Old Sultan

Introduction

'Old Sultan' is one of the warmest and funniest animal tales in the Brothers Grimm collection. It opens with a touch of sadness: a faithful old dog has lost his teeth and can no longer work, so his master plans to shoot him. Chinese folk wisdom has an old saying for this: 'When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the rabbits are dead, the hunting dog is boiled.' The moment someone or something seems useless, it is thrown aside. But this story offers a different answer: gratitude and kindness. The wolf's trick — a fake kidnapping and a real rescue — is a well-meaning lie that saves the dog's life. The later 'duel' is the comic peak of the tale: the three-legged cat raises her tail in pain, and the wolf and the boar mistake it for a sabre; each hop looks like she is picking up a stone. When the cat bites the boar's ear and the boar shouts 'The guilty one is up in the tree!', the wolf's cowardice is exposed at once. This 'mistaken weapon' joke delighted audiences long ago in medieval beast epics such as Reynard the Fox. We retell the story in the style of a Chinese fable because its bones are already fable-like: the characters are clear at a glance, and the lesson hides inside the laughter. As you read, ask your child whether the farmer was right to plan the old dog's death — and what it tells us that even the wolf and the dog finally make peace.