Deep Stream wrote:

> Perhaps the Germans on the list can say more, but
> I believe most *modern* texts of, say, a fairy
> tale, would introduce a girl in a story bei
> saying something like "das Maedchen hiess
> Rotkaepchen" ("the girl [neut] was called red
> riding hood"). Nevertheless, later in the story
> they use feminine pronouns ie "sie ging zu ihrer
> Oma" ("she went to her Grandma").

Hi DeepStream,

much has been made of the neuter gender of "das Maedchen". Feminists got
on this case and even Mark Twain made some sarcastic remarks about it
when traveling in Germany. But one should consider that this is a
diminutive form and in German the diminutive form always becomes neuter.
The original form is "die Maid" which is higly old fashioned, however,
and today only is used in some dialects or ironically.

Greetings,

Kurt Oertel