the character of the Hunter does not always remain faithful to social norms. That being said, Walter Crane also did an illustration of the Hunter is a hybrid of late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century styles of clothing for a fashionable Englishman. In particular, the cut of the coat and the style of hat worn by the Hunter are evocative of an Englishman’s ensemble from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Little Red Riding Hood, 1875

Walter Crane

George Routedlge & Sons, London

Englishman’s Coat and Waistcoat, c. 1795

Silk, applied ribbon work; poplin lined with cotton, steel buttons

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Through these musings of the similarities between eighteenth-century clothing and the illustrations of costume in “Little Red Riding Hood,” it is clear that the imaginary landscape found in the world of children’s literature contains traces of past centuries. Although illustrators have not always been historically faithful in their portrayal of eighteenth-century attire, these images nevertheless indicate a continuing fascination with clothing from the past as character signifiers. While “Little Red Riding Hood” is a tale about a girl named after her red cape, it is also a story where text, image, and fashion intersect to celebrate fashion history.

Household Stories from the Collection of Brothers Grimm, 1875

Walter Crane

Macmillan & Sons, London

© Courtney Ahlstrom Christy

Ahlstrom Appraisals | Personal Property Appraisals and Art Consultations | Serving Atlanta & Southeast

Fine Art, Antiques & Historic Materials  

[i] Italo Calvino, Italian Folktales (Boston: Mariner Books, 1992), 412.

[ii] Jan Ziolkowski, “A Fairy Tale from before Fairy Tales: Egbert of Liege’s ‘De puella a lupellis seruata; and the Medieval Background of Little Red Riding Hood,” Speculum 67 (1992): 556.

[iii] Sandra Beckett, Sandra. “Recycling Red Riding Hood in the Americas” in Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature: Interdisciplinary and Cross Cultural In North America. (New York: Peter Lang, 2005), 10.

[iv] Different versions of the tale call the heroine by several names all of which reference a red colored garment for outerwear (e. g. Red Cape, Red Cap, Little Red Riding Hood).

[v] Mary Douglas, “Red Riding Hood: An Interpretation from Anthology,” Folklore 106 (1995): 4.

[vi] The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, (London: The Folio Society, 1998), 27.

[vii] Elizabeth Ewing, Everyday Dress: 1650-1900 (New York: Chelsea House Publications, 1984), 35.

[viii] Jones, Steven Swann. “On Analyzing Fairy Tales: “Little Red Riding Hood” Revisited,” Western Folklore 46 (1987): 104.

[ix] Class notes.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Ségolène Le Men, “Mother Goose Illustrated: From Perrault to Doré,” Poetics Today 13 (1992): 23.

[xii] In the Perrault version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” it is the heroine’s own cunning that saves her from the Wolf. See Jones, Steven Swann. “On Analyzing Fairy Tales: “Little Red Riding Hood” Revisited,” Western Folklore 46 (1987). 

In 19th Century, 20th Century, Fashion, Prints/Illustrations, 18th Century Tags Fairy Tale

Little Red Riding Hood (character) - pictures, quotes, fairy tale, image, description

Character history

Little Red Riding Hood is a character in a popular children's fairy tale. The story of a little girl who met a gray wolf in the forest goes back to the Middle Ages. It was then that the first folk versions of the fairy tale narration appeared. Later, Western and Russian writers were engaged in the literary processing of the plot.

The story of the creation of the character

The tale of the adventures of a girl who met a wolf has existed for a very long time. Such a story was passed from mouth to mouth by the inhabitants of medieval Italy and France. In Central Europe, this story has been spread since the XIV century and enjoyed unprecedented popularity. Moreover, in different countries, the contents of the basket of a little girl varied. So, in northern Italy, a girl went to her grandmother with fresh fish, in Swiss legends - with young cheese, in France in her granddaughter's basket - pies and butter.

The plot was as follows: a mother asks her little daughter to visit her grandmother, who lives on the other side of the forest. The girl should take a treat for a relative. In the forest, the heroine encounters a gray wolf (in some versions of the tale, a werewolf or an ogre). Trusting, the granddaughter tells the stranger where she is going. Then a plan ripens in the head of the wolf - the character hurries to the grandmother's house.

The gray villain kills the unfortunate woman and cooks dinner out of her, and the old woman's blood serves as the basis for the drink. In the meantime, the wolf dresses up in the costume of the deceased, lies down on the bed and waits for the unsuspecting granddaughter. When the girl enters the house, the wolf kindly invites her to taste a fragrant dinner. The cat, who saw what was happening earlier with his own eyes, tries to warn the main character, but the antagonist throws wooden shoes at the animal and kills it.

