I find Little Red Riding hood to be one of the more fascinating fairy tales out there so I couldn’t resist giving it a post all its own. I also find the story really interesting to by the time I have finished my blethering it will more than likely be as long as the previous post.
Did you guys know that there were actually werewolf-trials ‘back in the day’? You know? Like witch trials but only looking for were-wolves instead. I sure didn’t and it kind of blew my mind when I was doing some quick research for this post and double checking some stuff. Please tell me I am not the only one who didn’t know this.
Anyway, that little titbit of information isn’t there just for the sake of it. It is there because in some versions of the story the wolf is sometimes referred to as a werewolf. Cool huh! Well, not for the poor people who were tried and executed but there is a wee bit of trivia for you anyway…
So there are quite a few versions of the story of Little Red Riding Hood - some that are a little more gruesome than others.
Early versions of the story have the wolf leaving the meat of the grandmother out and Little Red Riding Hood eating her grandmother without knowing it. Um YUCK! And not all the versions have Little Red Riding Hood getting away. In some she does actually stay eaten.
Some have the wolf eating both grandmother and granddaughter and then having him take a nap (after all everyone feels like a wee sleep after eating a big meal don’t they?) The woodcutter then comes along, cuts them out of the sleeping wolf’s belly, fills it with rocks and sew him back up. The wolf then drowns after waking up and feeling thirsty after his big meal he goes for a drink and falls into the water. Pretty icky really isn’t it?
But in the earlier versions of the story a red cloak/hood isn’t even mentioned.
And then there are of course the oodles of meanings that are given to the story. But I won’t go into them other than to say that they are indeed wide and VERY varied and not always about a little girl going to visit her grandmother for the day.
Hi!! I'm kind of a collector of tales, I like to listen to all different versions and all, so I loved this post.
ReplyDeleteI have heard some of the versions you mentioned it, and yeah, some were pretty gruesome, but over all I think this is one of those classic stories we all hear one way or another.
Lovely post!
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI love fairy tales and the different spins that have been put on them through the years. Little Red Riding Hood has to be one of my favorites though
:)