Little Red Riding Hood

A Martian Reaction

Little Red Riding Hood is a famous fairy tale about a young girl's encounter with a wolf. The story has changed considerably in its history, and been subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. Here's one good analysis about this funny folktale - the Martian point of view.

What kid of a mother sends a little girl into a forest wherethere are wolves? Why didnt her mother do it herself, or go along with LRRH? If grandmother was so helpless, why did mother leave her all by herself in a hut far away? But if LRRH had to go, how come her mother had never warned her not to stop and talk to wolves? The story makes it clear that LRRH had never been told that this was dangerous. No mother could really be that stupid, so it sounds as if her mother didnt care much what happened to LRRH, or maybe even wanted to get rid of her. No little girl is that stupid either. How could LRRH lookat the wolf's eyes,ears, hands, and teeh, and still think it was her grandmother? Why didnt she get out there as fast as she could?

Here's the martian point of view:
1. The mother is evedently trying to lose her daughter "accidentally," or at least she wantsto end up saying: "Isnt it awful, you can't even walk through the park nowadays without soem wolf...etc"etc.
2. The wolf, instead of eatign rabbits and such, is obviously overreacting himself, and he must know that he will come to a bad end that way, so he must want to invite trouble. Motto: Live dangerously and die gloriously. Book: Nietzsche
3. Grandmother lives alone and leaves her door unlached, so she may be hoping for soemthing insterestign to happen, something which coudn't happen is she were living with her folks. She was probably young enough to be ripe for adventures, since LRRH was still a little girl.
4. The hunter is obviously a rescuer who enjoys working over his vanquished opponents with sweet little maidens to help.
5. LRRH tell the wolf quite explicitly where he can meet her again, and even climbs into bed with him.

The moral of the story is not that innocent maidens should keep out of forests where
there are wolves, but that wolves should keep away from innocent-looking maidens and their grandmothers: in short, a wolf should not walk through the forest alone. This also rises the ineteresting questions of what the mother did after she got rid of LRRH for the day.

Thanks to ..... Eric Berne

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