We have already spoken in Babies and more of the stories of "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" and we have explained how they have changed over time to the present day.
Another story that has also changed a lot over time, to the point of lose part of its meaning or intentionality, to become more childish and digestible, is that of little Red Riding Hood, perhaps the best known story there is.
In the earliest versions, the aim of the story was to educate young girls to have the utmost respect (almost fear) for sexuality, so that they would not relate to strangers and to know what the serious consequences were if this occurred.
The first written version is from Perrault
It is said that it is a story that exists since the Middle Ages that was passed from mouth to mouth until Perrault shaped it on paper in 1697.
In that version Little Red Riding Hood and grandmother are devoured. The wolf, after having eaten the grandmother, maintains with the girl one of the most well-known dialogues within a story, which is none other than the “grandmother, what big ears you have…” and in the end, with “to eat you better, ”he simply eats it.
From that story different versions appeared, some even more macabre and others more soft, like one that appeared in the United Kingdom back in 1840, in which the figure of the girl's father was introduced, along with other woodcutters and after hearing the screams of little Red Riding Hood, they kill the wolf.
At the same time, in France, a wasp appears when the wolf is about to eat the girl and itches in the snout. The pain makes him leave the house screaming, with such bad luck that a hunter appears who kills him by shooting an arrow.
At the end of the 19th century, also in England, you can read what is probably the most sinister version, since the wolf invites Little Red Riding Hood to eat the meat and blood of her grandmother.
The Grimm brothers, meanwhile, decided to save not only Little Red Riding Hood but also grandmother. That's why they wrote an ending in which the wolf, after eating grandma and little Red Riding Hood He falls asleep snoring. His snoring is so strong that a hunter approaches the house, where he immediately realizes what has happened and opens the wolf's abdomen, saving the girl and the grandmother.
The meaning of Little Red Riding Hood
The real meaning of Little Red Riding Hood is as follows (as said / commented and as I interpret it):
little Red Riding Hood She is a girl who leaves childhood behind to become a woman with the arrival of her first menstruation, represented by the girl's red hood.
The girl is encouraged by her mother to go to visit her grandmother, specifying that she should go on a specific road, and never take another, because there she could find unknown and evil people. The concrete path would be something like the way of life that parents consider appropriate for their children, good education, being the wrong path that in which a girl disobeys wanting to explore the unknown, including sex, before being prepared for it.
In that unknown path there are evil people, such as the wolf, who with various tricks tries to achieve his goal. The wolf represents the figure of the adult pedophile who tries to convince the still virgin girls to agree to be with him, or who directly cheats them to get it.
The grandmother is nothing more than a mere secondary character, who is not there but to be devoured (that's why she died in practically all versions until the Grimm felt sorry for them).
The wolf ends up tracing his plan and Little Red Riding Hood ends up falling into it, being finally eaten (raped) by the wolf.
Moral: pay attention to your parents, you will have time to know the ways of sexuality and do not trust strangers who seem to sell you an idyllic world when all they want is to possess you.
But today
Everyone dislikes that the character dies ... nobody wants little Red Riding Hood I had a hard time, or that the grandmother, innocent saint, ends up in a wolf's belly. That's why today nobody tells the story like that. Now nobody dies. In fact, the wolf doesn't die anymore, who gets scared when he sees the lumberjack (who appears when he cries out) and runs away.
The current versions are sweeter and less tragic and therefore can also be told to children. The moral is not the same. There is no longer sex, there is no menstruation or forbidden places and not even pedophiles. Now there is only one unknown wolf, liar and hungry, who simply tries to eat the girl, because the grandmother (past meat, I suppose), hides her in a closet.
Now the message is simply: don't trust strangers, which is not little, but it is not the same.
Photos | Mr-bigman, Brooklyn on Flickr
In Babies and more | Children's stories: educational or too cruel ?, The original version of "Sleeping Beauty" would be not recommended for children, The original story of "Cinderella" would not be too suitable for children
