What is the moral of Little Red Riding Hood?

What that actually means

Perrault wrote this as a warning about talking to strangers, and it works perfectly well that way. But the more interesting thing is what Red actually does in the cottage. She notices that everything is wrong, one detail at a time, and instead of going quiet about it she says every single observation out loud. What arms are those. What ears are those. She talks her way through her own fear until the truth is standing in the open. That is a genuinely useful skill, and it is more teachable than never speaking to anybody.

What happens in the story

A girl in a red hood takes a basket to her grandmother's cottage and meets a wolf on the path who asks exactly the right questions. He gets there first. What follows is the most famous conversation in any fairy tale, and it does not end the way she expects.

Questions to ask afterwards

The lesson lands better when a child works it out themselves.

1. The wolf asked Red where she was going, and she told him. What could she have said instead?
2. Red noticed something was wrong straight away. Why do you think she kept going?
3. Why do you think the wolf did not simply grab her on the path?
4. Have you ever known something felt wrong but found it hard to say so?
5. Is the wolf wicked, or just hungry and clever? Does it matter?