Pocci’s rewriting of Little Red Riding Hood adds a few magical characters, such as Heriwolf, whose name ends with the animal into which he eventually turns, der Wolf (the wolf), foreshadowing the progress of the story. The metaphorical link between the wolf and the handsome young man, inherited from Perrault’s tale, is switched in favor of a love story that, thanks to the help of fairy Waldminne, will have a happy ending. Heriwolf has indeed eaten his beloved’s grandmother, but every character agrees that the good woman would have died soon in any case.

Heriwolf, son of the woodland fairy Waldminne, is forcing his attentions on Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood). He is surprised to see the sun rising, as he must only live at night, and he turns into a wolf. In the meantime, the dwarf Gübrich, who was sent by Waldminne in search of her son, is changed into a pug and finds a new owner in the person of Kasperl Larifari, a lumberjack. The wolf eats cattle, and we already fear for Rotkäppchen’s safety as she is walking through the woods from old Kathrin’s house, her grandmother. But after seeing her, Heriwolf becomes human again, and she confides in the young man she met at dawn. Unfortunately, his wolf’s appetite makes him eat old Kathrin. He is still hungry and is about to pounce on Rotkäppchen before being shot by the hunters. Waldminne appears and turns Heriwolf back into his human form. He marries Rotkäppchen.