Reading Diary A: Chinese Fairy Tales

(Chinese leopard)

The Panther

This story is about a panther who eats a mother and her son, and then poses as the mother in order to eat the rest of her children. The children figure out that the panther has eaten their mother and brother and they are very frightened. They end up scaring the panther off, but are afraid for when the panther comes back because he will be mad. But then, a couple of people come along and help them keep away the panther for good. What I liked about this story was the defeat of the panther in the end. I thought the development of it was really cool and would love to retell it in a different way.   

Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

What I liked about this story was the quarrel between the cat and the dog came to be. It seems like many people get into arguments and they become enemies and they keep that animosity going. This also reminded me of the classic cartoon Ben and Jerry. It is crazy how something so small can make people enemies,  

The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck

The most interesting theme in this story is the loyalty that the wife and husband show to each other. In this story a prince's daughter is looking for a husband, but she finds a man that her father does not approve up because the man is poor, but has good luck. Although, she is still adamant about marrying the man, and so she does. When they become married, they both struggle to live and the husband goes away to seek his fortune. For eighteen years the husband is gone, and he is now an emperor. He also comes back for his wife who is only getting by with little money from her mother because her father has still disowned her. But when she sees her husband, she does not know it is him and he asks her would she marry someone else. The wife says no and that she will wait for her husband until she dies. Very happy with her answer he takes her and shares his great fortune.  

The Cave of the Beasts

The interesting thing about this story was the selfishness of the father. When the father goes to gather wood for his wife and seven daughters, he finds seven duck eggs. But he does not want to share the eggs with his daughters. The father gives the eggs to his wife and the daughters each come and ask for an egg, but the mother tells each daughter that if she gives each one an egg if they do not tell anyone. Later, the father is upset and decides to leave his daughter out in the woods for the fox and wolf to eat them. While the girls are out in the woods they find a cave that is filled with jewels, a fire to keep them warm, and a couple of beds. Not knowing the the cave belongs to the fox and wolf, the girls end up killing the fox and wolf by making a bigger fire when they find out that the fox and wolf are in the cave, After time goes by, the father misses his daughters and goes to find them. He then finds them in the cave with all the jewels and they then become wealthy. I thought the ending was lacking in karma. I believe the father should have not had a happy ending considering all that he did. I am thinking of creating a different ending if I retell this story.

Chinese Fairy Tales unit.