Reading Notes: English Tales, Part A

The Three Little Pigs

from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

The Three Little Pigs. Source: Greenville Symphony Orchestra. 

The story of the three little pigs is one that we all know from way back in kindergarten, or even earlier. I realized that I only remember the children's version of the story. I don't remember ever reading about how the third little pig was tricked into going to all of these places by the wolf and in turn tricking the wolf. 

The wolf and pig trick each other back and forth a few times.

The first is when the wolf tells the pig that there is a field where he can find nice turnips. He tells the pig to be ready by 6 am and they can go together but the pig gets up at 5 and already gets the turnips before the wolf can show. This angers the wolf so he tries something else.

The second is when the wolf tells the pig that there is a garden where he can find a nice apple tree. He tells the pig to be ready at 5 am this time but the pig gets up at 4 and already goes to the tree. This time it was farther and he had to climb the tree and as he was coming down, he saw the wolf was already there. He tricks the wolf by saying that he'll throw one of the apples down to him and instead he throws it so far that when the wolf goes to get it, the pig runs back home.

The third and last time is when the wolf asks the pig if he wants to go to the fair. The pig goes there early again and when he sees the wolf coming, he puts himself into a butter-churn he bought and starts rolling down the hill towards the wolf. The wolf gets scared and runs away.

And then the story goes like other versions with the wolf going down the chimney and falling into a pot of boiling water.

I’m not sure how I want to write a story on this but I do know that I want to break it into three parts because of the three ways the wolf and pig trick each other.