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These are the many faces of Little Red Riding Hood.


Click on any of the pictures to see the original text courtesy of The Little Red Riding Hood Project, the editor Michael Salda, The University of Southern Mississippi, The de Grummond Children's Literature Research Collection who have done ALL of the legwork in compiling this information!


Click here for the 1729 version by J. Pote and R. Montagu!

Little Red Riding Hood is one of the most famous tales known.



This is the story of a little girl
sent to her grandmother's house to drop off groceries.
As she merrily skips up the trail and through the woods
She decides to stall a bit to play.
During this time she encounters the "Big Bad Wolf"!

Sweet Little Red Riding Hood is so trusting
That she tells the wolf where she is headed.
The wolf leaves her and runs ahead
To grandmother's house, opens the door,
and promptly eats the grandmother and puts on her gown!

Little Red Riding Hood arrives and
Lo' and behold the wolf is in bed
hiding under the covers, ready to eat her.
Little Red Riding Hood begins talking to the wolf
under the assumption it is her grandma when she notices

"Grandmother what big eyes you have!"
"All the better to see you with!"
"Grandmother what big ears you have!"
"All The better to hear you with!"
"Grandmother what big teeth you have!"
"All the better to eat you with!"

At this point, in the original story
Little Red Riding Hood tricks the wolf
by telling him she must use the restroom.
Later, there was a lumber jack added
Who bursts in, kills the wolf,
and slices the stomach open
to release the grandmother.

What is the moral?

In some of the older versions Little Red Riding Hood
has actually slipped into bed with the wolf
when the lumberjack bursts in.

In fact, the moral has changed several times for this story.

Moral #1
"Always be prepared to take care of yourself!"

Moral #2
"Don't talk to strangers!"

Moral #3
"Women stay chaste for your safety!"

See Marshall's edition of Little Red Riding Hood from 1823!
See William Weeks version from 1834! Click here for Aunt Mary's series of Little Red Riding Hood from the year 1856!
Click here for the 1863 original version by Lydia L. Very! Click here for the full text version from the 1870s by Routledge and Sons!
Click here for the original Blue Beard Picture Book with illustration by Walter Crane from the mid 1870s! See the 1890 version by DeWolfe, Fisk, and Co.!
See the full text version of the Little Caveliar series by Peter G. Thompson written in 1884! Click here for the 1888 McLoughlan Bros. original full text version!
Click here for the McLoughlin version from the 1890s! Click here to see Father Tucks Little Folks series from the 1890s!
See the Malena Booklet no.100 of Little Red Riding Hood! Click here for 1893 version published by J.M. Dent & Co. with illustrations by H. Isabel Adams!
Click here for the 1908 version illustrated by John R. Neill!  click here for the original John B. Gruell version from 1916!

What do you think the moral is?




For questions or comments,
please feel free to
Click here to e-mail Jennifer Hurley!
Jennifer Hurley



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Web page created November 30th, 2002 by Jennifer Hurley

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