In others, she sees through his disguise and tries to escape, complaining to her 'grandmother' that she needs to defecate and would not wish to do so in the bed. In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there. Furthermore, the wolf was also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire. The wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. The antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a ' bzou' (werewolf), making these tales relevant to the werewolf-trials (similar to witch trials) of the time. These early variations of the tale differ from the currently known version in several ways. It is also possible that this early tale has roots in very similar Oriental tales (e.g.

It has also been called 'The Story of Grandmother'. In Italy, the Little Red Riding Hood was told by peasants in fourteenth century, where a number of versions exist, including La finta nonna (The False Grandmother). It was told by French peasants in the 10th century. The origins of the Little Red Riding Hood story can be traced to versions from various European countries and more than likely preceding the 17th century, of which several exist, some significantly different from the currently known, Grimms-inspired version. When the giants note Thor's unladylike eyes, eating, and drinking, Loki explains them as Freyja not having slept, or eaten, or drunk, out of longing for the wedding. Instead, the gods dressed Thor as a bride and sent him. The dialogue between the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood has its analogies to the Norse Þrymskviða from the Elder Edda the giant Þrymr had stolen Mjölner, Thor's hammer, and demanded Freyja as his bride for its return. The theme also appears in the story of the life of Saint Margaret, where the saint emerges unharmed from the belly of a dragon. The theme of the ravening wolf and of the creature released unharmed from its belly is also reflected in the Russian tale Peter and the Wolf, and the other Grimm tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, but its general theme of restoration is at least as old as Jonah and the Whale.

It also warns about the dangers of not obeying one's mother (at least in the Grimms' version). The tale makes the clearest contrast between the safe world of the village and the dangers of the forest, conventional antitheses that are essentially medieval, though no written versions are as old as that. The wolf awakens and tries to flee, but the stones cause him to collapse and die (Sanitized versions of the story have the grandmother shut in the closet instead of eaten, and some have Little Red Riding Hood saved by the Huntsman as the wolf advances on her rather than after she is eaten where the woodcutter kills the wolf with his axe). They then fill the wolf's body with heavy stones. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerge unharmed. However, in later versions the story continues generally as follows:Ī Huntsman (in the Brothers Grimm and traditional German versions, but in the French version, a Woodcutter) comes to the rescue and with his axe cuts open the sleeping wolf. In Charles Perrault's version of the story (the first version to be published), the tale ends here. Little Red then says, 'What a deep voice you have!' ('The better to greet you with'), 'Goodness, what big eyes you have!' ('The better to see you with'), 'What big ears you have!' ('The better to hear you with'), 'And what big hands you have!' ('The better to hug/grab you with'), and lastly, 'What a big mouth you have' ('The better to eat you with!'), at which point the wolf jumps out of bed, and eats her up too. When the girl arrives, she notices that her grandmother looks very strange.

He swallows the grandmother whole (in some stories, he locks her in the closet) and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandma. In the meantime he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl. He suggests that the girl pick some flowers which she does. He approaches Little Red Riding Hood and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He secretly stalks her behind trees, bushes, shrubs, and patches of little and tall grass. In the Grimms' version, she had the order from her mother to stay strictly on the path.Ī Big Bad Wolf wants to eat the girl and the food in the basket. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her sickly grandmother (wine and cake depending on the translation). In the Grimms' and Perrault's versions of the tale, she is named after the red hooded cape/cloak that she wears. The story revolves around a girl called Little Red Riding Hood.

Little red riding hood big bad wolf