The Wolf, also called The Big Bad Wolf, is the antagonist in the medieval European fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood." Usually depicted as either a sentient bipedal wolf or a human-wolf hybrid, the Wolf is initially seen by Red as a harmless friendly ally, before turning on her and her grandmother with human-eating (metaphorically paedophilic) intentions.
The Wolf is a secondary antagonist in the Stephen Sondheim play Into the Woods. His role faithfully adheres to the original story, and his aria "Hello Little Girl" emphasizes the metaphor of paedophilia.
In her dealings with the Foitani, Professor Jennifer Logan frequently compared (in her own mind) their appearances and personalities to the Big Bad Wolf of folklore. Several times in her ordeal, she expected that one or another of them would say "the better to see you with, my dear," "the better to smell you with, my dear," "the better to hear you with, my dear," etc., right up to "the better to eat you with, my dear."
