The Tale of the Slandered Wolf

Practice:

The teacher asks the students the meaning of the word “slandered”. The meaning of the word “slandered” as it is used in this activity is “those who have been mistreated, abused and who experienced difficulty because of something”.

The group leader reads the “The Tale of the Slandered Wolf”. After the reading session, the teacher initiates and maintains a discussion by guiding the students through the following questions:

– Do you remember your feelings about the wolf when you read the story “Little Red Riding Hood” when you were a child?

– How do you feel about the wolf right now?

– Have your feelings changed about Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, and the hunter?

-Have any of your strict feelings about a situation or a person ever changed after getting to know or listening to them? Who wants to give an example?

-What was the purpose of this story?

The teacher divides the students into groups and they are asked to choose a hero from another story and tell it from their own perspective, but by changing the known facts. Example: Fairy such as Cinderella, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk. If they desire, groups can also draw this fairy tale on a paper.

Students’ stories are shared with the entire class.

At the end of the activity, “sharing circles” can be formed and students can be asked to talk on the following topics: “Someone misunderstood my point of view” or “I once misunderstood someone else’s point of view.”

*The group leader summarizes the purpose of this session once again, asks the students how they feel about the activity in this session, and concludes it.

“The Tale of the Slandered Wolf”:

Written by: Lief Fearn Translated and Adapted by: Nevin Dölek

The forest was my home. I lived there and cared a lot about the forest. I was trying to keep it clean and neat. While I was throwing out the garbage left by some picnickers on a sunny day, I heard footsteps in the forest. I immediately hid behind a tree and saw a little girl coming carrying a basket in her hand. I was immediately very suspicious of this little girl because she was dressed in a very strange way. She was all in red head to toe; a red coat, a red cap on her head as if she was trying to hide herself from others. Naturally, I decided to stop her and interrogate her. I asked her who she was, where she was heading, and what she had in her basket. She answered me by singing and dancing around me. She said that she brought food to her grandmother. She actually looked like an honest girl, but this forest was mine and she really sounded suspicious with her outfit. Also, it didn’t seem right to me that a little girl was walking around in the forest by herself. For this reason, I thought it was necessary to teach her a lesson that the forest could be a dangerous place and that it would not be okay for her to walk around the it alone in a funny outfit without telling anyone.

            I let her continue her way, but I ran through the shortcuts to reach her grandmother’s house before her. Her grandmother is a very nice and very kind lady. We have known each other a long time and become friends. When I arrived at grandmother’s, I explained the situation to her, and she decided that a lesson should be taught to her little granddaughter. Grandmother decided to hide until I called her. She got under the bed and waited. I, therefore, put on one of the grandmother’s clothes and wore her sleeping cap.

            When the little girl reached home, I got into bed and called her over. The girl approached with red cheeks and said sarcastic things about my ears. There were people who mocked my big ears before, so I underestimated her and said my ears were big in order to hear it better. In short, I wanted to tell her that I like her, that I care about her, and that I want to eagerly listen to what she has to say. In response to my well-intended approach, she sarcastically asked why my eyes were popping like this. Now you can imagine how I began to feel towards this naughty little girl, but I still haven’t had lost control. I put a smile on my face and continued to be nice. I said my eyes were created big in order to see her better.

            Her next insult really broke me. Between you and me, I have a problem; my teeth are huge. This has always upset me. I have even thought about going to a dentist and getting my teeth shortened a little bit. As you see, this little girl made fun of a trait of mine I was obsessing over the most. I know I should have controlled myself better, but I couldn’t stand it. And I ended up jumping out of the bed, grunted and said that my teeth were big so that I could eat her.

            Now, let’s accept it, no wolf can eat a little girl – everyone knows that – but this crazy little girl started running and screaming around the house. So I ran after her, tried to calm her down and explain that I was joking, but it didn’t work! At one stage, I took off her grandmother’s clothes, but that made the situation even worse. Suddenly, the door opened and a hunter entered with a huge axe in his hand. As soon as I looked at the hunter, I knew I was in big trouble. Thankfully, I found an open window and escaped.

            And that’s how the story went, but for some reason, the grandmother never told it from my point of view. Shortly after that, rumors about how cruel and evil I supposedly was began to spread all around. Everyone pulled away from me. I don’t know how the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ continued with her life, but my life went by, full with sadness and loneliness after this incident. For this reason, we wolves are almost extinct. I’m sure that the story of that spoiled girl with a weird red hood had a big influence on this.