Riding in the Hood
The childrens’ short story or fable of Little Red Riding Hood is said to have derived from oral histories during the Middle Ages, when demons and evil beasts still roamed the woods of the Black Forrest. I presume these were less about entertaining children than they were about cautioning them about the dangers in the woods. Anthropomorphizing the beasts of the forrest for the purpose of warning children not to wander off alone may have been about the threat of wild animals, but was more likely the age-old concern parents have for children endangering themselves by talking to strangers with evil intent in their hearts. Chatting up a wolf and then giving him enough information to endanger both Grandma and the girl before devouring them, seems like a reasonable warning to give children before bed. Whether they understand the analogy to evil strangers or simply don’t like wolves, children are likely to remember the tale and be duly chastised.
The Fairy Tale as a genre was first initiated by Charles Perrault of France when he published his book of tales and stories of past times (Histoires ou contes du temp passé) in 1697 featuring such favorites as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Puss & Boots among others. He was well known in France, but I dare say the German storytellers got the better of him very soon.
In 1812, the commercial Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm), cast off their life in academia and opted to take their passion for philology and specifically folklore and publish their Children’s and Household Tales, This became known over time and especially in America and England as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It included such favorites as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Pied Piper, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince and Little Red Cap (which was only much later changed to Riding Hood to follow the footsteps of Perrault). What would children down through the ages have done for bedtime stories without these? For that matter, what would Disney have done without them? These predominantly peasant tales were passed down for centuries and may well have been a large part of the entertainment for the hearths of Europe.
I find the story of these timeless fables of interest as a writer, but I find them even more interesting as a member of a civilization that finds it valuable to tell cautionary tales to children. Do we really need to protect our youth by scaring them at an early age? I would much rather live in a world that tells children stories of acts of great kindness rather than great evils that lurk in the shadows.
I recall my mother telling me about a study she was involved with while she was at the UN, working on programs for the advancement of women and children. It seems that some cultures, like Germanic cultures, lend comfort to their infants by swaddling them tightly, constraining them from movement, but giving them a sense of security and perhaps a realization that the world was something to be protected against. Mediterranean cultures had a tendency to swaddle their infants loosely and thereby give them a sense of freedom and happiness and by contrast, with a great faith in the goodness of the world around them. The study concluded that whether one was the cause or the effect, there was a correlation between the two swaddling techniques and the cultural psyches of those differing peoples.
I have thought of this old juxtaposition because this afternoon, having run out of chores on the back hillside, I decided to take a casual ride around my neighborhood on my motorcycle. I rode three times with son Thomas last week, so I wasn’t hankering for a ride, but was more hankering to see other people and be sociable. Having very much enjoyed our pizza-making party with Faraj and Yasuko joined by Melissa and Mike, I chose to ride by each of their homes. A mid-Friday afternoon stop-by visit used to be a more normal event than it is today. If it had been done via car, it would have seemed very purposeful. If it had been done via a walk, it would have seemed totally casual and accidental. I was wearing my Crocs (not exactly kosher riding gear) and chose to wear no gloves (something I would never do on the road). This was my personalized attempt to be both causal yet personable without having to do so much walking.
Strangely enough, it worked. I found Mike and Melissa at home and had a nice chat about foreign travel, since we are heading to Italy next week. We spoke of their upcoming family visits and gatherings. It was all very post-pandemic in feel. I also found Faraj and Yasuko in their gardening duds bringing young tomato plants in due to a possibility of frost tonight. We spoke of construction underway in the hood, something that always interests or concerns neighbors. Faraj mentioned that they might build a new house on a nearby hill lot in the hood. Yasuko joked that they might be dead before that happened. These are the topics that focus all of our attentions in the world of COVID and retirement.
I bet that if the Brothers Grimm were alive today, they would be gathering tales of pandemic angst and recovery or perhaps about the fears of new people disturbing our pastoral peace. We have only met these two couples a few times now over the past few years and yet I feel that we are all kindred spirits that yearn to psychologically huddle in front of our home fires, talking about the good old or bad old days before we return home to our quiet and happy isolation until we feel the need again soon to reach out for kindred spirits and gather to remind ourselves that we are not alone in the world. I don’t know if this is all unique to the post-COVID world or even to the AARP retirement set, but it feels different to the psychosocial patterns I spent a lifetime experiencing. It may be as simple as that I have more time to reflect on these things than I used to. What I do know is that I am more inclined to ride around my hood near my hilltop these days than in venturing forth on any given day to find adventures in the great beyond over the next hill. I will take that as a normal right of passage as I approach my four score and ten.