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The Old Demon
A stubborn old Chinese woman finds that her perpetual foe, the river, can be an ally when her village is invaded by enemy troops.
- GenresShort StoriesSchool
40 pages
Published January 1, 1982
About the author
Pearl S. Buck
802 books3,124 followersPearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 9, 2025
A short, simple, entertaining story about an old woman who hates a river which calls "the yellow river" and someday she has to make a sacrifice and get help from the river.
I was so sleepy while reading this =) but it was fun.
I was so sleepy while reading this =) but it was fun.
April 27, 2010
Really short story about an old Chinese woman who uses her worst enemy, the Yellow River, as her ally. I enjoyed the story, but the ending was a bit sad.
June 10, 2021
Wars are waged by the rulers. But it is the common people who suffer the effects of war. This story is set in the backdrop of Japanese invasion of China. Old grandmother Wang is the matriarch of the village Wang. The village is situated by the side of the river, which she calls the old demon, because of the damage that it brings to the village during floods. She does not know anything about the Japanese or the war. Her main worry is to keep the village safe from the old demon. All this changes when her village is bombed by Japanese airplanes and she sees an army marching towards the village. Will she be able to save her village with a little help from the old demon?
January 14, 2021
Understated yet magnificent short story of the calm heroism of old age.
An old Chinese widow, kindly even to a wounded Japanese invader, sacrifices her life to enable her family to escape ahead the Japanese invaders who have already bombed their village. Seeing the army approaching, she singlehandedly opens the village floodgates to the Yellow River ("The old demon") to drown them though she herself dies in doing so.
The final triumphant image is of the river joyfully embracing her body as she, and it, charge down to destroy the enemy.
An old Chinese widow, kindly even to a wounded Japanese invader, sacrifices her life to enable her family to escape ahead the Japanese invaders who have already bombed their village. Seeing the army approaching, she singlehandedly opens the village floodgates to the Yellow River ("The old demon") to drown them though she herself dies in doing so.
The final triumphant image is of the river joyfully embracing her body as she, and it, charge down to destroy the enemy.
July 12, 2023
I first read this short story as a child. I hadn't a clue who Pearl S. Buck was, but I found this in a book of short stories my mother had, and I simply couldn't get over the title, so I read it. For the longest time, I couldn't tell if I liked it or not, not understanding concepts like paying someone out of purgatory or the binding of women's feet at a young age, but I do remember liking the ending a good deal.
Reading it again now, I will say that it is interesting, but that it only touches on subjects, and doesn't go into any real detail, apart from what's at hand. Other than that, I do still find the writing style enticing. It's a small thing, as short stories go, but well-written. You get a feeling for what sort of person old Mrs. Wang is, how intelligent, and how strong despite her age.
I think the only negative I have about this story is how little there is to it. I'd have very much liked to hear more of her story. Her youth, raising her son, and how she gained the respect of the others in her village. But I suppose that's how all good stories should be, leaving the reader wanting more.
Reading it again now, I will say that it is interesting, but that it only touches on subjects, and doesn't go into any real detail, apart from what's at hand. Other than that, I do still find the writing style enticing. It's a small thing, as short stories go, but well-written. You get a feeling for what sort of person old Mrs. Wang is, how intelligent, and how strong despite her age.
I think the only negative I have about this story is how little there is to it. I'd have very much liked to hear more of her story. Her youth, raising her son, and how she gained the respect of the others in her village. But I suppose that's how all good stories should be, leaving the reader wanting more.
April 11, 2022
Short, simple, emotional & powerful
December 9, 2024
این کتاب سال 1376 توسط آقای ناصر ایرانی به فارسی ترجمه شده
Want to Read
July 20, 2025Team owns Old Demon, The by Buck, Pearl digitally.
September 30, 2025
Written in 1939. Great short story!
March 10, 2026
Don’t mess with meemaw
December 23, 2023
The Old Demon by Pearl S. Buck. Historical Fiction, Culture
Pearl S. Buck (1892 –1973) was born of American missionary parents. Her first playmates were Chinese children, and she could speak their language before she mastered her own.
“My Several Worlds” is her famous autobiography and her novel “The Good Earth” won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize. She was the first American woman novelist to receive the Nobel Prize in 1938. She became known for her books which deal sympathetically with life in China.
The present story highlights the sacrifice of an old woman for humanity. … OLD MRS. WANG knew of course that there was a war. Everybody had known for a long time that there was war going on and that Japanese were killing Chinese.
But still it was not real and no more than hearsay since none of the Wangs had been killed. The Village of Three Mile Wangs on the flat banks of the Yellow River, which was old Mrs. Wang’s clan village, had never even seen a Japanese.
This was how they came to be talking about Japanese at all. It was evening and early summer, and after her supper Mrs. Wang had climbed the dike steps, as she did every day, to see how high the river had risen. She was much more afraid of the river than of the Japanese.
She knew what the river would do. And one by one the villagers had followed her up the dike, and now they stood staring down at the malicious yellow water, curling along like a lot of snakes, and biting at the high dike banks.
