I"ve always said it was a story about bad parenting.
There are wolf.
Child may be screwing with people.
Do you:
A) Let the child out where wolves are and ignore her cries.
B) Keep the child in town doing repetitive and boring tasks so you can watch her.
Modernize it:
Police: So you just let you 8 year old play by themselves un watched?
Parent: Yes
Police: Even though you know for a fact there is someone driving a van and kidnapping 8 year olds?
Parent:Well, twice she told us there was a van when there wasn't, so fuck it.
This was my typical view of most children tails. In hindsight, this may be why my parents stopped reading to me.