Next, the wolf offers the naive girl to undress and go to bed with him. The granddaughter grants this request by throwing her clothes into the fireplace. This is followed by the questions of the little girl why "grandmother" looks so strange. The wolf pounces on the child and eats his prey alive. In some (rare) cases, the girl manages to escape.

In the 17th century the French writer Charles Perrault decided to rework this folk tale. Since the storyteller focused on a children's audience, he excluded cannibalism from the original narrative, and also removed the storyline associated with the murder of a cat. The author dressed the nameless girl in a scarlet companion cap and named her Little Red Riding Hood. Such a cap had already gone out of fashion in the cities at the time of writing the work, but was still popular among village women.

Charles Perrault created his version of the tale in a poetic style, and also provided the text with a moral that expresses the main idea of ​​the plot and the essence of the tale - a little girl who violates the rules of behavior bitterly pays for her frivolity. For the first time, the work of the French classic was published in 1697 - Perrault included this manuscript in the collection Tales of Mother Goose.

At the beginning of the 19th century, German storytellers, the brothers Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, offered the children's audience a new literary arrangement of the plot. The storytellers removed the motives about the relationship of the sexes, which reflected the fairy tale of Charles Perrault, and endowed the story with a happy ending: the woodcutters who were passing by heard a noise, burst into the house and cut the wolf's stomach with scissors, freeing both the grandmother and the granddaughter.

Literary critics note that such a line could be borrowed from another children's book called The Wolf and the Seven Kids, as well as from the play by the German romantic Ludwig Tieck, The Life and Death of Little Red Riding Hood, created in 1800. In the new interpretation of the Brothers Grimm, the heroine violates not decency, but the order of her mother, who warned her daughter not to communicate with strangers and turn off the straight road.

In Russia, literary critic Pyotr Polevoy was involved in the translation of the story, who tried to preserve the original meaning created by the Brothers Grimm. The literary treatment of the plot, made by the Russian classic Ivan Turgenev, gained particular popularity. There are also translations by other authors. At different times, the pictures for the fairy tale were made by famous artists.

Biography and image of Little Red Riding Hood

In the editions of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, a detailed description of the appearance is not given, the age and characteristics of the heroine are not indicated. According to the text, she is a little girl who lives in a village on the edge of the forest. Traditionally, artists depict the child as fair-haired, with cute features. The heroine is dressed either in a red cloak with a hood, or in a red head cap. The image of the girl is simple-hearted and naive, which is typical for her young age.

The action of the tale begins with the fact that the mother asks her little daughter to take gifts to her grandmother, who lives on the other side of the forest. The woman warns the girl not to stop and talk to strangers along the way. The little heroine leaves the house and soon meets a gray wolf on a forest path. He asks where Little Red Riding Hood is going. The girl does not hide that she is going to visit her grandmother.

The wolf says goodbye to the girl and quickly heads towards the old woman's house. There he eats his grandmother, puts on her clothes and cap, glasses, and goes to bed, waiting for the arrival of the little heroine. Arriving at a relative, Little Red Riding Hood does not immediately notice the unusual appearance of the "grandmother". But after seeing the "old woman" closer, the girl asks why she looks so unusual. The wolf, taking this opportunity, pounces on the heroine, eats and falls asleep.

Soon lumberjacks (lumberjacks) pass by my grandmother's house. They hear loud snoring as the door remains open. Seeing a wolf with a swollen belly, the lumberjacks rip open the wolf's belly, and Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma emerge unharmed. There are options for saving female characters by hunters (or a hunter). The story remains popular today. The phrases of the heroes have become famous quotes.

Little Red Riding Hood in films

In 1977, the Soviet musical film “About Little Red Riding Hood. Continuation of the old fairy tale. The role of the main character was played by 10-year-old actress Yana Poplavskaya. The plot of the picture differed from the classical version - two wolves hunted the girl at once, but it turned out that in fact people are more dangerous and angrier than these predators. And Little Red Riding Hood herself has to protect the wolves from the attacks of the locals. The film includes vocal compositions, among which the song of the main character (the composition was performed by 8-year-old Olga Rozhdestvenskaya) gained particular popularity.

