By Ed Young, Philomel Books, NY, 1989.
…a Red-Riding Hood story from China. A tale that is thought to be over 1000 years old.
A woman lived with her three children, Shang. Tao, and Paotze, in the country. One day she left to visit their grandmother leaving the three children alone. She would not be returning until the next day. The old wolf had been watching the house and saw the mother leave. He went to the door, knocked two times and told the children that he was their grandmother, their Po Po, coming to visit them. The wolf tricked the children into letting him inside the house and into their bed. They questioned his low voice, his foot with a bush on it, his hands with thorns on them. The eldest child recognized the wolf and devised a plan to get him. They ran from the house and climbed the nearby gingko tree. They convinced the wolf to tie a rope to a basket, climb into a basket, and throw the rope up to them so they could pull him up the tree and he could sample the ginko nuts. As they pulled the wolf up the tree they let go of the ropes so that he fell to the ground. They did this several times until he was finally dead and no longer a threat to them. The children climbed down the tree and ran into the house where they waited until their mother returned. The next day she arrived from the real Po Po’s house with baskets of food.
(Source: ancienthistory.mrdonn.org)
