Sweet and Sour: Tales from China retold by Carol Kendall and Yao-Wen Li (1978) with Drawings by Shirley Felts

I’ve recently exchanged “reading to my kids” for “reading with my kids.” Every other week, I have them each select a book that we can read together, yet on our own. My daughter (12) selected Elizabeth Enright’s Thimble Summer (1938), and my son (13) chose this collection of 24 short stories from ancient China.

I think his only criteria in selecting this book was that he judged it to be moderately thinner than the others on the shelf. Luckily so, because he and I both enjoyed these stories, many of them long-form jokes or fables that were as entertaining as they were insightful.

Because I always enjoy a good collection of short stories, I’ve got my own method for reviewing them. Below you’ll find comments for every story in the collection—hopefully without spoilers!—as well as some commentary on each. I also used Story #8 as a springboard for my son’s homeschool assignment, which I’ve included here as well. Enjoy!

1. “A Rare Bargain” – The book begins with a half-page joke, so I knew from the get-go that I’d be enjoying it.

2. “The Clever Wife” – This riddle-like story reminded me two books from my past. First is the obvious collections of Judge Dee mysteries from Robert van Gulik. Second, though and strangely, is A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears (1995) by Jules Feiffer, due to its overall feel of and humor. Loved it.

3. “Ten Jugs of Wine” – Another delightful story whose principles I think could be adapted in many ways—but old men drinking wine in ancient is a perfect setting. It’s a great way to illustrate one ludicrous extreme of the shame culture.

4. “Logic” – This one has a comfortable, rural feel to it, like a Pearl S. Buck novel—and of course it’s got a great, logical punchline.

5. “The Living Kuan-yin” – I was super excited with this story, because it’s set in my old stomping grounds! In fact, this region of the country now has a massive statue of Guan-yin built right into the sea (pictured), and thousands of people still come to worship her—and pay loads of money while doing so. My wife grew up in a village that worshipped this goddess of the sea. When she was terribly sick at age 8, her mother was desperate enough to take her to see a witch doctor, who told them to offer food and say a certain incantation while facing south from the largest lighthouse in the area. My wife and her mother are both now followers of Jesus, but the this goddess played a role in their past, so it was great to see an ancient story the includes her. It’s a story of karma, where the goddess blesses a man’s good deeds of giving to the poor and of keeping his promises.

6. “The Thief Who Kept His Hands Clean” – This was a familiar story to me, because Sid Fleischman rewrote the idea in his book By the Great Horn Spoon! (1963). I don’t know if authors are allowed to borrow ideas like that without referencing their source. I was initially impressed when I read it in Fleischman’s book, but now I’m not so impressed.

7. “The Serpent-Slayer” – This is a traditional story with no real wit and doesn’t quite make sense. There’s nothing puzzling about the dog, the sword, and the food, and there’s no riddle to be unraveled. All that being said, I’m confident that this story is still told somewhere in China, and this girl is still praised at some cave where people come to worship her for good luck. Few likely believe the legend, but that won’t stop them from praying. It’s sad.

8. “From Bad to Good to Bad to Good” – This is a great long-form proverb, and what I called in my notes “Sweet and Sour in action!” The famer’s father glories in misfortune, “for who knows what good might come of it,” and shakes his head at apparent good fortune, “for who is to know what bad thing might come of it.” (39) Because I want my kids to interact with their readings, I turned this story into an assignment for my son, asking that he write a modern-day version starring him and me. This is what he came up with:

One day, my cat Ferdy ran away.

“Sorrow?” I said, “Ah yes, it is sad to lose a cat, but who knows what blessing might not come from this bad fortune?”

Two days later, Ferdy came back—and in his mouth were 20 coupons for free video-game time and 40 coupons for free McDonald’s sandwiches!

“Ah yes,” I said, sort of happily, “this is good enough, but something bad will likely happen because of it.” Not long after, all of my coupons disappeared.

“Hoh! Don’t cry yet!” I said to myself. “Surely something good will happen because of it!”

Later on, I found the coupons. “Hooray!” I wanted to say, but knew that it would end badly.

Sure enough, my dad took the coupons away. He said, “These coupons are fake, you cannot use them.”