In subsequent years, various director's versions of the European fairy tale come out. Basically, the action is presented in the genre of horror or thriller. The plot of Little Red Riding Hood often appeared in Soviet animation - the first cartoon based on the fairy tale was released in 1937. An amusing rethinking of the fairy tale narrative is introduced in the 1958 animated feature Petya and Little Red Riding Hood, where the heroine is rescued by a Soviet pioneer. In 2012, the comedy Russian musical Little Red Riding Hood was released.

Interesting facts

• According to research, there was also a second wolf in the folk story, but this unfortunate predator, drowned by the heroine in boiling tar, was forgotten.
• A monument to Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf was erected in the town of Schwalm. In this German town, there is a tradition: on holidays, girls wear scarlet capes, and guys wear wolf masks.
• Sculptures dedicated to the heroine are also in Munich, Yalta, Berlin and other cities.

Bibliography

• 1697 - “Red hat”
• 1800 - “Life and death of red cap”
• 1810 - “Red hat”

Filmography

• 1937 - “Red cap” (USSR)
• 1958 - “Petya Petya and Little Red Riding Hood” (USSR)
• 1977 — “About Little Red Riding Hood. Continuation of the old fairy tale (USSR)
• 2011 — Little Red Riding Hood (USA)
• 2012 — Little Red Riding Hood (musical) (Russia)

Little Red Riding Hood or Malvina? How did the lives of those who broke the hearts of Soviet boys

Photo: Still from Leonid Nechaev's film "About Little Red Riding Hood" by Belarusfilm studio

For viewers, Soviet musical fairy tales remain relevant as a reminder of a happy childhood. Looking at Little Red Riding Hood, Malvina and Alisa Selezneva, the schoolchildren were overwhelmed with emotions: the girls envied and dreamed of being just as beautiful and popular, and the boys unrequitedly fell in love with the characters on the other side of the screen.

For some actresses, the role in the children's film was the only one, others continued to play in the movies. The girls who received all-Union fame have long grown up, but even now they fondly remember the time when they were called by the names of characters.

On June 28, Yana Poplavskaya, who played Little Red Riding Hood, turns 52 years old. She is still grateful to fate for turning into the idol of millions of schoolchildren at the age of 11, who now show the fairy tale to their own children. On the birthday of the actress, we will tell you how her life turned out after the famous role, and what happened to her colleagues, who turned the heads of all Soviet boys.

YANA POPLAVSKAYA

The future artist was born in the family of a journalist and an actress. The girl grew up in a creative environment: artists were frequent guests in the house. When the child was four years old, the parents divorced. Yana Poplavskaya's mother soon found a new man. Yana called her stepfather "Uncle Volodya", but treated him like her own dad.

Poplavskaya started filming at the age of four, and at six her name could already be found in the Mosfilm card index. But the title of "the most beautiful girl in the Soviet Union" did not come to the artist immediately. At first, classmates called her ugly, and Yana could hear unpleasant comments about her own appearance even at home.

“Even my mother told me: “You are so ugly, you will have to give a big dowry for you to get married,” the actress shared on the air of the program “The Fate of a Man”.

Photo: Legion-Media

Yana Poplavskaya was 11 when the turning point in her life took place. The young artist had already been approved for work in the film "Sea Pup", and the girl was preparing to leave for America, where the shooting took place. But then another interesting proposal came in - the main role in a musical fairy tale. “Volodya, let’s give her to Little Red Riding Hood, what if this is her fate?” Poplavskaya's mother decided after consulting with her husband.

The parent hit the mark - after the release of the film, the girl was recognized by passers-by, and the directors often invited them to the cinema. Yana received letters in bags from schoolchildren in love. Classmates continued to tease the actress, but the boys in the messages strewed her with compliments.

The artist continued to act. At 14, she played a sick abandoned girl in the film Vassa, and in 1981 she played a role in the film Transitional Age, being on the same platform with her mother. However, the parent was dissatisfied with the work of her daughter. “They never gave me a descent, my mother was my main critic, she could easily say that I was playing ugly,” admitted Yana.

Photo: Legion-Media

The parent also influenced the personal life of the heiress by introducing her to Sergei Ginzburg. Yana and Sergey got married, their son Klim was born. From the outside, the union of two creative people seemed happy, but no one knew what was going on behind the facade of the idyll. The actress worked for two, trying to feed her family, and her husband began to cheat on her. Soon, the artist experienced a tragedy: the onset of pregnancy turned out to be difficult, and Yana lost her child.

