The story of Little Red Riding Hood was circulated in some European countries a long time ago. Some people think that it originated from a Belgian ancient poem in 1 1 century, and its origin may be traced back to Aesop's Fables in the 6th century BC. In the later oral spread process, it may also be influenced by some very similar stories in the East, such as Tiger Mother. But Little Red Riding Hood had never been written before Charles perrot. Another theory holds that the story originated in East Asia and then spread to the west, and in the process it was divided into two branches, namely Little Red Riding Hood and Wolf and Seven Little Goats.
At present, the earliest known written version of Little Red Riding Hood is LePetitChaperonRouge from France. It was included in The Story of Mother Goose by Charles perrot in 1697. Many versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, specifically mention "Red Riding Hood", which was first mentioned by Charles perrot in this version.
The story defines Little Red Riding Hood as a "charming and educated girl", a country girl. She was cheated by the wolf she hit and told the wolf her grandmother's address. While watching out for the woodcutter in the forest, the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. Then he set a trap for Little Red Riding Hood and finally ate Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf won and the story ended in tragedy. This edition is aimed at French salon culture in the late17th century, and is regarded as a sharp fable to warn women against male attacks.
Brothers Grimm collected two independent German versions of Little Red Riding Hood in the19th century. The first version comes from Jeanette Hassenpflug (1791–1860), which is MarieHassenpflug. The brothers Grimm take the first version as the main body of the story and the second version as the sequel. Green's little red riding hood (Rotk? Ppchen) was included in the first edition of Children and Family Fairy Tales (18 12).
This version is quite consistent with the first half of Charles perrot's statement, so it almost certainly refers to the latter. However, the brothers Grimm adjusted the ending, and Little Red Riding Hood and his grandmother were saved by a hunter. This ending is very similar to the ending of Wolf and Seven Sheep, which may be the source of inspiration for the former. The content of the sequel to Brothers Grimm was divorced from the aesthetic appreciation of the readers at that time. The Brothers Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood is much more euphemistic than the old version, with many dark themes missing.