Little Red Riding Hood

[MoosMa]

Is it just my warped memory, or didn't the wolf used to eat Grandma? I thought the wolf ate her then dressed up as her, then LRRH's dad was a woodcutter so cut the wolf open and got Grandma out? These days all the books say Grandma hides.

Also I notice that the wolf now runs away after falling in the 3 little pigs' pot of water . Did I just have a really nasty fairy tale book?

[FromGirders]

Nope you remember correctly. They've all just been dumbed down - I blame the Victorians and Disney.
The bit thah really annoys me is that Red used to be warned not to "stray from the path - don't speak to anyone or go into the woods to pick flowers". Then because she disobeyed her mum's warning she got hassled by a wolf. Now the wolf is just waiting to get her. Symptomatic of our society, huh?

[dmo]

in the little mermaid the mermaid dies
its just disney that made it a happy ending

[francagoestohollywood]

You remember right. I'm a bit against political correctness applied to fairy tales. Fairy tales can be scary and at the same time empowering for the children.

[MoosMa]

I think it ruins the stories and I certainly wasn't emotionally scarred by the scary bits. I'm quite against political correctness in general as it's got a bit silly now. Might have to dig out the old Grimms book at my parents' house...

[Lolly68]

No you are correct. Grandma does get eaten. I think the old fashioned fairy tales are quite scary but thought nothing off them when I was a child.

[suzywong]

yes, fairy tales were moral warnings not happy endings

my personal favourite was Grimms' The Juniper Tree where the wicked stepmother lures step son to lean over and peer in a heavy lidded oak chest then slams it shut and breaks his neck.

[donnie]

people just can't take punishment and abuse like they used to. Bloody woolly lefty wusses the lot of them.

The Struwelpeter - now there's a nice boy.

[oliveoil]

what about Hansel and Gretal then?

nasty stepmum wants them left in forest
witch wants to fatten one up to eat
witch ends up burnt in oven

"now girls, story has finished, go to sleep"

[donnie]

yeah, and all those sweets and cakes.....what would Gillian McKeith say....

[suzywong]

"Then the mother took the little boy and chopped him in pieces, put him into the pot, and cooked him into stew. But Marlene stood by crying and crying, and all her tears fell into the pot, and they did not need any salt"

none of this all the inanimate objects on the table sprout faces and mob caps and sing a jolly song ... they used to COOK THEM INTO STEW!!!!!!!!!

[oliveoil]

yes

and the sleeping princess that pricks her finger

"but the 13th fairy wasn't invited so she cast a spell and said YOU WILL DIE"

"why will she die mummy? why? that is not nice is it? why mummy?"

etc etc

[donnie]

well of course people were tougher in those days suzy....now they would add some tarragon and creme fraiche to the stew and whizz it through the mouli.

[suzywong]

TITTER

[MoosMa]

What scares me more is that nowadays the wolf only runs away never to be seen again, at least in the originals you knew the wolf/witch/other nasty was dead at the end so couldn't bother you again.

Suzywong, what story is that from? I had recurring nightmares for a while when I was little about being chopped up and boiled in a stew, I wonder if I'd read that story

[suzywong]

this one. Read it with the lights on

[MoosMa]

[shudder]

How strange, it's really horrid but has a happy ending ]

I won't be reading it to my children though...

[francagoestohollywood]

I've always loved fairy tales. Obviously I wouldn't read hansel and Gretel to a 3 yrs old! It's not the witch who gets burnt in the oven, the important thing is that the children came out with a trick to save themselves, and are 'cleverer' than the adult.
I went through a stage of thinking a lot about death, poverty, and fate as a child, fairy tales can be very good to reflect and exorcize a child's fears, I believe

[francagoestohollywood]

It's beautiful suzywong!

[Iklboo]

Saw a version of humpty dumpty where all the kings horses and all the kings men

"Helped put humpty together again"

[francagoestohollywood]

this used to be my favourite (it's andersen)

[suzywong]

oooo is that the one where she FREEZES TO DEATH IN A DOORWAY!!!!! I used to like that one and all.


That is a frightful abomination, everyone knows H Dumpty bit the dust.

[Iklboo]

Humpty is supposed to be based on Richard III losing the War of the Roses. I mean, are they rewriting history too?

[TheArmadillo]

fairy tales change all the time - like any folk story. They are changing to reflect modern tensions.

There is no one definitive version of any tale. Brothers Grim and other writers often wrote down their version of a folk story.

Am reading an interesting book at the moment with different versions of fairy tales in - it has LRRH in it (about 6 versions I think). In some of the oldest ones, she is older than in the stories now and sleeps with the wolf (its about her sexuality more than obeying her mother's instructions).

[suzywong]

She F*cks the wolf!!!

[TheArmadillo]

Depending on which version you hear - some are about it being the only way to save her own life, some of them are about blossoming sexuality (the red symbolising menustration in some).

Can you imagine reading that to your kids

The very old versions of fairy tales are often very sexual - beauty and the beast is one. Also the oldest ones have women featured more as the protagonists, whereas later you see their role being downgraded.

They also tend to heavily feature blood, bones and death.

Its changing tastes and the need/reason behind the tales.