Little Red Riding Hood

Absolutely loved this lesson on Ever After 2016. This one was taught by Micki Wilde.I loved painting on wood, and will definitely do that again.

So little Red Riding Hood-no royalty in this one, no fairies, or curses-just a girl and a talking wolf (were-wolf in the original, a Bzou). There are many versions of this cautionary 'stranger-danger' tale. Some ending with Little Red saving herself with her wit, and others where she is saved by a woodsman, and even ones where she is not saved at all.

I like the oldest version of the tale the best I think-I guess it would be the oldest written version, since these tales were passed around orally way before they were ever written. This one is called "The Story of Grandmother", the girl is the main character of the story and there is no mention of her wearing red-that appears in later versions., and while it is a a little more gory with the little girl unknowingly consuming her grandmother,and a little more sexual-some undressing before entering the bed with were-wolf grandma, she ultimate realizes she is in danger and tricks the Bzou and escapes. She is an active heroine of her own tale, she is not rescued by anyone but herself, a big difference from the previous tales. Little Red in this story maybe has not had enough experience to have had some warning flags go up with her first encounter with the Bzou, but I bet she has developed some new intuition skills.

Something that I hadn't thought of previously to this story is that many of these tales (before they were written, were likely shared amongst women circles as they worked, and perhaps they made strong characters like the male characters that went on quests to transform. Many of the fairy tales we know have been re-written to suit a different society of a different time-where women were to be obedient, dainty, sweet, caring, and quiet. 

So from this Little Red Riding Hood my question is: What have you survived in your life-no matter how big or small it may be? What can we learn from our experiences? How have they shaped you? Do you follow your intuition-your heart, your gut instinct?