Fairytale Origins: Red Riding Hood

Discover the enchanting truth behind the timeless tale of Red Riding Hood with Fairytale Origins: Red Riding Hood. Uncover the hidden depths of this beloved story as you delve into its origins and unravel its captivating mysteries. Immerse yourself in a world of magic, danger, and adventure.

Transcript

This story about a girl who meets a wolf has captivated imagination of people around the world with its grim beauty for over a thousand years.

First literal mentions of Red Riding Hood are from the year 1000,

From a manuscript called Vekundarattis,

A ship filled with riches.

This was a collection of poems written by a French man called Herbert Delieffe.

These poems contained moral lessons and they were read in monasteries.

One poem especially stands out.

It is a poem about a girl who receives a red dress as a baptizing gift from her godfather.

When the girl is five years old,

She is walking in the woods and gets kidnapped by the wolf mother.

The wolf takes the girl into their cave,

Where the little wolves start licking her face.

The girl says to the wolves,

I forbid you to tear my dress,

It was a gift from my godfather.

The poem is based around a Christian idea of God being the creator of predator animals,

And he is the only one who can tame their wild nature,

So the girl is safe because she is baptized.

This poem was believed to be one of the inspirations for Charles Perrault,

When he wrote his version of The Little Red Riding Hood,

Which first appeared in Perrault's famous fairy tale collection Tales from Mother Goose in 1697.

Perrault's fairy tale has similarities to the French poem,

But he did not include the Christian elements to the fairy tale.

In Perrault's version,

A girl gets a beautiful red hood as a gift from her grandmother.

In the beginning of the story,

The girl's mother tells her to take a piece of bread and a jar of butter to her grandmother who is ill.

Red Riding Hood meets a wolf on the road and tells him where she is going.

And the wolf says,

I'll go to see grandmother as well,

But I take the other road and I will meet you there.

Grandma opens the door and wolf gets in,

Telling that he is Red Riding Hood and after that he kills the grandmother and eats her.

The wolf goes into bed,

Pretending to be grandmother.

He tells Red Riding Hood to put bread and butter into the table and then he asks her to take off her clothes and come to the bed with him.

She asks,

Grandma,

Why you have so strong arms?

So I can hold you better,

The wolf answers.

Grandma,

Why you have such big feet?

So I can run faster.

Grandma,

Why you have such strange looking ears?

So I can hear you better.

Grandma,

Why your eyes are so wide?

So I can see you better.

Grandma,

Why your teeth are so sharp?

So I can eat you.

The wolf eats the girl and this is where Perrault's story ends.

There are many ways to analyze Perrault's Red Riding Hood,

But first we need to categorize it.

There are several ways to categorize fairy tales,

Such as happily ever after,

Underdog winning,

Fairy tales with moral teachings and frightening,

Shocking fairy tales.

Red Riding Hood belongs into this category of frightening fairy tales.

These are fairy tales which are meant to be read or told out loud for the audience in the purpose of scaring them.

In the original script of Perrault's edition,

It was written that the storyteller must scream the last words of the wolf,

So I can eat you.

Charles Perrault was the official fairy tale writer in 17th century France,

In the court of the Sun King.

Many of his fairy tales were meant for aristocrat children and the teenagers of the court.

Red Riding Hood is a disturbing fairy tale.

Perrault's fairy tale was quickly turned into a folk tale,

Which was retold again and again.

The use of the color red on her coat started to highlight femininity because of its connection to the menstrual cycle.

And this fairy tale also depicts strict gender roles of the 17th century Europe.

After its release,

Perrault's fairy tale was translated into several different languages.

A writer called Ludwig Teuge translated the story into German and created the character of the hunter.

In his version,

The hunter kills the wolf,

But he cannot save the little girl,

And in the end there is only a hand left from poor Red Riding Hood.

The brothers scream most likely first became familiar with the German translation and decided to add it into their collection of fairy tales.

The brothers gave their story a happy ending.

The hunter was about to shoot the wolf,

But instead he took scissors and cut open the wolf's stomach.

Red Riding Hood and grandmother came out alive and girl said,

It was so dark and I was so scared all the time.

The wolf died and its stomach was filled with stones.

There is also a German folktale version where the wolf drowned into a pool where the drinking water was kept for the farm animals.

There are also folktale versions of Red Riding Hood where the girl hides herself in the grandmother's closet.

The hunter comes to look out for the wolf,

But it manages to escape.

Compared to the original French poem,

Where the girl seems to be more self-conscious,

God's Red Riding Hood is more weak and helpless.

This story is a model example of the class system of the time,

When children were seen more naive and innocent and considered little people who were created to this world to amuse the adults.

In 18th century children gained more individual status and childhood became sacred.

Now it was parents' job to protect the children and teach them moral lessons.

In the Brothers Grimm version there is a moral teaching,

That curiosity can be deadly.

Her mother gives Red Riding Hood a cake and wine to take to her grandma.

She says to Red Riding Hood,

Don't break the bottle and when you meet grandma,

Be polite and don't run around.

I can do it,

Says the girl and they shake hands.

In the end of the fairy tale,

After girl was saved by the hunter,

She is thinking by herself,

From now on I will never look away from the road,

Neither I will talk to strangers.

Many of the folktales and fairy tales in the 17th century,

Before the arrival of industrial revolution,

Were cautionary tales.

They were warnings for children not to go too far away from home,

Because white animals could take them.

Most of the time white animals avoided people,

But predator animals such as bears and wolves did sometimes kill farm animals,

Which caused great anger and created fear towards the untamed nature.

The story of Red Riding Hood is often connected to folktales told about werewolves.

A person who had ability to shapeshift itself into a wolf was a widely seen mythical creature in folktales all over Europe.

Werewolves of the 16th and 17th centuries were part of the witch hunt phenomenon.

Allegations and accusations of lycanthropy,

However,

Were a small part of the witchcraft trials.

Shapeshifting from an animal to a man and back was a common part of shamanistic rituals,

And it is likely that by demonizing the wolf,

Which was a sacred spirit animal among several tribes,

Was just one more way for the church to convert people from their pagan beliefs to Christianity.

Werewolves generally avoid people,

They live in packs and are very family-oriented animals.

Within past years there has been several film adaptations made of Red Riding Hood which show Red Riding Hood as a werewolf.

In ABC's Once Upon a Time,

A character of Red goes through several physical and spiritual transformations before she can fully accept herself.

Amanda Seyfried played the part of the Red Riding Hood in a movie made in 2011.

One of the reasons why the story of Red Riding Hood is still very popular is because of the color red.

For centuries in Europe,

Red was seen as an unholy color.

It was connected to love,

Power,

Attention and sexuality.

Red was the color of blood,

And therefore it was the color of life.

Red Hood has several meanings in the fairy tale.

Red can represent life,

Whereas wolf can represent death.

If girl is seen as werewolf,

Red Hood can represent rebirth.

It can represent girl's awakening or suppressed sexuality.

And her ability to shapeshift herself as a wolf is another metaphor for person owning their own body and themselves.

In the end,

Red Riding Hood is not just a fairy tale about a wolf and a girl,

It is a metaphor how we can face our own fears and how we react to them.

The magic and the thrill of the story make it one of the most exciting,

Visually appealing and horrifying fairy tales ever told.