The stories we recognize as fairy tales are a little different from the versions that our ancestors knew. Not all of the changes are recent, though―or made by Disney and other entertainment giants. Whenever a story is shared by a new generation of storytellers, details of the story may change. That’s simply the nature of retelling.

The stories in Grimm’s Fairy Tales were gathered, printed, and bound into books by German brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. The brothers changed some of the stories to make them fit better with the times and with their own beliefs. Many of Grimm’s fairy tales are widely known today, including “The Three Little Pigs” and “Rumpelstiltskin.” These stories have been retold―in writing―by many other authors, each making changes of their own.

Let’s look at one of the Grimm brothers’ tales that you probably know pretty well―the story of Little Red Riding Hood. First, spend a few minutes recalling the details of the version you know. Then, listen to the first half of this version, which is a retelling―not the original Grimm’s version.

Little Red Riding Hood