Little Red Riding Hood
A girl in a red hood meets a wolf on the way to grandmother’s house. The wolf eats grandma, impersonates her, and is ultimately cut open by a rescuer—warning against talking to strangers and wandering off the path.
Story beats
- 1) Red Riding Hood journeys with food; a wolf tricks her into revealing her route.
- 2) Wolf reaches grandma first, eats her, dons her clothes. Red arrives, notices odd features (“what big teeth you have!”).
- 3) Wolf swallows Red (some versions). A hunter/woodcutter/lumberjack cuts the wolf open, freeing victims and filling it with stones.
Context & symbolism
Tale cautions children about strangers, straying from safe paths, and predatory danger. Red hood’s color evokes maturation/menarche readings; wolf as predatory male in some interpretations. Rescue’s presence or absence varies (Perrault’s version ends with death as moral shock).
It underscores listening to instructions and recognizing deception signs.
Motifs
- Predator impersonating kin
- Questions of appearance vs. reality
- Path versus temptation
- Rescue via cutting open and stones
Use it in play
- A shapeshifter impersonates an NPC; noticing details can save lives.
- Off-path shortcuts lead to danger vs. safety on the main road.
- Rescuing swallowed allies by cutting open a beast.
Comparative threads
- Predatory wolves: Similar to “werewolves” and cautionary tales of the woods.
- Impersonation dangers: Echoes “Mr. Fox” and other false-host tales.
Hooks and campaign seeds
- Escort a courier through wolf-haunted woods; teach them vigilance.
- An NPC in disguise asks leading questions; test social insight.
- A beast-swallowed artifact/person recovered via risky surgery.