July
7:
Red Riding Hood Introduction, Aesop’s tale (one of the earliest origins of the story),
The False Grandmother (fourteenth
century Italy), and The Panther (seventeenth
century China)
July
14:
Little Red Hat (1867 Italian/Austrian
version recorded by Christian Schneller) and La Petite Chaperon Rouge by Charles
Perrault in 1697
July
21:
Brother’s Grimm Little Red Cap (German,
1812) and The True Story of Little Golden Hood by Andrew Lang (British,
1890)
July
28:
Booklist
Book Recommendation: LRR Hood by Cassandra Johnson available through the Library's Hoopla app.
Movie Rec: RedRiding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried
TV Show: Grimm
Forthcoming Book:
When Rosa (aka Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer join forces to stop the deadly sunbirds from ravaging the countryside, their quest will take the two women, now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, into a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and the quest for immortality.
Burning Roses, a gorgeous fairy tale of love and
family, of demons and lost gods, arrives in September 2020.
Red Riding Hood
Many of today’s fairy tales are told
throughout the world in different languages, in different places, all across
the spans of time. It is thought that fairy tales have one origin, which makes
it easier to digest that these same tales can be found in similar form from
Asia to America, Europe, to Africa and beyond. It is of no question that these
tales have influenced many children and adults as well. Here we are going to
take a look at the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
Little Red Riding Hood can be found as
far back as Aesop’s time. There is a connection to be made of the Greek slave
Aesop’s story of the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, where the wolf disguises himself
in order to get a few meals. We see this disguise continues in many of the
tales of RRH where the wolf disguises himself as the grandmother of RRH.
Following that of Aesop’s tale, the
story of RRH continues its oral tale today in many rural places where the
written stories are harder to obtain. Some of the earliest recorded tales of
RRH date back to the Qing Dynasty(1644-1912) (The Tiger Grandma or Grand
Aunt Tigress), then follow on to be found in Italy La Finta Noona (with records dating back to the fourteenth
century), France La Petit Chaperon Rouge
(Charles Perault, 1697), and Germany
Little Red Cap (Brothers Grimm in 1812).
It is thought that Perault, the author
most commonly thought of when people think of Little Red Riding Hood wrote his
tale based on his mother’s history. His mother having grown up when, “in 1598
there was the sensational case of Jacques Raollet, who was sentenced to death
in Angers, Touraine, for attacking and killing children as a werewolf” (Zipes).
There were several trials in France about werewolves, similar to that of the trials
of witches. This is believe to have played a large part in why Perault wrote
this tale and where the influence of his tale may have come about.
There are many tales of this story, most of which are illustrated, introduced, and discussed in the book Little Red Riding Hood - And Other Girls Who Got Lost In The Woods by Amelia Carruthers which is part ten in the overall series called Origins of the Fairy Tales from around the World..
You can find this book on Hoopla here: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11694661
You can also read, watch, and listen to all things Red
Riding Hood by taking a look at our staff recommended list.
References:
"Aesop." Encyclopedia of
World Biography Online, vol. 24, Gale, 2005. Gale In Context: Biography.
“Household Stories From The Brother's Grimm :Grimm, Jacob, 1785-1863 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet
Archive, 1 Jan. 1882.
Aesop, Grimm Brothers, and Hans C.
Andersen. "Folk-lore and Fable." Danbury: Grolier, 1980. Print.
Carruthers, Amelia."Little RedRiding Hood - And Other Girls Who Got Lost In The Woods." United States: Read
Books Ltd, 2015. Hoopla edition.
