May 4th, 2010
Once Upon A Time… Little Red Riding Hood
“She knew worst wolves are hairy on the inside and she shivered, in spite of the scarlet shawl she pulled more closely round herself as if it could protect her, although is was as red as blood she must spill.”i
I covered Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist for my first installation in the Once Upon A Time… series but I, unfortunately, haven’t been doing much reading for pleasure latelyii hence this very belated second post. So inspired by having seen the movie The Brothers Grimm over the weekendiii, I thought I’d revisit one of my favourite fairy tales: Little Red Riding Hood. The Riding Hood tales in all their incarnations have always been most intriguing to me. When I was younger this was possibly because I found great amusement in the Grimms’ version where Little Red Riding Hood outsmarts the wolf, stuffs him full of stones and tosses him in a river. I thought that was pretty bad-ass. I also really wanted a red cloak to flounce around it… still kind of do… but that’s beside the point. For my first degree, I was an English minor and specialized in folk and fairy tales (my obsession!). In my studies, I happened upon the wonders of Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves which is a modern adaptation of the Riding Hood story. I loved it like a fat kid loves cake. (You can read it here.) Dark, sinister, alluring, a wee bit naughty, and borderline disturbing and all inspired by a childhood favourite fairy tale… what’s not to love? So here’s my take on the girl in the red cloak.
‘“Oh, grandmother, what big ears you have!” “The better to hear you with.”
“Oh, grandmother, what big eyes you have!” “The better to see you with.”
“Oh, grandmother, what big hands you have!” “The better to grab you with.”
“But, grandmother, what a dreadful mouth you have!” “The better to eat you with.”‘iv
“Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves,
Are of all such creatures the most dangerous!“v
For more information about the Once Upon A Time… series, please see this post.
- From Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves (»)
- University readings have me worn out. (»)
- which I thought was terrible, by the way. I really don’t recommend it at all. I could barely get through it (»)
- From Little Red Cap by the Grimms brothers (»)
- From Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood (»)
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Red Riding Hood would be a super fun fairy tale character’s style to emulate!
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