<P> In other tellings of the story, the wolf chases after Little Red Riding Hood . She escapes with the help of some laundresses, who spread a sheet taut over a river so she may escape . When the wolf follows Red over the bridge of cloth, the sheet is released and the wolf drowns in the river . And in another version the wolf is pushed into the fire, while he is preparing the meat of the grandmother to be eaten by the girl . </P> <P> In 2013, it was revealed from scientific research that the tale originated in the 1st century in Europe and not, as previously assumed, in China . The scientists analysed the storylines and characters from 58 versions of the tale from different areas . By means of a computer model they then determined how the different versions of Little Red Riding Hood are related . </P> <P> The earliest known printed version was known as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and may have had its origins in 17th - century French folklore . It was included in the collection Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals . Tales of Mother Goose (Histoires et contes du temps passé, avec des moralités . Contes de ma mère l'Oye), in 1697, by Charles Perrault . As the title implies, this version is both more sinister and more overtly moralized than the later ones . The redness of the hood, which has been given symbolic significance in many interpretations of the tale, was a detail introduced by Perrault . </P> <P> The story had as its subject an "attractive, well - bred young lady", a village girl of the country being deceived into giving a wolf she encountered the information he needed to find her grandmother's house successfully and eat the old woman while at the same time avoiding being noticed by woodcutters working in the nearby forest . Then he proceeded to lay a trap for the Red Riding Hood. Little Red Riding Hood ends up being asked to climb into the bed before being eaten by the wolf, where the story ends . The wolf emerges the victor of the encounter and there is no happy ending . </P>

When was little red riding hood first published