The Dark Dirty Side of The Little Red Riding Hood

Is there more to this story than meets the eye?

The enduring fairy tale of the cute little Red Riding Hood has captivated children since ages. Examine it a little closer and it might just end up disgusting you. Things are rarely what they seem and sometimes truth is worse than fiction.

As the story goes, the little Red Riding Hood one day goes alone to meet her grand mother when she meets a wolf. The wolf tries to trick her but she is saved by a hunter.

But, this story appears to have too many gaping loopholes and raises too many uncomfortable questions. For instance:

Why is her mother so strange?

On one hand is her mother a sweet, loving, caring, cooking, baking housewife kind of woman. On the other hand, something appears strangely off and doesn't just add up.

Red Riding Hood's mother knows that the forest is a dangerous place, which is why she instructs her how to stay safe, but she still sends her little daughter unaccompanied, alone and unguarded to her grandmother.

It seems this is the first time Red Riding Hood is venturing so far out in the forest all alone. Her innocence, unawareness of forset dangers, readiness to accept the errand, and the fact that she knows the way to her grandmother's cottage proves that.

Did her mother at all think about the safety of her own little girl before sending her off just to see the sick grandmother who, by the way, does not appear to be so very seriously sick?

Why? Just why?

One is compelled to think why, if the mother was so very concerned about the grandmother couldn't visit her herself, or why couldn't she at least accompany her to grandmother, or give her a better protection? What was she doing at home that was so impotant that she couldn't leave?

What could have been more important to her than the safety of her own little child, unless, it wasn't her daughter's safety she was worried about but …her own?

This story would likely never have happened were it not for her mom who just wanted her away from home for whatever little secret she had to hide from her.

Was the mother meeting a secret lover, perhaps? Was she afraid of the little girl's beauty?

And then, the big bad dumb wolf

But the big bad wolf in this story is quite as suspiciously dumb as the suspiciously careless mother. For all his talking powers and planning and disguising talents like a seasoned predator, at the end of the story he is just as stupid as the mother. Or worse.

Just think:
He was 100% capable of attacking and devouring her uninterrupted when he met Red Riding Hood the first time when she was alone, unaccompanied, unsuspecting, totally powerless, totally unable to protect herself, unable to escape, far away from her own home or that of her grandmother so, no danger of anyone coming to help her or even hear her scream.
Exactly what all predators want when planning to attack their victim.
Yet, what does he do? He leaves her and sprints off to her grandmother's house to disguise himself like her. Why? So Red Riding Hood wouldn't know he was the wolf, and when she comes close enough, he can pounce on her and gobble her up. Really?

Why not gobble her up the first time when he could have done that with much more ease?

In fact, even after having tackled the grandmother, he could as well have just hidden behind the door without disguise, and gobbled up Red Riding Hood as she entered. This would have also worked just fine for him.

Why the unnecessary disguise?

Why did he complicate the matters for himself for absolutely no reason?

Unless, he actually had a reason….

Maybe the wolf wasn't planning to eat her up but save her from being eaten… Then, it would make sense, would it not?

Maybe, the little Red Riding Hood was being set up by her mother to be eaten by the wolf and he sacrificed himself in order to save her….
Or, he was really a man in disguise. Then, not eating her the first time and, waiting in bed disguised as her grandmother will make more sense.

This changes the perspective of the whole story! The deeper you dive, the dirtier it becomes.

Is the red riding cloak then really all that innocent?

The conspicuous red riding cloak is somehow the mainstay of the story although it doesn't play any important role other than it being the preferred outfit for the little girl and giving her her name. But, if it doesn't have any role in the story why is the cape ever-present? The story starts with it, and runs and ends with it, never leaving the little girl for even one moment.

The question is why?

Could it actually mean that the Red Riding Hood was deliberately given an identification mark to facilitate her assassin?
Or, to facilitate being attacked and killed by someone in the forest, but the wolf or 'the secret guardian'came, and made sure she was safe? That would account for the wolf's talking powers too!

The harmless little fairy tale now appears to be increasingly dark and sinister, as well as more logical too. Nothing and nobody is as they seem.

Essentially, pre 17th century European in origin, and compiled in 19th century by German Brother's Grimm, the story of the Little Red Riding Hood has been mysteriously present all over Europe (in different versions) in almost all cultures including Greek, Roman, Norse and is even present in Russian, North African, Asien, Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese ancient Folktales.

This story was told in 10th century France by peasants, and in 14th century Italy by rustic farmers.
For such a tiny, simple, unimportant tale to have so widely travelled, so persistently told, and kept so effortlessly alive since so many centuries, across countries and continents, surpassing cultures and languages signifies that there has to be something in it that prevents it from dying.
That 'something' is usually stubborn truth…!

Alas! We'll never know if the mother orchestrated the attack on her or if the wolf was a guardian angel. Maybe the wolf was her mother's lover and was sent to kill her but he changed his mind…? How innocent was the grandmother in all this? If evil comes to evil, maybe she was there to confirm if the deed had been done, but the benevolent wolf killed her.

This little tale is maddeningly only this long! Nothing before or after this.

Why is such a tiny little occurrence of so gigantic importance that it survived centuries whereas thousands of other important knowledge-things got lost to time?

Whatever…

When I tell this story to children I find it easier to say that the little Red Riding Hood was carrying freshly baked biscuits, cake and some chocolates for her sick grandmother.

The delicious aroma tempted the hungry wolf. He wanted to eat it all but was too scared to ask her, and didn't want to scare her too.

So he locked the grandmother in the wardrobe and wanted to eat the goody goodies alone but the forest police foiled his plan and chased him away.

In the end, everybody gets to eat the goody goodies, not the big bad hungry wolf.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss…

But that's just my opinion. Thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed reading this you might also like Life of Women in Medieval Times From Perpectives of Modern Women: https://medium.com/r-blogs/life-of-women-in-medieval-times-from-perspectives-of-modern-women-011e8ba42600