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Crane, Walter. Little Red Riding Hood, London: John Lane, 1898.

Tale Summary

This tale is a retelling, though the story clearly follows the usual Little Red Riding Hood narrative arc found in both the Perrault and Grimm versions of the tale. Little Red Riding Hood leaves her mother's house to visit her grandmother, meeting the wolf along the way. The wolf reaches the grandmother's house first and eats the grandmother. The ending is a strange mix between the Perrault version and the Grimm version. In this tale, Little Red Riding Hood arrives at the grandmother's house but just before she is eaten, a hunter kills the wolf (note that not getting eaten is unlike both the Perrault and the Grimm versions). The grandmother, however, does not ever emerge from the wolf's stomach (she is presumably dead, like the Perrault version). The common motif found in the Grimm version where they are both eaten but eventually emerge unharmed from the wolf's stomach is completely absent.

 

Fairy Tale Title

Little Red Riding Hood

Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)

Walter Crane

Fairy Tale Illustrator(s) 

Walter Crane

Common Tale Type 

Little Red Riding Hood

Tale Classification

ATU 333

Page Range of Tale 

 

Full Citation of Tale 

Crane, Walter. Little Red Riding Hood, London: John Lane, 1898.

Original Source of the Tale

Charles Perrault

Tale Notes

In this version, the wolf eats the grandmother and nearly eats Little Red Riding Hood, but a hunter kills the wolf at that exact moment. There is no mention of the grandmother again, so the wolf must have killed her when he ate her.

Research and Curation

Sean Babbs, 2020

Book Title 

Little Red Riding Hood

Book Author/Editor(s) 

Walter Crane

Illustrator(s)

Walter Crane

Publisher

John Lane

Date Published

c. 1898

Decade Published 

1890-1899

Publisher City

London

Publisher Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Rights

Public Domain

Digital Copy

Book Notes

A heavily-illustrated edition of Little Red Riding Hood with a shortened and rhyming version of the tale that has clearly been adapted to appeal to children.