Rabbit Ears Book Blog: Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays #36: The Three Little Pigs

Friday, March 22, 2019

Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays #36: The Three Little Pigs

Hey there! Welcome to "Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays," a new feature on my blog where I discuss about some fairy tales and folktales I have read throughout the years.

The Three Little Pigs

Type: Fairy Tale

Country of Origin: Europe and America

Main Character Hero or Heroine: Heroine or Hero, depending on the version.

Recommend?: Yes!

Once upon a time, there were three pigs who had moved out of their mother's house to out into the world and they each ended up building their own houses. The first little pig built his house out of straw and latter on, a wolf came up to the first little pig's house and said:

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!"

So the wolf blew down the house and ate up the first little pig. Then, the second little pig built his house out of sticks and the wolf came to the second little pig's house and also blew it down and ate up the second little pig. Then the third little pig built his house out of bricks and when the wolf came to the third little pig's house, he tried to blow the house down, but he couldn't. So, the wolf decided to think of ways to get the third little pig out of the safety of his house and eat him and he came up with various plans such as asking him to pick some apples with him and go to the fair with him. The third little pig will have to play the wolf at his own game if he is to survive the wolf's clutches.

This has always been one of my all time favorite fairy tales growing up and also one of the most gruesome (right next to "Little Red Riding Hood). I was always fascinated by the idea of the big bad wolf being able to blow the houses down since it was quite interesting to me when I was little. I will admit that I cringed a bit during the scenes where the wolf ate the first two pigs and I often wondered if the third little pig even know that his brothers were eaten by the wolf. I would have been upset if something terrible happened to my sisters.

1. Were you scared when the wolf ate the first two pigs?

I had a feeling of dread when the wolf ate the pigs, although I was never outright scared of those scenes, unless I came across some retellings of the story that showed the wolf eating the pigs onscreen.

2. What do you think the moral of this story was?

I think that the moral of this story is that hard work really pays off at the end. You could say that the first two little pigs building their houses out of straw and sticks was a sign of them not working much harder to protect themselves against the wolf. This is actually more obvious in the Disney version where the first two pigs did nothing but play around, while the third little pig was a hard worker.