What is little red riding hood about

What Wide Origins You Have, Little Red Riding Hood!

The wolf walks along with Little Red Riding Hood in this illustration for the folktale.

Photograph by The British Library Board, Getty Images

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It's a story told around the world. Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit her grandmother, only to discover that a wolf has eaten the old lady, dressed in her clothes, and now plans to eat the little girl too.

What happens next depends on which version you hear: Was Little Red Riding Hood devoured? Did a passing huntsman cut her from the wolf's belly? Did she trick the wolf into letting her go outside? In parts of Iran, the child in peril is a boy, because little girls wouldn't wander out on their own. In Africa, the villain could be a fox or a hyena. In East Asia, the predator is more likely to be a big cat.

Where did the original story come from? Scholars have been puzzling over that for years. Jamie Tehrani, an anthropologist at Durham University in the United Kingdom, thinks he's found the answer. In a paper published this month in the journal PLOS ONE, he argues that methods used to track the evolution of biological species can be applied to the evolution of folktales. National Geographic spoke with Tehrani about his hunt for the origins of this famous story.

Why did you think that a scientific method might work to determine the evolution of folk tales?

Folktales are like biological species: They literally evolve by descent with modification. They get told and retold with slight alterations, and then that gets passed on to the next generation and gets altered again.

In many ways the problem of reconstructing folklore tradition is very similar to the problem of reconstructing the evolutionary relationship of species. We have little evidence about the evolution of species because the fossil record is so patchy. Similarly, folktales are only very occasionally written down. We need to use some kind of method for reconstructing that history in the absence of physical evidence.

You used a methodology called phylogenetics. Can you explain what that is?

What you do with phylogenetics is you reconstruct history by inferring the past that's been preserved through inheritance. The descendants of ancestral species will resemble them in certain ways. You can figure out which features of a related group of organisms or folktales could be traced back to a common ancestor.

What are some of the theories about the origins of "Little Red Riding Hood"?

It's been suggested that the tale was an invention of Charles Perrault, who wrote it down in the 17th century. Other people have insisted that "Little Red Riding Hood" has ancient origins. There's an 11th-century poem from Belgium which was recorded by a priest, who says, oh, there's this tale told by the local peasants about a girl wearing a red baptism tunic who wanders off and encounters this wolf.

My results demonstrate that, although most versions that we're familiar with today descended from Perrault's tale, he didn't invent it. My analysis confirmed that the 11th-century poem is indeed an early ancestor of the modern fairy tale.

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Don't some scholars argue that the folktale came from Asia?

It's been suggested that the story may have originated in East Asia and spread westward, and as it spread west, it split into two distinct tales, "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Wolf and the Kids." People have long recognized that there's some kind of relationship between the two stories, but nobody's really been able to demonstrate what the nature of that relationship is. A popular theory is that they're both descended from Chinese tradition, because these Chinese tales have elements of both.

My analysis shows that, in fact, the East Asian versions aren't the source. If the East Asian tales were truly ancestral, we would expect them to resemble the older and ancestral variants of "The Wolf and the Kids" and "Little Red Riding Hood. " But instead they are more like the modern fairy tale versions. For example, in the East Asian tales we find a version of the famous dialogue between the victim and the villain which goes, "What big eyes you have!" But my reconstructions of the prehistory of the tale suggest that this dialogue evolved relatively recently. This is supported by the fact that it's missing from the 11th-century poem, which is the earliest known variant.

Little Red Riding Hood, also known in some versions of the story as Little Red Cap, encounters the wolf in this turn-of-the-century French trading card.

Photograph by The British Library Board, Getty Images

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

What is the story of "The Wolf and the Kids"?

A nanny goat leaves her kids at home and tells them not to open the door for anyone. What she doesn't realize is that a wolf is outside the house and overhears her. While she's out, the wolf comes to the door and pretends to be the nanny goat. When he gets in, he eats the kids all up. At the end of the story, the nanny goat tracks him down, kills him, and cuts open his belly and frees her kids.

What makes stories about predators disguised as beloved relatives so appealing to different cultures around the world?

Ultimately, the predator is metaphorical. The stories are really about how people aren't always who they seem to be, which is a really important lesson in life. Even people that we think we can trust can actually be out to harm us. In fact, it's precisely because we trust them that we are vulnerable to what their harmful intentions might be toward us.

Why do the origins of these stories matter?

We could regard folktales as a marker of human history showing how different societies have interacted with one another and how people have moved around the world.

