ABSTRACT
‘This really happened to a friend of a friend of mine’ – the familiar opening of an urban legend. Urban legends or myths can be seen as the modern equivalent of more traditional folklore or fairy stories. The importance of folklore and the oral tradition as a means of communicating religious, moral or instructional tales and fables to a predominately illiterate population is well documented. What better way of warning children about the dangers of straying off the literal and symbolic path than to tell them the tale of Little Red Riding Hood?
