5 Surprising Folklore Twists

Not Your Ordinary Bedtime Story

Ogres and witches and wolves, oh my!

Think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood? The tale has an oral tradition that goes back for centuries. Many authors, including the Brothers Grimm, have published different versions that generation after generation have enjoyed.

Check out five twists found in several versions of Little Red Riding Hood. These stories might not be what you remember hearing when you were little. However, they can still carry the same morals with them: Don’t stray from your path. Don’t talk to strangers. And be sure to listen to your mother.

The new movie "Red Riding Hood" opens on March 11. Photo of Amanda Seyfried as Red Riding Hood.

By Jana Melpolder

The Huntsman

The story of Little Red Riding Hood sometimes ends on a happy note in which the Grandmother and little girl are alive and safe. In several versions a woodcutter (or a huntsman) comes by and rescues the two women from the wolf. In the Brothers Grimm version of "Children’s and Household Tales", which was published in 1812, a huntsman stops to help the Grandmother and little girl (who was known as Little Red Cap).

As he cuts open the belly of the sleeping wolf the Grandmother and Little Red Cap jump out. Soon they fill the sleeping wolf’s belly with rocks, and when the wolf wakes up, he is unable to run away. The huntsman has captured the wolf, and Little Red Cap is safe with her Grandmother. Sometimes it seems that people really can live happily ever after.

Photo of Shiloh Fernandez as Peter.