I think there's a bigger and more interesting question about human imagination. These folktales embody fantasies and experiences and fears. They're a really good way of reading, through the products of our imagination, what we really care about.

The interview has been edited and condensed.

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Little Red Riding Hood - Students | Britannica Kids

Little Red Riding Hood is a character in a children’s tale of the same name who encounters a wolf on the way to visit her ailing grandmother. Depending on the version of the story, she is either eaten by the wolf or is saved by a woodsman or hunter.

The story of Little Red Riding Hood has countless versions, many of which reflect the concerns and moral issues of the period in which each version was produced. The story probably originated in the Middle Ages in Europe, most likely as a cautionary story warning small children about the dangers of the woods, especially of the beast and humans that they might encounter there. Some historians believe that the wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood story was initially a werewolf and that the story first formed during the 16th and 17th centuries when a large number of trials were held throughout Europe in which men were accused of being werewolves who had molested or killed and eaten young children. Over time, as the fear of werewolves subsided, the wolf probably replaced the werewolf as the villain of the Little Red Riding Hood story.

The earliest written version was published by Charles Perrault in 1697. Perrault most likely adapted the story from an oral folktale that he had heard in France. In Perrault’s version the main elements of the Little Red Riding Hood tale were first recorded: a young girl dressed in a red cloak who, on her way to visit her ailing grandmother, encounters a wolf. Little Red Riding Hood befriends the wolf who races her to the grandmother’s house and eats the grandmother. The wolf then hides under the covers in the grandmother’s bed and lures the girl to the bed where he eats the little girl. The story is followed by a moral warning young children, especially little girls, of trusting strangers.

Another famous version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale is that written by the Brothers Grimm. In the Grimms’ version Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are both eaten by the wolf but saved by a woodsman who cuts the two out of the wolf’s stomach when the animal is sleeping and then fills the wolf’s stomach with heavy stones. When the wolf wakes up he falls down and dies from the weight of the stones in his stomach.

Although there is some evidence that some earlier oral versions depicted Little Red Riding Hood escaping the wolf through her own wits, most written editions of the story available today end with Little Red Riding Hood being eaten or saved by a hunter or woodsman. For the most part, the ending of the story depends of the moral which the author of the story aspired to teach young children. Another significant difference between certain versions of the story is the characterization of Little Red Riding Hood and the reasons that she is an easy prey for the wolf. Above all, this element tends to reflect the prevailing attitudes of the period in which each story was recorded. Toward the end of the 19th century, for example, Little Red Riding Hood is often shown to be susceptible to the wolf’s charms because of her willingness to disobey her mother’s warnings and to idly chat and gossip with the wolf, features that reflect the prevailing morals of the Victorian era. Other versions offer a similar mirror to the social mores and norms of the period in which they were written.

"Little Red Riding Hood" summary for the reader's diary based on the fairy tale Perrault (Grade 1) - review, the main idea that you liked

4.3

Average rating: 4.3

Total ratings received: 97.

Updated on August 6, 2021

4.3

Average rating: 4.3

Total ratings received: 97.

Updated on August 6, 2021

"Little Red Riding Hood" is an instructive story about a gullible girl who, due to her frivolity, almost became a victim of an evil gray wolf. nine0003

Summary of "Little Red Riding Hood" for the reader's diary

Name of the author : Charles Perrault

Title : Little Red Riding Hood

Number of pages : 4. Charles Perrault . "Little Red Riding Hood". Publishing house "Rosmen". 2008

Genre : Fairy tale

Year of writing : 1697

The material was prepared jointly with the teacher of the highest category Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna. nine0003

Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.

Main characters

Little Red Riding Hood is a kind, sweet girl, overly trusting and frivolous.

Mom is a kind, caring woman who sent her daughter to visit her grandmother.

Grandmother is a loving, kind old woman who became a victim of the Wolf.

The wolf is an angry, hungry and treacherous predator trusted by Little Red Riding Hood.

Lumberjacks are brave and determined men who saved Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. nine0003

Pay attention, we also have:

Plot

In a village there lived a kind little girl who was very much loved by her mother and grandmother. For her birthday, her grandmother gave her a wonderful little red cap. She liked the girl so much that she went everywhere in it and never took it off. Since then, everyone began to call her Little Red Riding Hood.

One day, her mother asked Little Red Riding Hood to visit her grandmother - to bring her pies and butter, to ask about her health. The road ran through a dense forest, but Little Red Riding Hood fearlessly set off. Soon she met the Wolf, who asked the girl where she was in such a hurry. Little Red Riding Hood told him everything. nine0003

The wolf decided that the old grandmother would be easy prey for him, and ran to her house. He swallowed the old woman, and he lay down in her bed and began to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. When the girl knocked on the door, the Wolf in a hoarse voice invited her to enter. She did not recognize the voice of her beloved grandmother, but decided that she was simply hoarse from a cold.

When Little Red Riding Hood entered the house, she wondered why her grandmother had such big eyes, hands, ears and teeth. At that moment, the Wolf pounced on the girl and swallowed her. nine0003 Luckily, there were lumberjacks walking nearby. Hearing the noise, they hurried to the rescue and ripped open the belly of the Wolf. Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood were alive and unharmed.

Retelling plan

1. Mother sends Little Red Riding Hood on the road.
2. Road through dense forest.
3. Meeting with the Wolf.
4. Little Red Riding Hood tells the Wolf about her grandmother.
5. The wolf eats the grandmother and lies down in her place.
6. Little Red Riding Hood does not recognize her grandmother.
7. The wolf also eats Little Red Riding Hood. nine0074
8. Lumberjacks come to the rescue.

Main idea

Do not trust strangers and tell them about yourself and your loved ones.

What

The fairy tale teaches to be careful and attentive when dealing with strangers. Not all people are kind and harmless, some of them can cause serious harm.

Review

Even if a person is as kind, sweet and open as Little Red Riding Hood, you still need to be always on the alert. You can get into big trouble, and not always someone can come to the rescue. nine0003 Illustration for the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.

Proverbs

• Trust but verify.
• God saves the safe.

Liked

I really liked that the Wolf, no matter how cunning he was, still got what he deserved, and Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother were free.

Fairy tale test

Hall of Honor

To get here - pass the test.

Reading Diary Retting

4. 3

Average rating: 4.3

A total of evaluations: 97.

Little Red Riding Hood - Charles Perrault, read online

Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her mother loved her without memory, and her grandmother even more. For her granddaughter's birthday, her grandmother gave her a red cap. Since then, the girl went everywhere in it. Neighbors talked about her like this:

- Here comes Little Red Riding Hood!

Once a mother baked a pie and said to her daughter:

— Go, Little Red Riding Hood, to your grandmother, bring her a pie and a pot of butter and find out if she is healthy.

Little Red Riding Hood got ready and went to her grandmother.

She is walking through the forest, and towards her is a gray wolf.

— Where are you going, Little Red Riding Hood? Wolf asks.

— I go to my grandmother and bring her a pie and a pot of butter. nine0003

— Does your grandmother live far away?

“Far away,” answers Little Red Riding Hood. - Over there in that village, behind the mill, in the first house from the edge.

— All right, — Wolf says, — I also want to visit your grandmother. I'll go down this road, and you go down that one. Let's see which one of us comes first.

The Wolf said this and ran as fast as he could along the shortest path.

And Little Red Riding Hood went along the longest road. She walked slowly, stopping along the way, picking flowers and collecting them in bouquets. Before she had even reached the mill, the Wolf had already galloped up to her grandmother's house and was knocking on the door: knock-knock! nine0003

- Who's there? Grandma asks.

- It's me, your granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood, - the Wolf answers, - I came to visit you, I brought a pie and a pot of butter.

And my grandmother was sick at that time and was in bed. She thought it was really Little Red Riding Hood and called out:

— Pull the string, my child, and the door will open!

The wolf pulled the string and the door opened.

The wolf rushed at the grandmother and swallowed her at once. He was very hungry because he had not eaten anything for three days. Then he closed the door, lay down on his grandmother's bed and began to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. nine0003

Soon she came and knocked:
Knock Knock!

Who is there? Wolf asks. And his voice is rough, hoarse.

Little Red Riding Hood was frightened, but then she thought that her grandmother was hoarse from a cold, and answered:

— It's me, your granddaughter. I brought you a pie and a pot of butter!

The wolf cleared his throat and said more subtly:

— Pull the string, my child, the door will open.

Little Red Riding Hood pulled the rope-door and opened it. The girl entered the house, and the Wolf hid under the covers and said:

- Granddaughter, put the pie on the table, put the pot on the shelf, and lie down next to me!

Little Red Riding Hood lay down next to the Wolf and asked:

— Grandmother, why do you have such big hands?

- This is to hug you tighter, my child.

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