Chapter Reason to Red Riding-Hood of R by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, calls sir Perimonês “Meridies” or “Noonday Sun.” The Latin name is not consistent with a British tale.—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, i. 129 (1470); Tennyson: Idylls.

Red Knight of the Red Lands (The), sir Ironside. “He had the strength of seven men, and every day his strength went on increasing till noon.” This knight kept the lady Lionês captive in Castle Perilous. In the allegory of sir Gareth, sir Ironside represents death, and the captive lady “the Bride” or Church triumphant. Sir Gareth combats with Night, Morn, Noon, and Evening, or fights the fight of faith, and then overcomes the last enemy, which is death, when he marries the lady or is received into the Church which is “the Lamb’s Bride.” Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, makes the combat with the Red Knight (“Mors” or “Death”) to be a single stroke; but the History says that it endured from morn to noon, and from noon to night—in fact, that man’s whole life is a contest with moral and physical death.—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, i. 134-137 (1470); Tennyson: Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”).

Red Land (The). Westphalia was so called by the members of the Vehmgericht.

Originally, none but an inhabitant of the Red Land …could be admitted a member of the Wissende [or secret tribunal].—Chambers: Encyclopadia, iv. 281.

Red-Lattice Phrases, ale-house talk. Red lattices or chequers were ordinary ale-house signs.—Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 4 (1596).

The chequers were the arms of Fitzwarren, the head of which house, in the days of the Henrys, was invested with the power of licensing the establishments of vintners and publicans. Houses licensed notified the same by displaying the Fitzwarren arms.—Times, April 29, 1869.

Red Pipe. The Great Spirit long ago called the Indians together, and, standing on the red pipe-stone rock, broke off a piece, which he made into a pipe, and smoked, letting the smoke exhale to the four quarters. He then told the Indians that the red pipe-stone was their flesh, and they must use the red pipe when they made peace; and that when they smoked it the war-club and scalping-knife must not be touched. Having so spoken, the Great Spirit was received up into the clouds.—AmericanIndian Mythology.

The red pipe has blown its fumes of peace and war to the remotest corners of the continent. It visited every warrior, and passed through its reddened stem the irrevocable oath of war and desolation. Here, too, the peace-breathing calumet was born, and fringed with eagle’s quills, which had shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and soothed the fury of the relentless savage.—Catlin: Letters on…the North Americans, ii. 160.

Red Riding-Hood (Little), a child with a red cloak, who goes to carry cakes to her grandmother. A wolf placed itself in the grandmother’s bed, and when the child remarked upon the size of its eyes, ears, and nose, replied it was the better to see, hear, and smell the little grandchild. “But, grandmamma,” said the child, “what a great mouth you have got!” “The better to eat you up,” was the reply, and the child was devoured by the wolf.

(This nursery tale is, with slight variations, common to Sweden, Germany, and France. In Charles Perrault’s Contes des Fées (1697) it is called “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge.”)