Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales Unit Reading A: The Panther

The Panther:

• Characters: The mother, the son, two daughters, the panther, needle-vendor, scorpion-catcher, egg-seller, dealer in turtles, man who sold wooden clubs

  

  The Panther: WebSource

• Summary: This story was very much like little red riding hood. In this story, a mother and a son went to visit their grandmother, upon their journey in the woods they came across a panther. The panther would not leave them alone and eventually convinced the mother to let him "brush" her hair, this led to him pulling out chunks of skill and eventually eating her and her son. The panther then stole the mother's clothes. He decided to dress up like the mother and return to her home, hoping to find more food. When he returned he knocked on the door, but the daughters were questioning him about how he looked different. He had an explanation for everything and eventually the two daughters decided it had to be their mother. As soon as they opened the door, they knew it was not so. Later on, they saw the panther eating and asked if they could have some. You see, the panther had saved the little brothers bones for later and that is what he was eating. He gave the daughters a small finger and they immediately knew what had happened. They escaped the house and climbed a tree. They lured the panther into a basket and revealed his true identity and he ran away. The girls were terrified and knew he would be back to eat them. The next morning a needle-vendor was passing by when he saw the distraught girls. He asked them why and when they told him, he gave them needles to place in the cushions of the arms chair. Next a scorpion-vendor can by and after hearing what had happened he gave them a scorpion and told them to place it next to the torch. Next an egg-seller came along and after hearing their story gave them an egg and told them to put it in the ashes. Next came long a turtle-dealer and when hearing their story he gave them a turtle and told them to place it in a water bucket. Next came a man who sold wooden clubs, when hearing their story he gave them clubs and told them to hang them over the door to the street. When the wolf returned he first sat in the needles, which poked him, when he ran to grab a torch the scorpion stung his, when he looked down into the fire the egg exploded blinding him, he then ran to the trough where the turtle bit him, and when he ran out the door the clubs fell on his head and killed him. 
• My idea: For this story, I want to retell it in the panthers perspective. I want to know what made him choose the mother and her son. Were they the first humans he came across? Why did he decide to go to the house? Was he starving and in need of a lot of food or was he just pure evil. I also may change the story ending. Maybe make the panther learn his lesson and make him friends with the daughters. But could they ever trust him? Could the panther ever go against his instincts? Why could he not just eat animals? I am not sure which way I would go with, but we will see.
• Bibliography: Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: The Panther. 1921.