The Three Little Pigs
Growing up I’m sure many kids believed in all fairy tales, giving them the reason to think everything in life had to be perfect, for example having the perfect boy/girlfriend and living happily ever after with him/her, or having to be rich and live in this big castle, and getting anything and everything they may want. As we all know in all fairy tales there’s always a downfall, because there’s always someone negative that’s hindering someone else from being happy or free. In the case of the Three Little Pigs there was a wolf that bullied three innocent little pigs.
The well-known fairy tale takes its audience on a journey of three pigs and a wolf. Although most if not all fairy tales are make-believe, some of the things in them are similar to real life situations. After reading the fairy tale, it is easy to relate this fictitious story to something we face in our society now which is bullying. There are several similar characteristics of the wolf and the average “bully” which are not limited to the fact that both expect control and submission, exhibit physical intimidation, and feeds on manipulation.
In this particular fairy tale the wolf played the role of a bully. The wolf decided to torture the pigs until he got what he wanted just like the typical bully. In the fairy tale the pigs out smarted the bully and made him run away crying, shows kids that bullies are not all that tough in bad on the inside, it’s a front they put on to get what they want and to get respect. As the wolf runs away crying shows us that the story is over and although they may not say it but it leaves us to believe the three little pigs are living a happily ever after thanks to the pig with the brick house.
As we all know that’s not necessarily how a real life story may end, the bully may run away crying but it usually comes back ten times harder. Bullies are usually the meanest looking people around, usually bigger than there victims, and also scary looking. Bullying solves nothing; it causes more problems, and gives the enemies low self-esteem for the next person. Most bullies usually meet there match just like in the fairy tale the Three Little Pigs.
The bully messed with the two weakest pigs first and he won, but the third pig dared to be different and stood up to him and came out on top leaving the bully with a face full of tears and a hot bottom from trying to crawl down the chimney. That’s sometimes all it takes is for that one person to grow the guts to stand up to a bully, not to promote violence but sometimes that may be the only way out. The third little pig cut on boiling water when the wolf was trying to get down his chimney to teach him a lesson they’ve been hinting to him the entire time, and that was just to leave them alone.
The bully wanted to be greedy and to get what he wanted, and ended up getting more than he bargained for. In the story we may know there’s three little pig brothers that all planned to live in separate homes now that their older. The first two pigs built their houses out of sticks and straw, the wolf came along and easily blew their house down. The last pig was the smartest because he built his house out of bricks, and once again along came the big bad wolf. The wolf first knocked and the pig answered yes who’s there, and the wolf said it’s a poor little sheep looking for food let me in.
The pig wasn’t fooled and didn’t let him in so the wolf began trying to huff and puff and blow his house down like he did to his brothers. The wolf tried and tried until he turned blue but the house wouldn’t budge. The wolf then spotted the chimney and decided to go down it to get in. The pig heard him so he began boiling hot water and added fire then the wolf got set on fire. Notice I never mentioned what happened to the pigs after the wolf blew their houses down, leaving us to believe that the pigs all lived a happily ever after.
Well not in the annotated Three Little Pigs from London, by David Nutt, the first two pigs were eaten by the wolf after he huffed and puffed and blew their house down. At the end the third little pig boiled and ate the wolf after it came down the chimney and fell in the boiling water. In the Walt Disney story for the Three Little Pigs, when the wolf blew the first pig’s house down he ran to the second pig’s house made of sticks. The wolf came there and blew his house down and they ran to their brother’s house with the bricks.
Then when the wolf tried to come down the chimney they did however boil hot water and add some heat. Instead of the wolf getting stuck in the pot and getting eaten by the pig, the heat flew the wolf right back out of the chimney. The Three Little Pigs teach children morals through interesting stories. When it was first created it was called “The Wolf and the seven Young kids. ” That version and the Walt Disney version show responsibility because the pigs had to build their own home for protection from the wolf. Responsibility is something all versions of the Three Little Pigs share.
The pigs are independent, showing that hard work is always awarded and trust me it really is. Also in the Disney version when the pigs were all together, and the wolf was trying his hardest to get in. the pigs stood up to him as one in the brick house and actually sent him home crying. That simply shows teamwork, bonding, and bravery; and it could also help a person fight life battles throughout life. The wolf had no conscience or cares when it came to the consequences to his actions. Which is just like a bully these days, they don’t care about getting in any trouble what so ever.
Those are the ones we usually see in jail till this day. At the end of the story when the wolf tried to go down the chimney and get burned, illustrates that bad behavior is not accepted and it eventually leads to some punishment. I’ve mentioned teamwork and responsibility. For example when there’s a child watching the movie they’re not going to think about how the pigs teamed up and took down the wolf and think of it as teamwork or bonding. Thought the children just seem so into the pigs, after it I’m sure they learn a little responsibility and some good morals in life.
Looking at the Brothers Grimm version… The comparison of the two stories are somewhat the same although the London version of the story may be more violent than the story we may know, there both similar because the third little pig did something his brothers didn’t which is use his brain and stand up to the bully in a way. When you read the London version it seems it’s easier to relate to because it’s more like a real life story. The first two little pigs got ate because they weren’t using their heads; the third pig was smarter than his brother and survived.
