Unknown Unknown, Leslie Brooke
The Three Little Pigs
language
( May 7, 2019)
The story of the Three Little Pigs was a favorite of mine as a kid.
When I came across this beautifully illustrated 1904 version of the story, I just loved it! I thought it must be available for people to read. And since it’s in the public domain, here it is!
What’s so special about the story of the Three Little Pigs?
The Three Little Pigs is the original version of the hit movie Home Alone.
Remember Home Alone? An 8-year-old Macaulay Culkin, left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation, defeats a couple of big bad wolves robbing his home. Imagine how Macaulay felt when he realized he was all alone.
Haven’t we all felt like that as a kid? Alone. Ignored. Forgotten. Unsupported. Afraid of monsters under our bed and the shadows in our head.
We love Home Alone because Macaulay Culkin not just defeats the monsters, through his own cleverness and effort, he annihilates them!
Sound familiar? That’s the same story and lesson from the Three Little Pigs!
The appeal of a young child besting the monsters threatening us all—is universal.
I have to say, the grownup lesson of the Three Little Pigs, that “hard work and dedication pay off”, was lost on me.
I have a feeling if I knew that was the lesson I was supposed to learn I wouldn’t have liked the story at all.
Modern versions of the story have been changed to let the wolf off easy. Not this version. This version is old school—it does not end well for the wolf.
And that’s what I love about this version of the story. Raise your hand if you were bullied as a kid? I hate bullies. Who is more of a bully than a big bad wolf hunting for dinner while yelling “I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down”?
We all know the wolf’s strategy worked against the first two little pigs, but not against the third little pig. When the wolf tried to blow down the third pig’s house it didn’t work. The third little pig built a house so strong the bully could not break in. Kids need strong homes.
When direct violence didn’t work, the wolf turned to trickery. The wolf tried to trick the third pig into coming out of his house because the wolf knew that’s when the third little pig would be the most vulnerable to attack.
This is a big lesson of the story: there are many ways of being bullied. You must defend against them all.
But the third little pig was smart too. Macaulay Culkin level smart. Time after time the third little pig outsmarted the wolf at its own game.
The result? There’s one less bully in the world.
To a kid the Three Little Pigs doesn’t teach a cautionary tale about the value of hard work. How boring. Who would write a fable about that?
What the Three Little Pigs shows is by using the power of your own mind even the littlest pig can defeat the biggest bully.
And if there’s anything fables teach us is that the world is full of wolves.
When I came across this beautifully illustrated 1904 version of the story, I just loved it! I thought it must be available for people to read. And since it’s in the public domain, here it is!
What’s so special about the story of the Three Little Pigs?
The Three Little Pigs is the original version of the hit movie Home Alone.
Remember Home Alone? An 8-year-old Macaulay Culkin, left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation, defeats a couple of big bad wolves robbing his home. Imagine how Macaulay felt when he realized he was all alone.
Haven’t we all felt like that as a kid? Alone. Ignored. Forgotten. Unsupported. Afraid of monsters under our bed and the shadows in our head.
We love Home Alone because Macaulay Culkin not just defeats the monsters, through his own cleverness and effort, he annihilates them!
Sound familiar? That’s the same story and lesson from the Three Little Pigs!
The appeal of a young child besting the monsters threatening us all—is universal.
I have to say, the grownup lesson of the Three Little Pigs, that “hard work and dedication pay off”, was lost on me.
I have a feeling if I knew that was the lesson I was supposed to learn I wouldn’t have liked the story at all.
Modern versions of the story have been changed to let the wolf off easy. Not this version. This version is old school—it does not end well for the wolf.
And that’s what I love about this version of the story. Raise your hand if you were bullied as a kid? I hate bullies. Who is more of a bully than a big bad wolf hunting for dinner while yelling “I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down”?
We all know the wolf’s strategy worked against the first two little pigs, but not against the third little pig. When the wolf tried to blow down the third pig’s house it didn’t work. The third little pig built a house so strong the bully could not break in. Kids need strong homes.
When direct violence didn’t work, the wolf turned to trickery. The wolf tried to trick the third pig into coming out of his house because the wolf knew that’s when the third little pig would be the most vulnerable to attack.
This is a big lesson of the story: there are many ways of being bullied. You must defend against them all.
But the third little pig was smart too. Macaulay Culkin level smart. Time after time the third little pig outsmarted the wolf at its own game.
The result? There’s one less bully in the world.
To a kid the Three Little Pigs doesn’t teach a cautionary tale about the value of hard work. How boring. Who would write a fable about that?
What the Three Little Pigs shows is by using the power of your own mind even the littlest pig can defeat the biggest bully.
And if there’s anything fables teach us is that the world is full of wolves.
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