Grimm's Adaptation Of Little Red Riding Hood

One of the most recognized fairytales is “Little Red Riding Hood”. In the Aarne- Thompson Folktale Types and Motifs Index LRRH falls into the tale tile of an AT 333 Red Riding Hood (AT12). Within the story of LRRH, there are two characters that are present in each telling of the tale; LRRH and the wolf. These two characters contrast each other. Whereas the wolf is a wicked, greedy, predator (including sexually), Little Red is innocent (sexually) and depending on the version she is either cunning or naïve (Hallett, 27-29). For the most part, this story type ends with the wolf being bested by either Little Red or an outside force (masculine hero: i.e. hunter, woodsman etc.) that saves her. In a general sense, this tale type is meant to not only entertain but to also teach children not to talk to strangers (Walker, 12). With further insight, it also warns girls specifically to avoid strange men due to the heavily implied theme of rape within this

For the Grimms their tales are meant to be more of an academic scholarship rather then a teaching tool like Perrault’s version (Grimm,) The first edition version of the Grimm brother’s fairy tales “Little Red Cap” is similar to Perrault’s version in the ways that she is fooled twice by the wolf. Once she is tricked into leaving the path and then the wolf fools her into thinking he is her grandmother in order to get her close enough to eat her (Grimm,). The difference between the two tales is that the story does not end there because LR is saved by a hunter. The reason for this is as Jack Zipes remarks in the introduction to… Is that the narrators tell the stories they tell are “ a fulfillment of social justice or naïve morality” (end of intro). This comment explains both why RRH was fooled by the wolf as well as why she gets revenge in the end by filling the wolfs stomach with rocks. This action shows how clever the LRRH character can