10 Similarities of Myth of Persephone with a Fairy Tale Red Riding Hood

We all know how important is the role of the father in the child's raising. Persephone is obviously growing up alone with her mother Demeter just like Red Riding Hood grows up alone with her mother. Considering the supernatural powers of Demeter, who is one of the most important goddesses in Greek Pantheon, we can easily assign some superpowers to Red Cap's mother as well. The power of anyone's mother is definitely the first ultimate power experienced by the majority of children.

Nobody, not even a super mother, can't protect a child from all dangers in the world. While Demeter and Red Cap's mom both warn their daughter from the dangers in the world, none of the girls succeeded to stay safe when confronted with The Beast. The wolf and Hades are simply too smart and too powerful for them.

Here we find one of the most important messages in all stories for and about children: no matter what the parents do, kids will make mistakes. In the case of our stories, these are the capital errors.

Youth is represented by Red Cap and Persephone. They are young, energetic, and careless. They both face very important changes in their lives. Their decisions will mark them for the rest of their lives.

Adulthood is portrayed through Red Cap's mother and Demeter. They both want best fro their offspring but are very limited in their influence. Mothers simply can't be there for their children all the time.

The old age is presented by granny and Hades. Granny is weak and ill. Her life force is slowly vanishing. Hades is the god of death. They both represent the end of life.

Hades makes a plan with Zeus and wolf makes a plan to overtake the Red Riding Hood. Both are very powerful but understand their supremacy would be even greater with a plan ahead.

While the wolf and Hades could directly attack their victims, they rather trick them (and others - Red Cap had support in her granny, Persephone in Oceanids). Both holders of evil forces clearly understand they should not bet on their brute power only. Being smart can also be a decisive advantage.

It's interesting to note both used flowers in their deceptions.

Picking flowers as a symbolic representation of life is present in both stories. When the flower is picked, it's killed, just like the youthfulness of both girls is ended. Persephone strays from the group thanks to a beautiful flower and Red Riding Hood strays from the shortest path to her grandmother's home. Thanks to that they both fell into the hands of the predators.

The symbolic fight between light and darkness, day and night, summer and winter, life and death, good and evil, ... is shown in both stories in a very graphical way. The girl is eaten by the wolf. Her day instantly turns into night, just like at Persephone, who is abducted by Hades and transported into the underworld. They are both literally swallowed by darkness.

But both eventually came back. While the collision of light and darkness is presented as a conflict which needs an instant and definitive solution at first we can later understand it more as a way to find a balance between both. There is no light without darkness or life without death.

Red Riding Hood is carrying food to her granny so she could heal up. Food is also a reason for the wolf's death.

Food (pomegranate seed) is the reason why Persephone can't leave Hades for good. Everybody who eats food in the underworld has to stay there forever. On the other hand, Zeus, as a supreme god declared she could return home, to Demeter. So the food acts as the link between both laws - she spends some time on earth and some time under.

In both stories, the girl falls in seemingly in unsolvable position. Red Cap obviously can't escape from wolf's stomach and Persephone can't leave the underworld.

But higher power interferes:

A hunter (often represented as a surrogate of Red Riding Hood's father) comes by, hears the wolf's snoring and decides to take action. Without this additional character, the story would end with the wolf's lunch.

Zeus (Persephone's real father), convinced by catastrophe, caused by Demeter's mourning, orders Hades (who, by the way, is his brother and doesn't listen any kind of orders) to return Persephone. Thanks to already mentioned pomegranate she can't leave for more than six or nine months. Without Zeus, she would stay in the underworld forever.

A motif of rebirth is quite often in myths and fairy tales. The question of death and what comes next is very important for people for millenniums. The myth of Persephone clears the fear about the winter which brings coldness and hunger - it will be over and spring will return on earth.

The story of Red Cap tells the same. But it can be also understood as the eternal play between day and night, or, especially since Christianity, the question of death. It's an essential belief of all Christians - everybody who dies will eventually return to some kind of life.

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https://yesterdaysdream.hatenadiary.com/entry/2019/02/10/090001

https://topillustrations.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/little-red-riding-hood-in-pictures/

https://childrensandhouseholdtales.wordpress.com/2019/08/08/little-red-riding-hood-the-story-with-pictures-by-arpad-schmidhammer/