Such deep roots you have:
Published on Nov 22, 2015
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Such deep roots you have:
It's a story told around the world. Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit her grandmother, only to discover that a wolf has eaten the old lady, dressed in her clothes, and now plans to eat the little girl too.
Photo by arantxamex
What happens next depends on which version you hear: Was Little Red Riding Hood devoured? Did a passing huntsman cut her from the wolf's belly? Did she trick the wolf into letting her go outside? In parts of Iran, the child in peril is a boy, because little girls wouldn't wander out on their own. In Africa, the villain could be a fox or a hyena. In East Asia, the predator is more likely to be a big cat.
X-eats-Y tale and classified them based on 72 plot variables:
There are at least 58 versions of similarly themed stories around the world, from Japan to Africa to Korea.
They suggested that the original story made its way westward along the 58 versions of similarly themed stories around the world, from Japan to Africa to Korea., and that different versions diverged along the way.
Folktales are like biological species: They literally evolve by descent with modification. They get told and retold with slight alterations, and then that gets passed on to the next generation and gets altered again.
Instead of analyzing genetics, they homed in on cross-cultural relationships, from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa
Photo by Earthworm
The Brothers Grimm may have popularized the tale, but they certainly didn’t win any prizes for originality. “The Wolf and the Kids” outdates their telling by some 1,000 years and proves to be the first.
Photo by Franco Mathson
In Japan, Korea and China, there's the story of "The Tiger Grandmother"
Photo by Auburn Alumni Association
What is the story of "The Wolf and the Kids"?
A nanny goat leaves her kids at home and tells them not to open the door for anyone. What she doesn't realize is that a wolf is outside the house and overhears her. While she's out, the wolf comes to the door and pretends to be the nanny goat. When he gets in, he eats the kids all up. At the end of the story, the nanny goat tracks him down, kills him, and cuts open his belly and frees her kids.
Photo by Andrea K.
What makes stories about predators disguised as beloved relatives so appealing to different cultures around the world?
Ultimately, the predator is metaphorical. The stories are really about how people aren't always who they seem to be, which is a really important lesson in life. Even people that we think we can trust can actually be out to harm us. In fact, it's precisely because we trust them that we are vulnerable to what their harmful intentions might be toward us.
Photo by *~Dawn~*
