Three Little Pigs English

[Sofía Goldthwait]

The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house that is made of bricks. The printed versions of this fable date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source. In 1886, Halliwell-Phillipps had published his version of the story, in the fifth edition of his Nursery Rhymes of England, and it included, for the first time in print, the now-standard phrases "not by the hair of my chiny chin chin" and "I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in".[1][2]

The phrases used in the story, and the various morals drawn from it, have become embedded in Western culture. Many versions of The Three Little Pigs have been recreated and modified over the years, sometimes making the wolf a kind character. It is a type B124[3] folktale in the Thompson Motif Index.

"The Three Little Pigs" was included in The Nursery Rhymes of England (London and New York, c.1886), by James Halliwell-Phillipps.[4] The story in its arguably best-known form appeared in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, first published on June 19, 1890, and crediting Halliwell as his source.[5] The earliest published version of the story is from Dartmoor, Devon, England in 1853, and has three little pixies and a fox in place of the three pigs and a wolf. The first pixy had a wooden house:

The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek out their fortune". The first little pig builds a house out of straw, but the wolf blows it down and devours him. The second little pig builds a house out of sticks, which the wolf also blows down, though with more blows and the second little pig is also devoured. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely:

The third little pig builds a house out of bricks, which the wolf fails to blow down. He then attempts to trick the pig out of the house by asking to meet him at several places at specific times, but he is outwitted each time since the pig gets to those places earlier than the wolf. Finally, the infuriated wolf resolves to come down the chimney, whereupon the pig who owns the brick house lights a fire under a pot of water on the fireplace. The wolf falls in and is fatally boiled, avenging the death of the final pig's brothers. After cooking the wolf, the pig proceeds to eat the meat for dinner.

In some versions, the first and second little pigs are not eaten by the wolf after he demolishes their homes but instead runs to their sibling's house, who originally had to take care of the two other pigs and build a brick house in a few versions. Most of these versions omit any attempts by the wolf to meet the third pig out of the house after his failed attempt to blow the house in. After the wolf goes down the chimney, which is lit by a fire with a pot of water over it, he either dies, as in the original, or simply burns his tail and runs away and never returns to eat the three little pigs, or in some versions the wolf faints after trying to blow down the brick house. All three of the pigs survive in each case.

The story uses the literary rule of three, expressed in this case as a "contrasting three", as the third pig's brick house turns out to be the only one which is adequate to withstand the wolf.[8]Variations of the tale appeared in Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings in 1881. The story also made an appearance in Nights with Uncle Remus in 1883, both by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the pigs were replaced by Brer Rabbit. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book, published in 1892, but did not cite his source. In contrast to Jacobs's version, which left the pigs nameless, Lang's retelling cast the pigs as Browny, Whitey, and Blacky. It also set itself apart by exploring each pig's character and detailing the interaction between them. The antagonist of this version is a fox, not a wolf. The pigs' houses are made either of mud, cabbage, or brick. Blacky, the third pig, rescues his brother and sister from the fox's den after the fox has been defeated.

Writer Bruno Bettelheim, in his book The Uses of Enchantment, interprets the tale as a showcase of the capacity for anticipation and courage in the face of adversity, symbolized by the wolf. According to him, the individual who is content to prepare themself as the first two pigs will be destroyed by the vicissitudes of life, and only a person who builds a solid base can face such hazards. He viewed the tale as a means of telling children that one cannot always act according to the pleasure principle, and must submit to the reality principle when life demands it. He exemplified this point by observing that the first two pigs valued gratification rather than planning and foresight as the third pig had.[9]

The first little pig was very lazy. He didn't want to work at all and he built his house out of straw. The second little pig worked a little bit harder but he was somewhat lazy too and he built his house out of sticks. Then, they sang and danced and played together the rest of the day.

The next day, a wolf happened to pass by the lane where the three little pigs lived; and he saw the straw house, and he smelled the pig inside. He thought the pig would make a mighty fine meal and his mouth began to water.