“I never saw it as high as this so early,” Mrs. Wang said. She sat down on a bamboo stool that her grandson, Little Pig, had brought for her, and spat into the water. “It’s worse than the Japanese, this old devil of a river,” Little Pig said recklessly.
“Fool!” Mrs. Wang said quickly. “The river god will hear you. Talk about something else.” So they had gone on talking about the Japanese…. How, for instance, asked Wang, the baker, who was old Mrs. Wang’s nephew twice removed, would they know the Japanese when they saw them?
Mrs. Wang at this point said positively, “You’ll know them. I once saw a foreigner. He was taller than the eaves of my house and he had mud-coloured hair and eyes the colour of a fish’s eyes.
Pearl S. Buck, June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973 Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was an American author, best known for her novels about China. Buck was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia, but as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries she was taken to China in infancy. She received her early education in Shanghai, but returned to the United States to attend college, and graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia in 1914. Buck became a university teacher there and married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist, in 1917. Buck and her husband both taught in China, and she published magazine articles about life there. Her first novel East Wind, West Wind was published in 1930. Buck achieved international success with The Good Earth, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. This story of a Chinese peasant family's struggle for survival was later made into an MGM film. Buck resigned from the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions after publishing an article that was critical of missionaries. She returned to the United States because of political unrest in China. Buck's novels during this period include Sons, A House Divided, and The Mother. She also wrote biographies of her father (Fighting Angel) and her mother (The Exile). She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. During her career, Buck published over 70 books: novels, nonfiction, story collections, children's books, and translations from the Chinese. She also wrote under the pseudonym John Sedges. In the United States, Buck was active in the civil rights and women's rights movements. In 1942 she founded the East and West Association to promote understanding between Asia and the West. In 1949, Buck established Welcome House, the first international interracial adoption agency. In 1964, she established the Pearl S. Buck foundation to sponsor support for Amerasian children who were not considered adoptable. Pearl Buck died in Danbury, Vermont, on March 6, 1973.
Pearl S. Buck (1892 –1973) was born of American missionary parents. Her first playmates were Chinese children, and she could speak their language before she mastered her own.
“My Several Worlds” is her famous autobiography and her novel “The Good Earth” won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize. She was the first American woman novelist to receive the Nobel Prize in 1938. She became known for her books which deal sympathetically with life in China.
The present story highlights the sacrifice of an old woman for humanity. … OLD MRS. WANG knew of course that there was a war. Everybody had known for a long time that there was war going on and that Japanese were killing Chinese.
But still it was not real and no more than hearsay since none of the Wangs had been killed. The Village of Three Mile Wangs on the flat banks of the Yellow River, which was old Mrs. Wang’s clan village, had never even seen a Japanese.
This was how they came to be talking about Japanese at all. It was evening and early summer, and after her supper Mrs. Wang had climbed the dike steps, as she did every day, to see how high the river had risen. She was much more afraid of the river than of the Japanese.
She knew what the river would do. And one by one the villagers had followed her up the dike, and now they stood staring down at the malicious yellow water, curling along like a lot of snakes, and biting at the high dike banks.
“I never saw it as high as this so early,” Mrs. Wang said. She sat down on a bamboo stool that her grandson, Little Pig, had brought for her, and spat into the water. “It’s worse than the Japanese, this old devil of a river,” Little Pig said recklessly.
“Fool!” Mrs. Wang said quickly. “The river god will hear you. Talk about something else.” So they had gone on talking about the Japanese…. How, for instance, asked Wang, the baker, who was old Mrs. Wang’s nephew twice removed, would they know the Japanese when they saw them?
Mrs. Wang at this point said positively, “You’ll know them. I once saw a foreigner. He was taller than the eaves of my house and he had mud-coloured hair and eyes the colour of a fish’s eyes.
Pearl S. Buck, June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973 Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was an American author, best known for her novels about China. Buck was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia, but as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries she was taken to China in infancy. She received her early education in Shanghai, but returned to the United States to attend college, and graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia in 1914. Buck became a university teacher there and married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist, in 1917. Buck and her husband both taught in China, and she published magazine articles about life there. Her first novel East Wind, West Wind was published in 1930. Buck achieved international success with The Good Earth, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. This story of a Chinese peasant family's struggle for survival was later made into an MGM film. Buck resigned from the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions after publishing an article that was critical of missionaries. She returned to the United States because of political unrest in China. Buck's novels during this period include Sons, A House Divided, and The Mother. She also wrote biographies of her father (Fighting Angel) and her mother (The Exile). She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. During her career, Buck published over 70 books: novels, nonfiction, story collections, children's books, and translations from the Chinese. She also wrote under the pseudonym John Sedges. In the United States, Buck was active in the civil rights and women's rights movements. In 1942 she founded the East and West Association to promote understanding between Asia and the West. In 1949, Buck established Welcome House, the first international interracial adoption agency. In 1964, she established the Pearl S. Buck foundation to sponsor support for Amerasian children who were not considered adoptable. Pearl Buck died in Danbury, Vermont, on March 6, 1973.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews