Le petit chaperon rouge charles perrault pdf

10 LITTLE R E D RIDING HOOD

melodrama, and mystery. T h e feeling of dread, coupled with a sense of enchantment, captures the fascination with matters from which chil- dren are usually shielded. Pavarotti, like Dickens, is enamored of Little Red Riding Hood, but his infatuation is driven by her ability to survive death, to emerge whole from the belly of the wolf even in the face of death's finality.

T h e Story of Grandmothert

There was once a woman who had made some bread. She said to her daughter: "Take this loaf of hot bread and this bottle of milk over to granny's."

T h e little girl left. At the crossroads she met a wolf, who asked: "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking a loaf of hot bread and a bottle of milk to granny's." "Which path are you going to take," asked the wolf, "the path of

needles or the path of pins?"1

" T h e path of needles," said the little girl. "Well, then, I'll take the path of pins." T h e little girl had fun picking up needles. Meanwhile, the wolf ar-

rived at granny's, killed her, put some of her flesh in the pantry and a bottle of her blood on the shelf. T h e little girl got there and knocked at the door.

"Push the door," said the wolf, "it's latched with a wet straw." "Hello, granny. I'm bringing you a loaf of hot bread and a bottle of

milk." "Put it in the pantry, my child. Take some of the meat in there along

with the bottle of wine on the shelf."2

There was a little cat in the room who watched her eat and said: "Phooey! You're a slut if you eat the flesh and drink the blood of granny."

"Take your clothes off, my child," said the wolf, "and come into bed with me."

"Where should I put my apron?" "Throw it into the fire, my child. You won't be needing it any

longer."

t Told by Louis and François Briffault in Nièvre, 1885. Originally published by Paul Delarue, in "Les Contes merveilleux de Perrault et la tradition populaire," Bulletin folklorique de l'Ile- de-France (1951): 2 2 1 - 2 2 . Translated for this Norton Critical Edition by Maria Tatar. Copy- right © 1999 by Maria Tatar.

1. Yvonne Verdier ("Grand-mères, si vous saviez . . . le Petit Chaperon Rouge dans la tradition orale," Cahiers de Littérature Orale 4 [1978]: 1 7 - 5 5 ) reads the path of pins and the path of needles as part of a social discourse pertaining to apprenticeships for girls in sewing. In another region of France, the paths are described as the path of little stones and the path of little thorns. An Italian version refers to a path of stones and a path of roots.

2. Local variations turn the flesh into tortellini in Italy and into sausage in France, while the blood is often said to be wine.

PERRAULT / LITTL E R E D RIDING HOOD 11

When she asked the wolf where to put all her other things, her bodice, her dress, her skirt, and her stockings, each time he said: "Throw them into the fire, my child. You won't be needing them any longer."3

"Oh, granny, how hairy you are!" "The better to keep me warm, my child!" "Oh, granny, what long nails you have!" "The better to scratch myself with, my child!" "Oh, granny, what big shoulders you have!" "The better to carry firewood with, my child!" "Oh, granny, what big ears you have!" " T h e better to hear you with, my child!" "Oh, granny, what big nostrils you have!" "The better to sniff my tobacco with, my child!" "Oh, granny, what a big mouth you have!" "The better to eat you with, my child!" "Ôh, granny, I need to go badly. Let me go outside!" "Do it in the bed, my child." "No, granny, I want to go outside." "All right, but don't stay out long." T h e wolf tied a rope made of wool to her leg and let her go outside. When the little girl got outside, she attached the end of the rope to

a plum tree in the yard. T h e wolf became impatient and said: "Are you making cables out there? Are you making cables?"

When he realized that there was no answer, he jumped out of bed and discovered that the little girl had escaped. He followed her, but he reached her house only after she had gotten inside.

C H A R L E S P E R R A U L T

Little Red Riding Hoodf

Once upon a time there was a village girl, the prettiest you can imagine. Her mother adored her. Her grandmother adored her even more and made a little red hood for her. T h e hood suited the child so much that everywhere she went she was known by the name Little Red Riding Hood.

One day, her mother baked some cakes and said to her: "I want you

3. Many oral renditions of the tale presumably drew out the story by dwelling at length on what happens to each article of clothing,

t Charles Perrault, "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge," in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. Avec des Moralités (Paris: Barbin, 1697). Translated for this Norton Critical Edition by Maria Tatar. Copyright © 1999 by Maria Tatar.