Charles Perrault was born in Paris in 1628 and died in 1703. He studied law, however never practised and his works were first published when he was 69.
The earliest known printed version of Little Red Riding Hood was written by Perrault in 1697 and was known as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge. It originated from French Folklore and appeared in Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose. (Wikipedia 2006)
In this version, Perrault eliminated unnecessary plot elements and rude and offensive behaviour (Tatar 1999: 4). These elements appear in The Story of Grandmother which many critics believe to be the basis for Perrault's version of the tale, where the little girl eats her grandmother and drinks her blood, and she performs a strip tease for the wolf.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TALE
There was a pretty girl known by the name Little Red Riding Hood due to the little red hood she wore, who took some cakes and a pot of butter to her grandmother.
Little Red Riding Hood met Neighbour Wolf in the woods and they both took different paths to grandmother's house. The wolf arrived first, and pretending to be Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and ate the grandmother up.
Little Red Riding Hood entered and took her clothes off and climbed into bed with the wolf. She was amazed to see how her grandmother looked and questioned her.
"What big arms you have"
"All the better to hug you with" replied the wolf... etc
"What big teeth you have"
"All the better to eat you with!"
And the wicked wolf ate her all up.
The moral of the tale follows and is about stranger danger and how no one can be trusted, no matter how tame they are, for they 'Are the most dangerous of all.'
MODIFICATIONS
Red Riding Hood eating her grandmother and drinking her blood is left out by Perrault. The strip tease in the The Story of Grandmother has been modified to one sentence in this version, where Little Red Riding Hood simply takes her clothes off and jumps into bed with the wolf.
Perrault ends the tale abruptly, with the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood being eaten. This choice adds a dark element to the tale and is much more harsh than in other versions. The tragic ending creates a satire about men who take advantage of little girls. Shavit (cited inTatar 1999: 325). The moral at the end makes this clear.
Shavit (Tatar 1999: 323) states that Perrault altered part of the text's structure to make it more sophisticated. He changed an adults tale into one which would be suitable for children because this was essential for him to be accepted into high class society.
The tale has been adapted for late 17th century French salon culture and has become a tale warning women of the advances of men. (Wikipedia 2006)
