Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is a story that teaches children not to talk to strangers.  The girl's grandmother is eaten by a wolf, who then tricks the girl, but gets thwarted when the axman arrives.  The grandmother is safely taken out of the wolf, and the wolf is killed.

When there is a wild animal involved in a story, the characters are most likely going to be eaten or mauled. In children's fairytales, they take it down a notch by making the characters come back without even a scar.  The original Austrian version of this fairytale makes sure to include graphic details that make it somewhat more realistic and rated (at least) R.


The original story goes like this: Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother gets eaten by the wolf.  The wolf then uses the grandmother's intestines as a string on the door latch and her teeth, jaws and blood as rice, chops, and wine for Riding Hood to consume.  After Riding Hood eats her own grandmother, she gets into bed with the wolf, without any clothes on (who the heck knows why she was naked).  Once she is in the bed, she notices something "hairy" and the wolf eats her in one gulp.  There is no axman to save her.  The wolf actually wins.

If I heard the gruesome version as a child, I would be scarred for life and never talk to strangers!