Years and years later, I was happy not to have had those McDonald’s coupons, because I would have gotten quite sick of the sandwiches eventually.

9. “The Wine Bibber” – This is a story of greed and deception with a sort-of humorous clincher. It'[s not necessarily a great story for kids to read, but eh. I wouldn’t assume this book is mainly meant for children anyways. I certainly don’t mind my 13yo reading and enjoying it.

10. “Old Fuddlement” – This is silly tale about stupid people, including a magistrate who sounds about as dumb as some of our own politicians and judges! I could compare Old Fuddlement to someone who recently left office, but won’t. You’re welcome.

11. “Bagged Wolf” – Here is a dark fable told with talking trees and animals. Tung Kuo seeks a life of peace and self-denial and love for all life, but when his own life is threatened, the reader is forced to wonder whether his learning has made him wise or a fool. Ultimately, that question is answered, and wonderfully so. I know that there are comparisons to life in this fallen world—for example, that beliefs are mere platitudes until tested in the real world—but I would have to spend more time pondering it to come up with something concrete. Needless to say, I really liked this one!

12. “The Pointing Finger” – In this story about the immortals, one is so upset by human greed that he promises to make immortal the first man he meets who has no smidgeon of greed in his heart. The story suggests he’ll never find such a man.

13. “The Unanswerable” – A simple story about an armorer whose creations in supposedly undefeatable. Most readers would catch his inaccuracies even as the words escaped his mouth, but the whole thing reminds me of the false dilemma created by that ridiculous question, “Can God create a stone too heavy for Him to lift?”

14. “Kertong” – In this intriguing story of love, loyalty, and the mysteries of the spiritual world, a bachelor finds himself blessed with the companionship of a mysterious woman. The title is Chinese onomatopoeia for the sound a small thing makes when dropped into a well of water. It’s a long story and sad, but it’s one of my favorites from the book.

15. “One Hairball” – It’s hard to think of well-worn, ancient fables as unique, wise, and entertaining but this one was all three. The Frog King gets the better of both tiger and fox with a little trickery and I found it quite the intelligent story.

16. “Thievery” – This entry is a quick joke about victimhood in a robbery. It’s obviously not a serious tale, but it somehow reminds me of the judicial systems across our world—especially in the U.K. these days, Yikes!—how so many criminals are literally treated like victims, and the victims like oppressors who deserve whatever crime was coming to them. It’s a messed up world we live in!

17. “The Betrothal” – I was not a fan of this love story. It’s very strange indeed, with a horse fiancé and a girl that herself transforms into something else. It’s too fantastical for me, too much a Chinese fairytale. I’m happy with talking animals at times, but this was not my cup of oolong.

18. “Clod’s Comb” – I really enjoyed this funny story. I wasn’t sure what the punchline would be, but it’s a good one!

19. “Golden Life” – The conclusion to this entry contains some interesting and faulty logic. It seems to ignore the fact that guard’s impulsiveness deserved punishment, even if what he attempted was unsuccessful—and I say this especially since we don’t know how long the guard lived afterwards. A pardon? Nonsense. How about “Life in prison…no matter how long it takes”?

20. “The Piebald Calf” – This is the most Chinese story of them all, to be honest: murder, betrayal, 3 wives, important sons, and harsh revenge. Oh, and animals behaving like humans. Very, very Chinese.

21. “Stewed, Roasted, or Live?” – Although this story takes but 30 seconds to read, it should be an essential bit of literature for every Hunter. Carve it into a pine board and hang it up in the cabin by the lake. Delightful.

22. “The Noodle” – This is a funny little story about an idiot winning a bride by accidentally quoting poetry at the most opportune of times. I’m sure that it’s much better read (or heard) in Chinese, but the English is great as well.

23. “The Monk and the Drunk” – This story with an already good title and plot ends with a punchline I didn’t expect. Short but doubly good.

24. “Coffin Cash” – This mystery of good future was a fantastic way to end this book of Chinese short stories—not to mention a great way for me to ring in the Lunar New Year!

Happy Spring Festival to all my Chinese friends and readers. It’s the Year of the Snake, so time to shed some old habits and experience some new beginnings!

©2025 E.T.