The birth of the second son Nikita did not improve the relationship of the spouses. Being pregnant, the actress recovered due to the use of hormonal drugs. Sergei reproached his wife, saying that she looked bad, although Yana tried by all means to save the baby. Poplavskaya's patience ran out, and the marriage finally collapsed when she again fell in love with radio host Yevgeny Yakovlev. With him, the star found happiness, once again feeling needed and desired.

NATALYA GUSEVA

Photo: A frame from Pavel Arsenov's painting "Guest from the Future" by the Gorky Film Studio

From childhood, the girl loved to observe the life of insects and cherished the dream of becoming an entomologist. Not a single school Olympiad in chemistry and biology was complete without the participation of Natalia Guseva. Her goal was to enter Moscow State University, and the child did not even think about the career of an actress: because of her natural modesty, Natalya was embarrassed to even ask a passerby what time it was.

But everything changed when a director from the Gorky film studio came to the class of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in search of an actress for the short film Dangerous Trifles. The children were asked to read poetry, and then the teacher recommended Natasha to the director, who approved her for the role. On the set, Pavel Arsenov drew attention to the young Guseva. He immediately realized that in front of him was the ideal Alisa Selezneva, the same “Guest from the Future”.

“I didn't portray anything, I was myself and didn't experience any acting difficulties on the set. She just lived her life, ”Guseva admitted.

The girl loved the book “One Hundred Years Ahead” by Kir Bulychev, based on which the film was made, and therefore agreed to the role. After the premiere, wild popularity fell upon her: previously indifferent classmates now confessed their love to the blue-eyed actress, fans were on duty in her entrance, and the table was bursting with letters. Parents were worried that the fans could seriously kidnap the child. The directors bombarded the young actress with offers, but Natalya firmly decided to return to the course she had planned since childhood - to become a biologist.

Guseva left the cinema forever, but she met her husband precisely thanks to Alisa Selezneva. Paramedic Denis Murashkevich was in love with the artist in absentia and even snuck into her hotel room when Natalia flew to his hometown of Minsk. A few years after the incident, Murashkevich met the actress by chance. The couple began an affair, which smoothly flowed into marriage.

Photo: PhotoXPress.ru

When the couple had a daughter, Natalya's mother-in-law insisted that the baby should be called Alice. Guseva was against it and gave the heiress another name - Alesya. But gradually romance left the relationship of lovers, and they decided to divorce. In 2014, the microbiologist found a new life partner, designer Sergei Ambinder, and the second child of the Guest from the Future star, Sofia, was born.

For several years, no one knew about this marriage of the former actress: she did not miss the popularity, perceiving her past profession as an adventure, and outside the world of cinema she preferred to keep the details of her personal life a secret.

INGA ILM

Photo: Still from Vladimir Alenikov's film "The Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin, ordinary and incredible" produced by the "Odessa Film Studio"

Inga was born in Leningrad and, like many residents of the cultural capital, admired her native city. According to Inga Ilm herself, St. Petersburg became her first "teacher", instilled a sense of beauty and later influenced her choice of profession. Ilm dreamed of getting a decent education and becoming a scientist. But fate decreed otherwise.

There were always many guests in the Ilm family's house. A large company, which included Leningrad actors, in the evenings whiled away the time talking and giving preference. One of the artists looked at little Inga and offered to take a picture of a charming girl, and send the pictures to the film studio. When Vladimir Alenikov began work on the film "The Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin," he had the footage of the child. Of the dozens of contenders for the main role in the film, the director chose 12-year-old Inga Ilm.

After the release of the film, the entire Soviet Union fell in love with the girl. But the schoolgirl was burdened by popularity, especially when she realized that she had become a hostage to the role. Inga has been associated with Masha Startseva for many years.

“I had to change schools. Having switched to another already finished "Masha", I did not cause such strong irritation among the teachers. True, I received a lot of letters. Then everyone exchanged calendars, and I had a great opportunity to do this with the whole country, ”said the actress.

Photo: A still from Yuri Belenky's painting "Goryachev and Others" produced by the Center for Commercial Television

Nevertheless, Ilm was grateful to the director who gave her a wonderful childhood: the shooting took place in Odessa, where the young actors not only worked, but also enjoyed walking around the city. But the performance of the girl has noticeably decreased, because because of her participation in the film, she had to miss a lot of lessons. Inga sank to "triples" and could no longer dream of a career as a scientist. After school, she entered a theater university and continued to play in films.

