Reading Notes Part A: China: The Panther

I thought that this story was interesting to say the least.  I did notice some similarities and differences between this story and little red riding hood.  Now with Little Red Riding Hood we know how the wolf at the grandmother and pretended to be her when red came over.  Now with this Chinese version it is a panther instead.  This is an elaborate fairy tale because the panther goes through a lot of trouble to convince them he is actually the poor girl’s mother.  Like in Red Riding Hood, where the granddaughter goes, “My what big teeth you have,” the girls say, “Our mother had no spots on her face such as you have.” Right there is a direct correlation between this story and Little Red Riding Hood. What I thought was rather fascinating about this story is how random strangers seem to know about this panther and prepare the girls to kill it.  This is a total contradiction from what we know about the ending of Red Riding Hood.  In the American story the hunter comes in a kills the evil wolf.  With this Chinese version the little girls are the ones to destroy the creature that killed their mother and brother.  Also, this Chinese version is very graphic when describing how the panther killed the mother and brother.  It definitely did make me cringe a little and wonder how the Chinese could tell this story to their kids.  Another question that I had was is the Chinese version the original version and people in American changed it so that it could fit with the moral and values that we cherish here?

Black Panther. (No date)

Katrinavulcova. Source: Pixabay

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. China: The Panther. China:The Panther