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down! The wolf opened his jaws very wide and bit down as hard as he could, but the first little pig escaped and ran away to hide with the second little pig.

The wolf continued down the lane and he passed by the second house made of sticks; and he saw the house, and he smelled the pigs inside, and his mouth began to water as he thought about the fine dinner they would make.

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down! The wolf was greedy and he tried to catch both pigs at once, but he was too greedy and got neither! His big jaws clamped down on nothing but air and the two little pigs scrambled away as fast as their little hooves would carry them.

The wolf chased them down the lane and he almost caught them. But they made it to the brick house and slammed the door closed before the wolf could catch them. The three little pigs they were very frightened, they knew the wolf wanted to eat them. And that was very, very true. The wolf hadn't eaten all day and he had worked up a large appetite chasing the pigs around and now he could smell all three of them inside and he knew that the three little pigs would make a lovely feast.

Well! he huffed and he puffed. He puffed and he huffed. And he huffed, huffed, and he puffed, puffed; but he could not blow the house down. At last, he was so out of breath that he couldn't huff and he couldn't puff anymore. So he stopped to rest and thought a bit.

But this was too much. The wolf danced about with rage and swore he would come down the chimney and eat up the little pig for his supper. But while he was climbing on to the roof the little pig made up a blazing fire and put on a big pot full of water to boil. Then, just as the wolf was coming down the chimney, the little piggy pulled off the lid, and plop! in fell the wolf into the scalding water.

This story is about three little pigs and the big bad wolf. The pigs build houses from straw, sticks and bricks. The first pig builds his house out of straw, the second little pig's house was built with sticks and the third pig builds his house out of bricks. When the wolf comes knocking on the pigs' doors, the pigs see the wolf coming and all believe their house is strong enough to protect them.

The three pigs all have different experiences when the wolf comes knocking. When the wolf comes to the straw house, he blows it down easily. When the wolf visits the stick house, it takes a bit more effort but he still manages to get in. He then goes to the third pig's house, which is made of bricks. No matter how hard he huffs and puffs, the third pigs' house won't be blown down.

The moral in the Three Little Pigs story is that persistence pays off. The third pig considered the options and chose the material that would take the most amount of effort and time to build his house, however this pays off because it is the most effective at keeping the wolf out. Whereas the first two pigs spent the least amount of effort and time to build their houses and unfortunately were not able to keep the wolf out of their houses!

Past movements were much more respectful. It seems like only yesterday the little pigs were building houses out of straw. Everyone on both sides of the issue understood where the little pigs were coming from. We might not have agreed on everything, but at least we saw eye to eye.

In any movement, image is everything. When our neighbors see the little pigs with a wheelbarrow full of bricks, I shudder to think what their reaction might be. I shudder still to imagine all the poor, reasonable little pigs who want peaceful homes of stick and straw.

Next, we retell the story together. I started our retelling by setting the scene of the three little pigs leaving home. For visuals, I used the awesome graphics I found at Graphics by Ruth. As the children chimed in to retell the Three Little Pigs, we paused to discuss the scientific principles in the story. Why was the wolf able to blow down a house made of straw? What makes a material strong? Our science buzzwords for the program were material and strength, and our retelling really focused in on those concepts.

Everyone leaves with a book and/or sheet of at-home activities to reinforce our topic. All of our versions of the Three Little Pigs were checked out after the program, as were most of our non-fiction titles on materials and strength. I also made available a one-page (front and back) activity sheet that would continue to engage children in the concepts we had talked about. One activity called for having a grown-up take the child outside to draw a picture of his or her house, then talk about what it is made of. Another section suggested that caregivers replicate our stations at home, albeit using water instead of air as a test for strength. It is important to me to have these grab-and-go preschool science activity hand-outs accessible both in the program and at the check-out desk for a week afterward; since not every preschooler can attend the in-library program, I want to ensure families have resources to support at-home science if they are so inclined. That way a huge variety of children have access to STEM activities.

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