The Three Little Pigs

7-9 min read
16 pages

The three little pigs, the folk tale to read aloud. Straw, sticks and bricks — and only one of the three took his time over it.

There were three little pigs, and when they were old enough their mother sent them out into the world to build houses of their own.

The first one met a man with a load of straw. «Give me some straw,» he said, «and I'll be done by lunchtime.» And he was.

The second met a man with a load of sticks, and thought that sticks looked stronger than straw, and had his house up before it got dark.

The third met a man with a load of bricks. Bricks are heavy and mortar takes time to set, and it was three weeks before his house was finished. His brothers came to watch and made a great many remarks.

Then the wolf came along the road.

He knocked at the straw house. «Little pig, little pig, let me come in.» «Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.» «Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in.»

And he did, in one breath, and the first little pig ran for the house of sticks with the straw still going up behind him.

«Little pig, little pig, let me come in.» «Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.» «Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in.» It took him two breaths, and the sticks went over.

Both little pigs ran to the brick house, and got in, and bolted the door, and stood in the middle of the room listening.

The wolf huffed. Then he puffed. Then he huffed and puffed until he had to sit down on the path, and the bricks had not moved at all.

So he tried being friendly. «There's a turnip field up the lane,» he said through the door. «Meet me there at six in the morning.» «I will,» said the third little pig — and went at five, and was home with the turnips before the wolf arrived.

«There's an apple tree at the crossroads,» said the wolf the next day. «Meet me there at five.» The little pig went at four, and was up the tree picking when the wolf turned up underneath it, and he threw an apple so far down the lane that the wolf was still fetching it when the pig got home.

«There's a fair in town,» said the wolf on the third day. «Three o'clock.» The little pig went at two, bought a butter churn, and was rolling it home up the hill when he saw the wolf coming.

He got into the churn, and the churn went over, and it came down the hill at the wolf like a barrel down a slope. The wolf did not stop running until he was back at his own door.

After that he gave up asking and came down the chimney instead, which he should have thought about on the first day. The third little pig had a pot of water on the fire, and the lid off it, because he had been expecting something of the sort.

And that was the end of the wolf. The three little pigs lived in the brick house together, which was crowded, and none of them ever said anything more about how long it had taken to build.

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Text source: Folk tale in the public domain (version written down by J. O. Halliwell, 1886). The text was written anew for Marytale — it is not a reprint of anyone else's version.

The Three Little Pigs characters

The first pig: Builds with straw because it is quick, and the story does not spare him for being young.
The second pig: Builds with sticks, which is better and still not enough.
The third pig: Builds with brick and takes the longest. He also gets up earlier than the wolf three mornings running — the house is only half of why he wins.
The wolf: Blows down two houses and then tries to trick the third pig with turnips, apples and a fair. He loses every appointment by an hour.

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The Three Little Pigs

The Three Little Pigs characters

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