The story was first written and published in a book from 1697 by the French writer Charles Perrault. The name of the book, in English, is Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. The story is called The Little Red Cap ( Le Petit Chaperon Rouge). [9] Perrault's version of the tale is the original printed version, but it is likely based on an older oral tradition. It is uncertain if Perrault knew a folk tale from the south of France about a girl who cleverly escapes a werewolf occupying her grandmother's bed. [10] James Finn Garner wrote an adaptation in his book Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life and Times, a book in which thirteen fairy tales were rewritten. Garner's adaptation of "Little Red Riding Hood" brings up topics like feminism and gender norms. [56]

One French version from 1868 has her saved at the last minute, thanks to the remarkable deus ex machina involving a wasp stinging the wolf’s nostril, the sound of which gives a signal to a tomtit, which warns a nearby huntsman that something’s up, so he promptly shoots an arrow through the window, ending any further plans for lupine feasting. Some people went to considerable lengths to avoid Little Red Riding Hood ending up as lunch. The forest represents danger, a risk zone for young people. It also signifies a test, like a rite of passage symbolizing a child’s move into the world of adults. The Real Tuesday Weld's "Me and Mr. Wolf" (2011) portrays the relationship between the wolf and Red Riding Hood as toxic. The 1996 movie Freeway is a crime drama loosely adapted from the Riding Hood story, with Riding Hood ( Reese Witherspoon) recast as an abused, illiterate teenager and the wolf ( Kiefer Sutherland) portrayed as a serial killer named Bob Wolverton. The film had one straight-to-video sequel. The theme of the ravening wolf and of the creature released unharmed from its belly is also reflected in the Russian tale Peter and the Wolf and another Grimm tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, but its general theme of restoration is at least as old as the biblical story, Jonah and the Whale. The theme also appears in the story of the life of Saint Margaret, wherein the saint emerges unharmed from the belly of a dragon, and in the epic "The Red Path" by Jim C. Hines.As we mentioned earlier, the version of Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault wasn’t the first. Its origins are older. There’s even an old Belgian poem that tells the story of a girl with a red cloak who meets a wolf. Orenstein, Catherine (3 July 2002). Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale. pp.166–167. ISBN 0-465-04125-6. The second section of repeating parts of the story happens when Red Riding Hood sees the wolf in her grandmother's bed. Alison Davies (October 15, 2015). "Understanding Fairy Tales: A Look Into the Big Bad Wolf Archetype". Archived from the original on July 17, 2020 . Retrieved July 17, 2020.

Charles Marelle in his version of the fairy tale called "The True History of Little Goldenhood" (1888) gives the girl a real name – Blanchette. And now a piece of the veil slipped aside and Thor’s eyes were seen for an instant. ‘Oh, how does it come that Freya has such glaring eyes?’ said Thrym. When the girl arrives, she notices that her grandmother looks very strange. She says, "What a deep voice you have!" ("The better to greet you with", responds the wolf), "Goodness, what big eyes you have!" ("The better to see you with", responds the wolf), "And what big hands you have!" ("The better to embrace you with", responds the wolf), and lastly, "What a big mouth you have" ("The better to eat you with!", responds the wolf), at which point the wolf jumps out of the bed and eats her, too. Then he falls asleep. In Charles Perrault's version of the story (the first version to be published), the tale ends here. Little Red Riding-Hood tells him that she’s going to visit her grandmother, and the wolf asks where her grandmother lives. Little Red Riding-Hood tells him she lives in the first house in the village, on the other side of the mill. The wolf says he’ll head there himself, taking a different route, and they can have a competition to see who can get there first. I beseech you, open the door for me, father. Jingle your bracelets, oh my daughter Ghriba. I'm afraid of the monster in the forest, father. I, too, am afraid, oh my daughter Ghriba.' [12]The story has evolved over time, with many variations across different cultures. The basic plot, however, remains consistent: a young girl, wearing a red hood or cap, is sent by her mother to visit her grandmother, who lives in the woods. Along the way, she encounters a wolf that ultimately tries to deceive and eat her, but she is saved by a huntsman or another figure. Overall, „Little Red Riding Hood“ offers multiple layers of interpretation, allowing readers to find various meanings and lessons in the story based on their personal perspectives and experiences. Adaptions of the fairy tale „Little Red Riding Hood“ The tabletop role-playing game show Dimension 20 has Little Red Riding Hood as a main character in the "Neverafter" season. In this adaptation she has the full human name of Ylfa Snorgelsson and is played by Emily Axford. Roald Dahl re-told the story in a funny poem about Little Red Riding Hood. It is in his collection Revolting Rhymes.

In fact, most of Perrault’s stories contain explicit morals and on Little Red Riding Hood, he wrote the following: SINoALICE (2017) is a mobile Gacha game which features Red Riding Hood as one of the main player controlled characters and features in her own dark story-line which features her as a brutally violent girl whose main desire is to inflict violence, pain and death upon her enemies as well as the other fairy-tale characters featured in the game. My name is Idan and I love to go to my grandparents because it makes me happy and I love to talk to them. Or rather, that is how many versions of the tale of Little Red Riding-Hood end. But Little Red Riding-Hood doesn’t always die. Should the wolf be allowed his dessert (he has, after all, already devoured the grandma), or should he get his just deserts? Should ‘Little Red Riding-Hood’ have a happy ending, or should Little Red Riding-Hood meet a grisly end?Read Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault (sad ending), or Little Red Cap by Brothers Grimm (happy ending) Most of the stories left to us by both the Grimm brothers and Charles Perrault were collected from local European legends and traditions of the Middle Ages. One such story is that of Little Red Riding Hood. Little Red Riding Hood“ has been subject to various interpretations over time, demonstrating the depth and complexity of Grimm fairy tales. Some key interpretations of the story include:

Lauren Suval (July 8, 2017). "Hidden Meanings in Children's Fairy Tales". Psych Central . Retrieved July 17, 2020. The Little Red Riding Hood Collection at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia contains hundreds of editions of the story, as well as ephemera, artifacts, and original artworks Red Riding Hood is one of the main characters in the 2014 film adaptation of the 1987 musical Into the Woods, and is portrayed by Lilla Crawford. Quoted from: Jane E. Goodman, Berber Culture on the World Stage: From Village to Video, Indiana University Press, 2005: 62. This, the presumed original version of the tale was written for the late seventeenth-century French court of King Louis XIV. This audience, whom the King entertained with extravagant parties, presumably would take from the story's intended meaning.

Catherine Orenstein, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale, p 145, ISBN 0-465-04125-6