Red Riding Hood
| Little Red Riding Hood | |
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Little Red Riding Hood (1881) by Carl Larsson
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| Folk tale | |
| Name | Little Red Riding Hood |
| Also known as | Little Red Ridinghood |
| Data | |
| Aarne-Thompson grouping | 333 |
| Mythology | European |
| Origin Date | 10th Century |
| Published in | Italian Folktales |
| Related | Peter and the Wolf |
"Little Red Riding Hood", or "Little Red Ridinghood", also known as "Little Red Cap" or simply "Red Riding Hood", is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to the 10th century by several European folk tales, including one from Italy called The False Grandmother (Italian: La finta nonna), later written among others by Italo Calvino in the Italian Folktales collection; the best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. The story has been changed considerably in various retellings and subjected to numerous modern adaptations and readings. It is number 333 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales. Variations of the story have developed, incorporating various cultural beliefs and regional dialects into the story. An example of this is "Kawoni's Journey Across the Mountain: A Cherokee Little Red Riding Hood", which introduces Cherokee myths and language into the traditional story. Another such example is "Petite Rouge Riding Hood", which approaches the story from a Cajun perspective.
The story revolves around a girl called Little Red Riding Hood. In Grimms' and Perrault's versions of the tale, she is named after the red hooded cape/cloak that she wears. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her sickly grandmother (wine and cake depending on the translation). In the Grimms' version, her mother had ordered her to stay strictly on the path.
A Big Bad Wolf wants to eat the girl and the food in the basket. He secretly stalks her behind trees, bushes, shrubs, and patches of little and tall grass. He approaches Little Red Riding Hood, and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He suggests that the girl pick some flowers, which she does. In the meantime, he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl. He swallows the grandmother whole (in some stories, he locks her in the closet) and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandma.
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