Lessons of Red Riding Hood

At some point of time, someone somewhere visualized the dangers that lurk in every step for girls – and important lessons were passed on down the generations via bedtime stories like Little Red Riding Hood. There is hardly anyone who has not heard the story of the little girl who was sent by her mother to visit the sick grandmother. The child carried fruits and delicacies for the bedridden grandmother. A wolf saw the child and followed her to the house of grandma. Then, it devoured the old lady and lay in wait to taste more fresh and tasty morsels in the form of little Red Riding Hood.

The lessons are unambiguous –

Mothers should never send their little girls anywhere all alone and without chaperons
Girls should be very careful of strangers and suspicious of anything that appears to be out of the ordinary

Girls should know that villains hide beneath innocent looking dresses of do-gooders, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing