A person who is unexperienced or innocent in certain things

James thinks he's a grown up just because he graduated from high school and bought a car, but when it comes to real life, he's just a babe-in-the-woods. I'm convinced that without his parents supporting him, he would drown in an inch of water

Giacomo crede di essere ormai adulto solo perché ha preso la maturità e si è comperato una macchina, ma di fronte alla realtà della vita è ancora un pulcino nella stoppa. Sono convinto che senza l'aiuto dei genitori affogherebbe in un bicchier d'acqua

He may be an electronic engineer and know everything about computers, but he's still a babe-in-the-woods when it comes to electric circuits: he couldn't even connect two wires

Sarà anche un ingegnere elettronico e saprà tutto di computer, ma di fronte a un circuito elettrico è un pivellino: non saprebbe nemmeno collegare due fili

A popular tale in 16th century England talks about a rich man who dies, leaving his property to his very young son and daughter. Their uncle should take care of them until they grow up, but should they die before that time, he is to inherit, so he hires two men to kill the children. One of the two men though, can't bring himself to do it, so he murders his partner and leaves the children in the woods on their own. Being too young to take care of themselves, the children die and the uncle suffers one calamity after another