The story was first written and published in a book from 1697 by the French writer Charles Perrault. The name of the book, in English, is "Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose". The story is called "The Little Red Cap" ("Le Petit Chaperon Rouge"). Perrault's version of the tale is the original printed version, but it is likely based on an older oral tradition. It is uncertain if Perrault knew a folk tale from the south of France about a girl who cleverly escapes a werewolf occupying her grandmother's bed.