Little Red Riding Hood

A little girl was loved by all who saw her, especially by her grandmother. The old woman once gave her a velvet cap of bright red that suited her so perfectly she refused to wear anything else on her head. People called her Little Red-Cap—or Little Red Riding Hood.

One morning her mother packed cake and wine. “Grandmother is weak,” she said. “These will strengthen her. Leave early, before the heat. Keep to the path so you do not stumble and smash the bottle. Greet her politely when you arrive, and do not poke about the cottage.”

Red-Cap promised with a handshake and set off into the morning.

Grandmother’s house stood half a league into the forest. At the edge of the trees a wolf stepped into her way. She had never met such a villain and felt no fear. He asked where she was going and what she carried. She answered honestly—cake and wine for a sick grandmother who lived farther on, under three oaks with hazels around the door. “You must know the place,” she added.

The wolf’s mind raced: the child would make a sweeter meal than the old woman; a trick would serve best. He would take the short road while she dawdled.

He strolled beside her for a stretch and tempted her to notice the flowers and the birds. “Why hurry as if to lessons,” he said, “when the wood is full of joy?”

Red-Cap looked up at the dappled light and thought a bunch of blossoms would cheer grandmother too. There seemed time enough before the day grew hot. She left the path for blooms, and each prettier flower drew her deeper among the trunks until she had forgotten how far she had wandered.

Meanwhile the wolf raced ahead by the straight track, knocked at the cottage, and answered in the child’s name.

“Lift the latch,” called the grandmother. “I cannot rise.”

He entered without another word, swallowed her at once, pulled on her clothes and cap, and lay in the bed behind the curtains as if he belonged there.

When Red-Cap’s arms were full of flowers she remembered her errand and found her way at last. The cottage door stood open. A strange unease met her inside; her usual gladness at visiting grandmother was gone. She called a greeting and heard nothing. She drew the curtains. Someone in grandmother’s cap stared back with an odd, muffled face.

“What huge ears you have!”

“The better to hear you.”

“What huge eyes!”

“The better to see you.”

“What huge hands!”

“The better to hold you.”

“What a dreadful mouth!”

“The better to eat you!”

And with a leap he swallowed Red-Cap as well.

Stuffed and sleepy, he snored so loudly that a hunter passing the clearing wondered whether the old woman needed help. He stepped inside and found the wolf in the bed. Ready to raise his gun, he stopped cold: if the beast had gulped the grandmother, a bullet might kill her too. With a pair of scissors he worked open the belly; the red cap gleamed, then the girl scrambled out, gasping at how dark it had been. Moments later the grandmother climbed free, alive but short of breath.

Working quickly, they packed the open belly with heavy stones. When the wolf woke and tried to bolt, the weight dragged him down and finished him. The hunter claimed the skin. Cake and wine brought colour back to grandmother’s cheeks. Red-Cap, still shaking, promised herself she would keep to the path whenever her mother had said she must.

Another day—so the tale continues—she carried cakes again. A different wolf tried the same soft talk at the roadside. This time she walked straight on and told grandmother everything, even the wicked look in his eyes.

“We will be ready,” said the old woman.

Soon he knocked, claiming to be Red-Cap with cakes. They gave no answer. He climbed onto the roof to wait for dusk and follow the child home. Grandmother set Red-Cap to emptying pail after pail of sausage-boiling water into the big stone trough by the door. The rich smell rose. The wolf leaned down to sniff, stretched too far, lost his footing, and plunged into the trough, where the water closed over him. But Red-Cap went joyfully home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again.

Where this story comes from

The Brothers Grimm recorded this German tale as Rotkäppchen, “Little Red-Cap”, number 26 in Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation. It is not an Indian story. This retelling follows the Project Gutenberg English based on Taylor and Edwardes, which uses the same title.

The Grimms heard it in the Main district. Their note points to Charles Perrault’s earlier French version, Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, and to a Swedish folk song in which a girl crossing a dark forest offers a grey wolf her silk shift, silver shoes and golden crown, all in vain.

Unlike Perrault’s, the Grimm version gives Red-Cap and her grandmother a rescue, and a second wolf who is outwitted.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales, tr. Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes (Project Gutenberg #2591, Little Red-Cap)

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult available: includes swallowing, cutting open a wolf, his death under the weight of stones, and a second wolf drowning.

The second visit changes who acts

During the first encounter Red-Cap answers the wolf’s questions, and a hunter must discover the danger. During the second, she carries information to her grandmother and they prepare together. The repeated situation lets the reader see learning through action rather than only through a promise.

The wolf is responsible for the attacks. Red-Cap’s wish to bring flowers is kindly meant, even though he uses it to delay her; the story need not turn that kindness into blame for his cruelty.

Put the encounters side by side

For each wolf, record who gives information, who recognises danger and who plans the response. Find one difference that changes the outcome before either wolf reaches the door.

Talk about it

• What did Red-Cap’s mother tell her to do, and which advice did she forget?
• Why do you think the wolf didn’t eat Red-Cap as soon as he met her in the wood?
• The second time, Red-Cap went straight to her grandmother. What did she learn from the first wolf?

Related stories

• The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats — a Grimm wolf who tricks his way inside and is filled with stones
• Hansel and Gretel — two Grimm children in the forest who outwit a witch
• The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing — an Aesop fable about a wolf who disguises himself to get his dinner