How Did the Great Bear Originate?: Folktales from Mongolia | 
Up way, way too late reading this back and forth with my flat mate. I was wired after the first public reading of my first play, “Beneath the Heavens,” set in Mongolia where I lived years ago. Love this collection of Mongolian folktales—such a fascinating window into cultural values & anxieties. Our fav. was the “The Fox, the Hedgehog, and the Wolf. Gotta love a cunning hedgie.
“Once upon a time a wolf, a fox and with a hedgehog lived together. Then one day they found a plum and they discussed who should eat it. The wolf said, “The one who gets drunk most easily eats the plum.” They agreed on this idea. So the wolf continued, ‘As soon as I taste drink I am drunk.‘ Then the fox said, ‘As soon as I smell a drink I am drunk.‘ Then the hedgehog said, ‘As soon as I hear about a drink I am drunk,‘ and he swayed.”
