IWU Global Storytelling Project

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  Korean: 거북이와 토끼 [geobug-iwa tokki] The Rabbitt and the Turtle

  Korean folktale and Seung-Hwan Lee

  This story is a traditional Korean story based on Aesop's Fable "The Tortoise and The Hare." In the story, the two animals run a race. Just like "The Tortoise and The Hare," the Rabbit falls asleep during the race, and the Turtle wins.

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  Russian: Красная Шапочка [Krasnaya Shapochka] Little Red Riding Hood

  Charles Perrault and Marina Balina

  This fairy tale, originally recorded (and modified) in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, was first translated into Russian in 1768. French was the court language in Russia and required knowledge for the children of the noble families, so the first acquaintance with the text of this fairy tale was in the original French language. There were multiple translations into Russian completed in the 19th century when the educational system started to privilege native Russian over French. Among these existed two versions completed by famous Russian writers Vasilii Zhukovsky (1826) and Ivan Turgenev (1866). In both of the translations or rather retellings, the tragic original didactic message of the Little Red Riding Hood's death was changed to a significantly more positive version of her (and her grandmother's) recovery. This was analogous to the narrative changes made in the Brothers Grimm collection of fairy tales translated into Russian as early as 1826.

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  Sinhala: හිවලුන් සහ මිදි [hivalun saha midi] The Fox and the Grapes

  Aesop and Manori Perera

  Based on the classic Aesop fable, this story has the following moral: There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.

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  Spanish: Caperucita roja y el lobo feroz-Little Red Riding Hood and the Bad Big Wolf

  Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, and Carmela Ferradáns

  This version of Little Red follows Brothers Grimm’s story: both Little Red and Gramma get eaten by the big, bad wolf, but they are miraculously rescued by a huntsman or a woodcutter who open the wolf’s belly. This ending is more suitable for younger audiences than older versions with darker themes and more gruesome endings. The moral of the story is clear: children should obey their parents’ advice.

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  Spanish: Jack and the Beanstalk

  Benjamin Tabart and Cecilia Sanchez

  Young Jack lived with his mother and their cow Margarita in an old and dilapidated house. One day Jack’s mother asked him to take the cow to the market to sell it. Instead, he exchanged Margarita for six colorful and magical beans. When he arrived home, his mother was so furious at him, that she opened the window and threw the beans out into the garden. Much to Jack’s surprise, the beans began to grow roots and a thick and tall stalk began to sprout as high as the clouds, reaching Jack’s bedroom window. That night, he was astounded to see the tallest beanstalk he had ever seen and started to climb it to see where it would take him. As he arrived in the land of the clouds, he saw a castle in the distance and walked to the door. An old lady let him in and warned Jack of the miserly giant who lived there. He possessed many bags of gold, as well as a goose that laid golden eggs, and a harp of pure gold. Jack, managed to take down the stalk one of the bags, with the help of the rope that his mother handed him on his second trip down the stalk. He also managed to take down the old lady, at her request, as well as the goose and the harp, and escaped from the giant who was pursuing them. Of the giant, nobody has seen him since.