One of the stories that I told for my "Family Story Time - Folktales from Asia" (see post for 7/27/11) was a story from Korea called "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!" which can be found in Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra and Robert Kaminski. Three of my all-time favorite flannel board stories ("The Elegant Rooster," "The Goat in the Chili Patch," and "The Knee-High Man") are in this book but I never looked beyond the flannel board section until recently when I started telling more stories using props. This story comes from the second section of the book and I picked it because of the absurdity of the "characters." The heroes are a talking banana peel, egg, mat, and rope who save an old woman from being eaten by a talking tiger. The talking tiger was completely accepted but the others elicited several giggles especially the talking banana peel.
I made the old woman and banana peel out of clip art. I braided yarn for the rope and wove strips of construction paper for the mat. Since I didn't have a plastic egg, I used a cat toy. Although, my philosophy about making props is to use what you have and not to get too elaborate, I did make a three-dimensional tiger. I found a one piece pattern here. It was surprisingly easy to put together. The "stage" where I placed the figures while telling the story was an Amazon.com box which I also use to store props. This story can also be told with puppets.
Amazon Theater - "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!"
This weeks Flannel Friday round-up can be found at Anne's So Tomorrow blog here.
Hi! I came across this blog because I've been searching this story everywhere! I somewhat remember it from my childhood, was one of my favorites, and I really really wish to read it again. Do you think you can post it online? or send it to my e-mail? Please! I'll be so much grateful!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay but I couldn't check the source until today. This story is very brief in the book. The author (see above)gives the country of origin as Korea for she heard it from a nine-year-old girl who learned it from her mother who was Korean born. For copyright reasons I can't post the story but I can give you a brief summary. A tiger finds an old worman working in her garden and decides to eat her. She manages to postpone her fate by convincing him that she is too thin and would make a better meal after she has eaten. The tiger agrees and says he will be back at midnight. As she is eating the old woman is crying. A banana peel walks in and asks her why she is crying. After hearing her story, it offers to help. The same happens with the egg, straw mat and rope. When the tiger returns he slips on the banana peel, the egg explodes in his face, the mat wraps around him and the rope ties itself around the mat thus saving the old woman. The author also cites a similiar tale, "The Terrible Nung" which is a Chinese folktale retold by Ed Young. I hope this is of some help.
DeleteI totally understand. Thank you so much! I'm definitely buying the book, those stories were great. By the way, this blog of yours is wonderful! Regards from Ecuador!
DeleteThank you! The book is a mostly a collection of stories for the flannel board with patterns. The stories themselves are only a page or two long. Featuring folktales from around the world,it is a great resource for teachers, librarians and storytellers
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