In Oral Traditions: When Did the French Stop Speaking Latin, voices from 13th century street theatre, a 17th century fairy tale by Perrault, and the journal of an unhappy 19th century queen, blend to show how the French language evolved from its Latin roots. The focus is on past tense verbs, the core of oral and written narrative. This work includes textual references, analysis, and transcriptions of recordings from the 1980s of three subjects from northern France telling their versions of Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood.)