Dr. Jamie Terani, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Durham in Britain, has studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood, found in a variety of cultures around the globe
While the European version contains the story of a little girl who was deceived by a wicked wolf pretending to be her own grandmother, the Chinese version, for example, tells about a cunning and insidious tiger that replaced "our" wolf, but in Iran, where it is hardly possible to meet a young girl roaming freely in the forest all alone, a little boy appears in this story.
Contrary to popular belief that this tale is believed to have originated in France or Italy shortly before Charles Perrault, Dr. Terani, who presented his new work at the British Science Festival in Guildford (Surrey), defends a completely different version: all versions of the tale, in his opinion, have a common ancestor at least 2,600 years old.
Charles Perrault literally processed the folk story, introduced the motive for the girl's violation of the ban, for which she paid, and concluded the tale with poetic morality, instructing girls to be wary of seducers. The version of the tale, which has become a classic in modern children's literature, was recorded a century after the death of Perrault by the brothers Grimm. They introduced a good ending to the fairy tale, borrowing it from the popular German fairy tale "The Wolf and the Seven Kids". In this version, the lumberjacks passing by, hearing the noise, kill the wolf, and save the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. In the Russian version of the tale, only the contents of the basket of Little Red Riding Hood were changed, in which instead of bread and milk they "put" pies. Well, in the illustrations of the fairy tale in Russian, instead of a cape-hood, a small cap on the girl's head is usually depicted.
It is interesting that the true common ancestor of all these options (in the eyes of scientists) is indeed related to the plot of "The Wolf and the Seven Kids" (remember how a wolf pretends to be a goat outside the door in order to enter a house with kids). The renowned American folklorist Jack Zipes of the University of Minnesota suggested that fairy tales may have long helped people pass on "survival tips" from generation to generation. In his opinion, the world has always been cruel to both adults and young children. He threatened with unexpected attacks, violence and deception. Thus, folk tales can be considered one of the most important elements of social adaptation to a hostile environment.
This is reported by "Knowledge - Power".