The story of the wolf and the girl with the red cape can be traced back to 10th century France (Dr. Jamie Tehrani, a cultural anthropologist, found several versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" dating back almost 3,000 years. According to him, in Europe at least, the earliest version is a Greek fable from the 6th century BC, attributed to Aesop, but let's stick with it coming from France). (I'm bilingual so because of it being from France, I will add some french words in bold.) But the tale that we all know (I think) and love is NOT the original story. For example, in some of the oldest versions, Red is the heroine, using her wits to escape being eaten. So no little girl eating or huntsman (who is in some stories a woodsman) gutting a wolf.
There is also a story very similar to the french one that's from China, but instead of the wolf, the bad guy is a tiger.
The Brothers Grimm created their own variant, named Little Red Cap, in which an animal-skin hunter saves the girl and her grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood and her Granny encounter and do away with another wolf using a strategy they made up (because there are a lot of talking animals with sharp teeth wandering around*extreme sarcasm*). This time, Little Red ignored the wolf in the woods, Grandma didn't let him enter, but when the wolf skulked around, they lured him with the smell of sausages from the chimney under which they previously put a manger filled with water. The wolf plunged into it and drowned (and here I am, wondering how you drown in something that is only about a foot or so deep...). In 1857, the Brothers Grimm concluded the tale as we know it today, reducing the somber undertones of other versions.
This is another version of the tale. It's got wolves, it's got red cloaks and baskets of food, but it's also got a whole lot more.
Enjoy!
YOU ARE READING
Witch's Cloak (DISCONTINUED)
ParanormalWe all know the story of little red riding hood. But what if it wasn't as simple as a hungry, talking wolf who found a tasty little girl? What if there was someone else pulling their strings? Someone to fear. To hate. To kill. Because blood family d...
