The original versions of children’s stories They are full of romance, illusion and kind characters who face cruel villains and always manage to emerge victorious. But, if we go deeper into the investigation, into the dark side of those stories, we find totally different things. The true story of Little Red Riding Hood is far from the story sold to us by Disney movies.
What really lies behind the classic story of this girl dressed in a cloak and hood the color of blood is as dark as the very jaws of the wolf she meets. Tradition and mysticism, legend and anthropology are inscribed in this story that, as you know, is the gloomy reverse of what we read to children at night. Join us on Supercurioso to find out!
1. The origins of the story of Little Red Riding Hood
The true story of Little Red Riding Hood is, according to experts, one of the most varied throughout history. A legend that has its origins in the Middle Ages and that was collected later by different authors to give us a vision slightly different from the original source.
Charles Perrault was the first to include Little Red Riding Hood in his folktales in 1697.. Unlike Hansel and Gretel, for example, Little Red Riding Hood was not well known in Europe. It had its tradition in a closed and limited setting, such as the north of the Alps. However, the story was quite interesting and worth including and spreading among the population. But yes, Perrault saw it necessary to make some changes to make it “suitable” for children.
In 1812, the Brothers Grimm also decided to take the true story of Little Red Riding Hood and make it their own. Changing the ending and basing itself above all on the work of Ludwig Tiek called “Life and Death of Little Red Riding Hood” (Leben und Tod des kleinen Rotkäppchen), a tragedy in which the figure of the woodcutter appears for the first time.
The Grimm brothers also worked hard to polish some aspects of the story, morbid and erotic details, also the bloody ones, adding, of course, a happy ending where everyone is saved except for the most evil of all: the wolf.
2. So what is the true story of Little Red Riding Hood?
Most likely, you know the children’s versions that have been made about the little granddaughter who goes to the forest to visit her grandmother and meets an evil wolf. In the true story of Little Red Riding Hood, Some things remain, but others change radically.
The protagonist of the story is a young woman. Nothing changes here. A girl who is ordered to bring milk and bread to her grandmother. The girl accepts with some trepidation, but determined. She knows that it is not an easy journey and that she must go through a forest that the townspeople fear.
It is an area frequented by wolves. But she agrees, she covers herself with a very striking red cloak and calmly advances through that thick and lonely forest until she reaches her grandmother’s house. Everything went well. She is safe. Upon entering, he sees his grandmother rolled up in bed. She seems tired, she has a strange voice. but she doesn’t care. He indicates that he has brought him milk and bread, to which his grandmother thanks him and tells him to eat something… that there is some meat in the cupboard.
The young woman prepares the meat and eats it hungry. Minutes later, Grandma tells him to take off his clothes and lie down next to her on the bed. In the true story of Little Red Riding Hood, the young woman is shedding each piece of her clothing following the orders of her grandmother. Everything must be thrown into the fire: skirt, stockings, underwear… the hood.
-“Why?”- asks the girl before that order
—»Because you won’t need them anymoreGrandma replies in a deep voice.
When the girl, naked, enters the bed, she discovers that it is not her grandmother who is there, but the wolf. That between taunts reveals to him that what he just ate a moment ago, it was not animal meat, but part of his grandmother. And now he, the wolf, is going to devour her. And so he does it. terrifying. It is not like this?
3. The cultural elements in the story of Little Red Riding Hood
The true story of Little Red Riding Hood had its origin in two central axes: initiation rites and cannibalism. We meet a girl who leaves her home, her family and civilization to go into the forest alone. She is covered by a red cloak, which comes to symbolize menstruation and sexual arousal. It is simply an initiation rite.
The wolf embodies, in turn, the most primitive, lethal and savage sexuality. One more enemy that our young woman should have faced, but that he cannot defeat. Without wanting to, he falls into that dimension that is so feared and forbidden that cannibalism is, devouring that old woman who represented the outdated and the old, what had to be transmuted.
As we can see, the anthropological interpretations drink from those ancient roots of our past, from that area of the Alps where the story arose and from the symbolism of the wolves.
This story weaves its obscurities from the most primitive entities of the human being, something that even today it is difficult for us to understand because of how distant and how terrible it is.. That is why we prefer to blur with softer and more accessible aspects those images of classic tales such as the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Transforming this tale of psychological and anthropological terror, into one that we can tell our children to make them sleep peacefully, without disturbing their dreams.
4. Other true stories
And if you liked knowing the true story of Little Red Riding Hood, you can also read our articles in which together with you we discover the reality behind all the fairy tales and the best known stories. Do not miss this selection that we have made for you.
And you, Did you know the true story of Little Red Riding Hood? What do you think of this dark version? Feel free to leave us your opinions in a comment. We will be happy to read you!