just as Sleeping Beauty is awakened by the Prince’s kiss.  The kiss may be a survival of an ancient form of worship of some local goddess.  In the Hindu Panch-Rhul Ranee, seven ditches surmounted by seven hedges of spears, surround the heroine.  Of the Perrault and Grimm versions of Sleeping Beauty, the Perrault version is long and complex because it contains the minor tale of the cruel stepmother added to the main tale, while the Grimm Briar Rose is a model of structure easily separated into ten leading episodes. Sleeping Beauty appeared in Basile’s Pentamerone where there is given the beautiful incident of the baby sucking the spike of flax out of its sleeping mother’s fingers.  The Perrault version agrees with that of Basile in naming the twins, who are Sun and Moon in the Pentamerone, Day and Dawn.

Red Riding Hood is another romantic tale[11] that could claim to be the one most popular fairy tale of all fairy tales.  Similar tales occur in the story of the Greek Kronos swallowing his children, in the Algonquin legend repeated in Hiawatha, and in an Aryan story of a Dragon swallowing the sun and being killed by the sun-god, Indra. Red Riding Hood appeals to a child’s sense of fear, it gives a thrill which if not too intense, is distinctly pleasing.  But it pleases less noticeably perhaps because of its atmosphere of love and service, and because it presents a picture of a dear little maid.  The Grandmother’s gift of love to the child, the bright red hood, the mother’s parting injunction, the Wolf’s change of aspect and voice to suit the child—­all these directly and indirectly emphasize love, tenderness, and appreciation of simple childhood.  The child’s errand of gratitude and love, the play in the wood, the faith in the woodcutter’s presence—­all are characteristic of a typical little maid and one to be loved.  There is in the tale too, the beauty of the wood—­flowers, birds, and the freshness of the open air.  The ending of the tale is varied.  In Perrault the Wolf ate Grandmother and then ate Red Riding Hood.  In Grimm one version gives it that the Hunter, hearing snoring, went to see what the old lady needed.  He cut open the Wolf, and Grandmother and Red Riding Hood became alive.  He filled the Wolf with stones.  When the Wolf awoke, he tried to run, and died.  All three were happy; the Hunter took the skin, Grandmother had her cake and wine, and Red Riding Hood was safe and had her little girl’s lesson of obedience.  Another Grimm ending is that Little Red-Cap reached the Grandmother before the Wolf, and after telling her that she had met him, they both locked the door.  Then they filled a trough with water in which the sausages had been boiled.  When the Wolf tried to get in and got up on the roof, he was enticed by the odor, and fell into the trough.  A great deal of freedom has been used in re-telling the ending of this tale, usually with the purpose of preventing the Wolf from eating Red Riding Hood.  In regard to the conclusion of Red Riding Hood, Thackeray said:  “I am reconciled to the Wolf eating Red Riding Hood because I have given up believing this is a moral tale altogether and am content to receive it as a wild, odd, surprising, and not unkindly fairy story.”