The story
Charles Perrault (1628–1703)
From Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Tales of Past Times), published in 1697. Retold here in our own words.
There was once a little girl in a village, the prettiest you ever saw, and her mother loved her dearly, and her grandmother loved her more dearly still. The grandmother had a little red riding hood made for her, and it suited her so well that everyone called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One day her mother baked some cakes and said: "Go and see how your grandmother is, for I hear she is ill. Take her these cakes and this little pot of butter." Little Red Riding Hood set off at once through the forest to the village beyond, where her grandmother lived.
On the way she met a wolf, who would have eaten her on the spot, but he did not dare, because some woodcutters were working nearby. So he spoke to her politely instead. "Where are you going, little one?" he asked. The innocent girl, not knowing how dangerous it is to talk to wolves, told him everything: that she was going to her grandmother's with cakes and butter.
"And where does your grandmother live?" asked the wolf. "Beyond the mill, at the first house in the village," she said. "Well then," said the wolf, "I shall go and see her too. I will take this path, and you take that one, and we shall see who gets there first."
The wolf ran as fast as he could by the shortest path, while Little Red Riding Hood wandered by the longer one, gathering hazelnuts, chasing butterflies, and making bouquets of the wildflowers she found. The wolf arrived first, knocked at the grandmother's door, and disguised his rough voice as best he could. "It is your granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood," he said in a sugary tone. "I bring you cakes and butter." The grandmother, who was ill in bed, called out: "Pull the bobbin and the latch will lift." The wolf pulled, the door opened, he sprang upon the poor woman and ate her in a moment, for he had not eaten for three days.
Then he closed the door, climbed into the grandmother's bed, and waited. Soon Little Red Riding Hood knocked: toc, toc. "Who is there?" "It is your granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood. I bring you cakes and butter." The wolf softened his voice: "Pull the bobbin and the latch will lift." She pulled, the door opened, and when she saw her grandmother in bed in her nightcap, she was surprised at how strange she looked.
"Grandmother, what big arms you have!" "All the better to hug you, my child." "Grandmother, what big legs you have!" "All the better to run, my child." "Grandmother, what big ears you have!" "All the better to hear you, my child." "Grandmother, what big eyes you have!" "All the better to see you, my child." "Grandmother, what big teeth you have!" "All the better to eat you!" And with those words the wicked wolf leapt upon Little Red Riding Hood and ate her.
That is the end of Perrault's tale, and he added a moral in verse: young ladies, he warned, should never listen to just anyone, for wolves come in many kinds. Some are charming, gentle and polite, and follow young ladies into their homes and down quiet lanes, and these smooth-tongued wolves are the most dangerous of all.
Moral and themes
Perrault's moral is blunt and aimed at his own society: the wolf is any charming stranger, and the tale warns young women against being lured off the safe path. Unlike later versions, no huntsman comes to the rescue; actions have final consequences. Read as a fable, it is about obedience and caution: the girl leaves the path, talks to a stranger, and dawdles, and each small disobedience brings the wolf closer.
Reading note
This is Perrault's 1697 version, and it is darker than the one most people know. There is no woodcutter, no rescue, no grandmother cut from the wolf's belly: those come from the Grimms' later retelling, which softened the story. Perrault wrote for the French court, and his tales end with verse morals addressed to its young ladies; the wolf here is a seducer as much as a beast. Keep that in mind when you read the famous dialogue: every 'all the better to' is a step deeper into the trap, and Perrault lets it close.