Someone recently gave us a book of classic fairy tales. I try to read to Tai every day, so the other day we cracked open this new book and read "Little Red Riding Hood". Now, I understand that there are many versions of each fairy tale, with slight variations among them. But this version of one of the most famous fairy tales was so completely wrong, that it pissed me off.
Who remembers the ending to this story? Minh and I both recall that a local woodsman saved the day by cutting open the big bad wolf and extracting Little Red Riding Hood's (miraculously still alive) grandmother from the wolf's belly. Is everyone with me, here? Is that how you all heard it too?
Well, this new version we have involves a "neighbor" man who opens the closet in the grandmother's house and finds her trapped in there (and she wasn't even bound and gagged!) And then--get this-- the wolf just "runs away" never to be seen again and then Little RRH, her grandmother, and the neighbor all sit down for some tea.
Hello? That's so not the way the story goes. And it's illogical too. If the wolf was so hungry....why wouldn't he eat the grandmother? Why would he stash her in the closet and wait for Little RRH? I don't think wolves are that discerning....he surely would have eaten anyone he encountered.
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3 comments:
I agree! People have been dumbing down childhood for years now in a mis-guided attempt to protect children for as long as they can from the hardships of the world. The original versions that the Grimm Brothers collected were bloody and scary, but they were full of justice and lessons and parables. By watering down the hardship of the world, all we are doing is raising a nation of adult children who believe that their bosses are complete assholes because they expect them to come to work on time and do something besides surf the web. No wonder our nation is in the hands of a self-serving oligarchy.
I came in here to reply to Kathy's post, but anonymous has said it all and said it better than I could have. I totally agree.
ok - I don't know what fairy tales you have all read, but my version never had granny in the wolf's belly. That would have required MANY more years of therapy to get over. Granny was in the closet - and the wolf didn't put her there (bound or gagged) from my recollection she was resourceful and hid there until the neigbor woodsman saved her (the damsel in distress).
Did you REALLY read the version where the wolf ate her??? That explains a lot -- about both of you!
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