On the set of the Russian-Irish film Ladder of Light, Ilm met her husband, director Jerry McCarthy. The couple had a son. But Inga dreamed of improving her profession, so a few years later she left for America for acting classes. The idea was a failure, and I had to study and work as an administrator in a restaurant. Returning to Russia, the star got a job in the theater, and then on television. At that time, the artist's marriage cracked: the lovers could not decide in which country to stay for good.

In 2008, Inga finally fulfilled her long-standing desire and entered the Moscow State University. Now the 47-year-old actress, a certified art critic, lives in Rome with her second husband, Igor Severtsev. The history of the couple's acquaintance is full of romance. The director and designer found out Ilm's number from her colleague and once invited her for a walk. A woman, tired of filming on television, spontaneously agreed to meet a stranger. But by the will of fate, it was thanks to Igor that the artist realized that she was tired of life without days off and of constant turmoil. Now Inga Ilm has finally left TV and is enjoying a professional field that is close to her in spirit - the history of culture.

TATYANA PROTSENKO

Tatyana knew the taste of glory early. The parents of a six-year-old girl sent her photographs to a film studio, and director Leonid Nechaev invited her to star in the film The Adventures of Pinocchio. The role of Malvina seemed like a dream to Protsenko: she loved the fairy tale "The Golden Key" and thought that she would be in the frame with the dog, the poodle Artemon. To the disappointment of the young actress, the dog was played by a boy dressed in a suit.

It was difficult on the set, because the demanding director wanted to make the adaptation of the fairy tale perfect. Little Tanya did not always understand how to show emotions on camera. So, once two hours could not get sincere tears from her. The scene was successful only when Nechaev shouted at the girl in his hearts. Protsenko was the only child in the family, her voice was never raised, she was cherished and cherished, so the upset Malvina seriously burst into tears, and the cameraman was able to capture this for the film.

Seeing Tatyana's film debut, her peers were divided into two camps: girls, who called the young star clean and boring because of the role, and boys, who were embarrassed by the mere sight of the beautiful Malvina. Protsenko's career could go uphill, because Nechaev was already preparing a new fairy tale for her - "About Little Red Riding Hood", but a fatal accident crossed out the director's plans. Tanya fell off her bike and got a serious back injury, after which any physical and emotional stress was forbidden to the baby by the doctors. As a result, the character was embodied on the screen by Yana Poplavskaya.

“What happened happened, so it was meant to be. I entered the film studies department of VGIK. Then I felt very well what loneliness is, ”Tatyana recalled the ridicule of classmates who criticized her for her early role.

Photo: Vkontakte

Trials awaited Protsenko in family life. Tatyana's first marriage turned out to be unhappy, although the couple had a daughter, Anya, the husband led a wild life and cheated on his wife while she was at home with the child. The actress decided to divorce, cutting off all contact with the chosen one who betrayed her.

But then luck smiled on Protsenko. She got a job at a publishing house, where she met Alexei Voytyuk, who also recently experienced a breakup and also played in the fairy tale "After Rain on Thursday." A dizzying romance turned into a new marriage. In this union, Tatyana gave birth to a son. The spouses are still inseparable and both are engaged in creativity: Alexei acts in films, and the 51-year-old star of the Adventures of Pinocchio writes and publishes poetry.

ANNA PLISETSKAYA

Photo: Still from Leonid Kvinikhidze's "Mary Poppins, Goodbye" film studio "Mosfilm"

Anna is the niece of the legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. The girl's mother, Marianna Sedova, became famous as an artist of the Bolshoi Theater, and her father - as a famous choreographer. Only Anna's grandmother, Rachel Messerer, who played in silent films, was connected with the world of cinema.

Little Plisetskaya first appeared on the screen at the age of three, starring in the ballet film Anna Karenina. However, Soviet viewers began to recognize the 13-year-old girl after the role of Jane Banks in Mary Poppins, Goodbye. After the release of the picture, all the actors who participated in it felt what popularity is.

“After “Mary Poppins, Goodbye,” they told me: “You should have gone to America and become a Hollywood star,” Plisetskaya said.

But neither letters from fans nor feedback from others convinced Anna to continue her acting career. She knew that, as a representative of the famous ballet dynasty, she could not choose a different path. After graduating from the academy, the artist worked at the Mariinsky Theater, and then toured Asia and the USA.

In the 2000s, Plisetskaya began creating dance programs for gifted children. It seemed that she was so passionate about work that there was simply no time left for her personal life.

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