France "The Grandmother"

1. I chose the french version of Little Red Riding Hood, titled "The Grandmother." I thought this was the version where LRRH meets an untimely death. However, that isn't that case, and this story is a bit different that Perrault's version we discussed in class. The werewolf, called a "bzou," shows up early in the story at the crossing of path's in the forest. He asks, "Where are you going?" and the little girl is not afraid when she replies, "I am carrying a hot loaf and a bottle of milk to my grandmother." It seems to me this little girl would pay dearly for her carelessness in discussing her plans with a werewolf. Knowing her route, he runs off to grandmother's cabin and kills her, putting her flesh in the pantry and blood in a vial on the shelf.

This werewolf must be disguised, as they are typically in lore, so it shouldn't be so strange that the text doesn't mention the wolf disguised himself. A cat who was there speaks when it watched the little girl eating her grandmother's flesh and drinking her grandmother's blood. "For shame! The slut is eating her grandmother's flesh and drinking her grandmother's blood," said the cat. This cat must have witnessed the wolf, who it no doubt recognizes it's true self, use this same trick time and again on little girls passing through the forest. It is the 'slutty' girls who talk to, or entertain the wolf, as the little girl did in the beginning. Here, like Perrault's, the wolf is a metaphor for a man.

Luckily, the little girl realizes what is going on, when after asking the werewolf a series of questions, she continues, "Oh grandmother, what big mouth you have!" and he slips up, "Better to eat you with, my child!" With that, she excuses herself to do it, with a rope tied to her leg. She ties the rope to a tree and luckily, she gets home before the wolf can catch her.


2. There's an internal conflict with LRRH as she slowly figures out the trick. Her questions seem to get more specific. She starts with "Oh, grandmother, how hairy you are!" and she says, "Oh, grandmother, what big mouth you have!" seems to figure it out, and makes her escape. There is an internal conflict with the wolf, who doesn't want to let the little girl go outside to do it.


"Oh, grandmother, I have to do it outside!"
"Do it in the bed, my child!"
"Oh no, grandmother, I really have to do it outside."
"All right, but don't take too long."
The bzou tied a woolen thread to her foot and let her go.

The wolf decided to take a chance to let her go, so that he still might enjoy her that evening.