Story Of The Grandmother Vs. The Little Red Riding Hood

“The Story of the Grandmother” is a fascinating fairy tale that many people are not exposed to while growing up. This tale predates, and is likely the basis of, Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood”. There are multitudes of versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”, each with slight variations. “The Story of the Grandmother” is unique in the fact that it is the possibly the oldest written version, allowing the reader a glimpse at this famous tale’s origin. Fairy tales originally were used as a means to pass the time for adults doing tedious manual labor all day long. In that context, it is then understandable that there would be adult themes throughout the story to entertain the workers. By passing down tales such as this one through oral tradition, the folklorists “preserve[d] the flavor of narratives as they circulated”. (4) The “Little Red Riding Hood” story …show more content…
Comparing “The Story of the Grandmother” to “The Little Red Riding Hood”, it is clear that Perrault and other authors worked to make the tale more child-friendly and teach lessons. The folklorists in earlier eras did not care about teaching children manners or lessons, and there was not “a wall for sexuality between children and adults” like there is today. (Tatar, “Big Bad Wolf Reconsidered”) Excluding the cannibalism and the systematic striptease from his version, it is evident that Perrault wanted to spare the child’s innocence. The Grimm Brothers went even further by “erasing all traces of the erotic playfulness found in ‘The Story of the Grandmother’” (5) Perrault hammers home the sense of change in society by including a section of the morals that should be taken away in his version. The language used, as well as left out, in tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” clearly shows the development of society in respect to the use of fairy tales as a form of education to younger