The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck - Similarities To "Little Red Riding Hood"

Similarities To "Little Red Riding Hood"

Potter indicated Jemima was a revision of "Little Red Riding Hood", and the similarities between the two are numerous: Jemima and her eggs are substitutes for Red Riding Hood and her grandmother; the farmer's wife and Jemima's sister-in-law Rebeccah are substitutes for Red Riding Hood's mother; the fox and the wolf both conceal their bestial natures beneath the polite behaviour of gentlemen, and the dogs are substitutes for the woodcutters. Both tales touch upon physical appetite, temptation, and foolish behaviour.

Though the tale has a happy ending, tearful Jemima is led back to the farm in public humiliation after losing her eggs to her hungry rescuers. She is allowed to hatch a brood on the farm, but it only produces four ducklings. Potter's revision of "Little Red Riding Hood" more nearly resembles Perrault's tragic tale than the happily-ever-after Grimm version where the heroine is rescued by woodcutters. The author knew her young audience would sympathize with the unhatched ducklings and would not tolerate having Jemima, a mother figure, suffer a bloody end in the fox's shed. The loss of the eggs is sad for the reader, but Potter ended the tale as happily as possible – not only for her audience but for the sake of the real world children of her farm manager, Ralph and Betsy Cannon, to whom the tale was dedicated. Jemima is punished for her headstrong foolishness and must relinquish her hope of finding a nesting spot away from the farm, but the punishment is mitigated when she is allowed to hatch one brood herself.