ABSTRACT
For heroines of the ‘innocent slandered maiden’ type we can expect a murder attempt, but the tale does not really centre on the murder episode as such, and the heroine for her part does not do a great deal to avert her fate, although she may show considerable initiative in variants where she is disguised as a man. Other tale-plots are, however, considerably more inclined to indulge an appetite for ghoulish horror, at times apparently for its own sake, and the ‘compassionate executioner’ is not likely to be on standby either. Tales of plucky young girls who elude being devoured or murdered by an animal or human predator are well entrenched in the modern repertoire. The best known are Little Red Riding Hood (Little Redcap) and Bluebeard; both are often felt to be tales of relatively limited distribution and obscure early history. Once more there is a great deal of further exploration still to be done.
