Little Red Riding Hood Was Never Saved by the Hunter in the Original! In the 300-Year-Old Version, Grandmother and Granddaughter Are Eaten Whole — Fairy Tales Were Originally Warnings for Adults

Many people have grown up hearing the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood': a young girl visits her grandmother, meets a big bad wolf along the way, and naively reveals her grandmother’s location. The wolf races ahead, eats the grandmother, then disguises himself as her to wait for the girl. After both grandmother and granddaughter are swallowed, a hunter arrives just in time, cuts open the wolf’s belly, rescues them, and stuffs stones inside the wolf, ensuring his demise.

However, if we go back over 300 years to the version written by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, there is no such happy ending. After the wolf devours the grandmother, the little girl meets the same fate. No hunter appears, and no one is saved.

More notably, Perrault added a moral at the end of the story, warning young people — especially young girls — never to trust the sweet words of strangers. The real 'wolf' in life may not look fearsome; instead, he may be gentle, polite, and even charming.

'Little Red Riding Hood' first appeared in Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale collection.

The version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' we know today has evolved through centuries of retelling and revision.

According to the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Perrault’s 'Le Petit Chaperon rouge' was included in his 1697 publication 'Histoires ou Contes du temps passé' (Stories or Tales of Past Times), making it one of the most representative early written versions of the tale.

However, similar stories involving a girl, a wolf, and a grandmother had already been circulating in European folklore before Perrault wrote it down. Thus, strictly speaking, the 1697 version cannot be considered the sole or earliest origin of 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

Still, Perrault’s version differs significantly from the modern, child-friendly adaptation.

At the beginning, a little girl is nicknamed 'Little Red Riding Hood' because she always wears a red hood given to her by her grandmother. One day, her mother asks her to bring food to her sick grandmother.

As Little Red Riding Hood walks through the forest, she meets a wolf.

The wolf intends to eat her but refrains because woodcutters are nearby. Instead, he pretends to be friendly and asks where she is going.

Trusting and naive, Little Red Riding Hood not only tells the wolf she’s visiting her grandmother but also reveals exactly where the house is located.

The wolf then suggests they take different paths. While the girl gathers flowers and plays, the wolf takes a shortcut and arrives at the grandmother’s house first.

Upon arrival, the wolf mimics the girl’s voice outside the door.

The grandmother, unaware of the danger, tells the 'granddaughter' how to open the door. The wolf enters, immediately attacks, and swallows her whole.

He then closes the door, dresses in the grandmother’s clothes, lies in bed, and waits for Little Red Riding Hood.

Soon, she arrives.

At first, she finds the 'grandmother’s' voice unusually coarse but quickly assumes it’s due to illness and doesn’t question it.

What happens next highlights the stark difference between Perrault’s version and modern children’s tales.

Perrault even writes that Little Red Riding Hood only notices something is wrong when she undresses and gets into bed — the 'grandmother’s' body looks different.

Then comes the now-famous exchange:

Little Red Riding Hood asks why the grandmother’s arms are so big, then her ears, then her eyes.

The wolf replies each time: to hug her better, to hear her better, to see her better.

Finally, she asks: 'Grandmother, why are your teeth so big?'

The wolf answers: 'All the better to eat you with.'

In the next moment, the wolf pounces and devours her.

No hunter appears. The grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood truly die.

In the most common modern version, this is where the hunter would enter. But in Perrault’s 1697 version, he doesn’t.

No hunter hears snoring.

No one cuts open the wolf’s belly.

No one escapes death.

The wolf isn’t even punished.

The grandmother and granddaughter are eaten one after another, and the story ends there.

In other words, Perrault does not offer a 'second chance after a mistake.' Instead, he delivers a brutally harsh message: trusting dangerous people can have irreversible consequences.

The now-familiar 'hunter rescues the family' plot comes from the Brothers Grimm, over a century later.

The 'hunter saves them' scene was actually added in the Brothers Grimm version.

The Brothers Grimm published the first edition of 'Children's and Household Tales' (Kinder- und Hausmärchen) in 1812, including the German version of 'Little Red Riding Hood,' titled 'Rotkäppchen'.

This time, after the wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood, the story doesn’t end.

The wolf falls asleep on the grandmother’s bed, snoring loudly. A passing hunter hears the noise, enters the house, and considers killing the wolf — but then thinks the grandmother might still be alive inside. He uses scissors to cut open the wolf’s belly.

The hunter rescues both Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. They then stuff large stones into the wolf’s stomach. When the wolf wakes and tries to flee, the weight of the stones causes him to collapse and die.

Little Red Riding Hood learns her lesson, vowing never to disobey her mother or stray from the forest path again.

Thus, the modern structure — 'Little Red Riding Hood makes a mistake → faces danger → is rescued by the hunter → learns a lesson' — closely follows the Brothers Grimm version, not Perrault’s 1697 tale.

Why did Perrault let Little Red Riding Hood die? The 'moral' at the end holds the key.

Why did Perrault choose such a cruel ending?

The answer lies in a passage appended after the story.

Perrault added a 'Moralité' — a moral — at the end of 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

He warns young people, especially young girls, not to trust strangers’ sweet words.

Wolves in the world come in many forms.

Some are violent and easy to recognize. But others are quiet, polite, gentle, and charming — the kind who might follow a young woman home, even entering her house.

The wolf is often interpreted as a metaphor for a seducer or dangerous man. When we consider Little Red Riding Hood talking to a stranger, revealing her destination, and ultimately being lured into bed and eaten — paired with Perrault’s own moral — the story becomes a clear adult-oriented warning.

This may be the most chilling realization when rereading 'Little Red Riding Hood' over 300 years later: the real danger isn’t the wolf with sharp teeth in the forest, but the fact that you might not realize someone is a 'wolf' until it’s too late.