Redemption: The Three Little Pigs – A Retelling…
“Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne
Redemption: The Three Little Pigs - A Retelling...
When I saw the Daily Post prompt on retelling or changing a popular story, I chuckled. I wrote a modified version of a childhood story that I’ve always enjoyed. The Story of The Three Little Pigs has always made me smile. The idea of three pigs battling the big, bad, conniving wolf and winning is fairly typical of many childhood tales, but this one included the famous refrain “Not by my chiny chin chin…” I chose to add a different ending than what I have on file… I also chose the original version from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs and made some modifications to my version. Enjoy the version below…
The Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs (a modified version retold by moi) 😉
Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme
And monkeys chewed tobacco,
And hens took snuff to make them tough,
And ducks went quack, quack, quack, O quack!
There was a little old lady in Clacton-on-Sea with three little pigs and not enough tea. And as she had not enough to keep them, she sent them out to seek their fortune.
The first that went off, met a man with a bundle of straw, and said to him: “Please sir, give me that straw to build me a house. I have two little girls who’d love to play at my house”
Which the man did, and the little pig built a house with it. Soon, along came the big, bad wolf, and knocked at the door, and said:
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I’d love to have tea and catch some wind”
To which the pig answered:
“No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin.”
The wolf then answered to that:
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
So he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew his house in, and chased him up the street to eat him for din din. But the pig made off to the second pig’s house…
The second little pig met a man with a bundle of furze, and said:
“Please, man, give me that furze to build a house. I have two little girls who’d love to play with no fuss”
Which the man did, and the pig built his house. Then along came the wolf, and said:
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I’d like to have tea and biscuits and tell you my sins”
“No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin.”
“Then I’ll puff, and I’ll huff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
So he huffed, and he puffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and at last he blew the house down, and chased the little pig to the third pig’s house! There, pig one and pig two hid in their brother’s home.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Redemption: The Three Little Pigs - A Retelling... three pigs teabags
The third little pig met a man with a load of bricks, and said:
“Please, man, give me those bricks to build a house with. I have two little girls who’d love to play brides.”
So the man gave him the bricks, and he built his house with them. So the wolf came, as he did to the other little pigs, and said:
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I’d love to have tea and teach you some tricks”
“No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin.”
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
Well, he huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed and he puffed, and he puffed and huffed; but he could not get the house down. When he found that he could not, with all his huffing and puffing, blow the house down, he said:
“Little pig, I know where there is a nice field of turnips.”
“Where?” said the little pig.
“Oh, in Mr. Bates’ backyard field, and if you will be ready tomorrow morning, I will call for you, and we will go together, and get some for dinner.”
“Very well,” said the little pig, “I will be ready. What time do you mean to go?”
“Oh, at six o’clock.”
Well, the little pig got up at five, and got the turnips from the Bates and had a discussion with them on how to put Wolfy in his place. When Wolf came by (which he did about six) and said:
“Little Pig, are you ready?”
The little pig said: “Ready! I have been there and back again, and got a nice potful for dinner.”
The wolf felt very angry at this, but decided that he would eat the little pig somehow or other, so he said:
“I’m coming to get you by hook or by crook and climb down the chimney today I would…”
The wolf was very angry indeed, and declared he would eat up the little pig, and that he would get down the chimney after him. When the little pig saw what he was about to do, he hung up a huge pot full of water, and made up a blazing fire, and, just as the wolf was coming down, he changed his mind and put a strong net down, and in fell the wolf; to squeals of delight. Three pairs of eyes stared back at Wolfy. “Now what you gonna do, you big bad bully?” They squealed.
Then the third little pig looked at him and said, “What will it be, give up the violence and have tea with me (joking) or get roasted and then we’ll eat thee?” The wolf considered his options and when he saw the other two pigs glaring at him, he begged for mercy. They called the sheriff to pick him up and escort him out of town, and the three little pigs lived happily ever afterwards.
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne.
What are your thoughts? How would you retell a popular old story? What lessons do we learn from the wisdom of popular childhood stories? Do share. Thank You! 🙂
Positive Motivation Tip: We have the ability to change our stories and choose the path of compassion and redemption. You choose.
Related Articles
- Biscuit, Gravy and Bacon – The 3 Little Pigs! (storytimesisters.com)
- T Magazine: This Little Piggy Built a Glass House (tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: Photo of wolf and pig in straw, three pigs teabags, via Wikipedia
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Love it!
TY! 😉
This is so awesome, you always know exactly what to say to keep your readers capacitive.
Thanks Jackie! Good to see you here… You new schedule sounds unbelievably stressful. I do hope you get some relief; rest and relaxation moments. 🙂
Cute! Love your version!
Thank you… I had some fun rewriting it. 🙂
any man’s death diminishes me…
greetings
Indeed it is so… Thank you for your feedback Frizztext. 🙂
I really enjoyed that! It was one of my favourite nursery rhymes as a child. I was determined to have a brick house so that it wouldn’t happen to me 🙂
The new job is going ok – not enough time to browse the blogging pages though:-(
I’m glad you enjoyed it… It was one of my favorites and I had fun with the retelling… Thank you! 🙂
What a wonderful revision! I actually purchased a children’s book, a revision of The Three Little Pigs, for my son when he was young. It was called “The Three Little Wolves & The Big Bad Pig”. It was a hoot. I can’t remember the author and now it’s packed away somewhere.
Yes, you are referring to the Eugene Trivizas book. It was a riot too. I love these zany adaptations as they add a little something, usually funny, to the classic. Thank you! 🙂
Somehow, could not find a reply or comment button on your webpage. Have started a Repost Daily Post Challenge Blogs and this was today’s. Thank you for continuing to inspire.
Oh, what a lovely surprise and thank you Katherine… I will stop by and say hello/thank you soon. 🙂
Love your retelling, Eliz. Those “fairy tales” of old were really quite gory…of course, many were not really children’s tales, but subtle ways dissenters had of commenting on political situations of their time.
Your motivational tip really resonates with me…every day, we make choices…what to wear, what to eat, what TV show to watch…in addition to many other choices that can change the path of our lives. The wonderful thing is that we CAN make the choice…there are always options. We can choose to be positive. We can choose to have compassion. And the great thing about it is that making good choices does become a habit (just as making bad choices can).
You nailed it Vivian and they are/were pithy with meaning and wise words… Yes, and the choice is to follow what works for our spirit and leave the rest. 🙂
Wonderful! I loooove fairy tales!!
So do I Rosa and thank youuuu! 😉
Great re-telling of an old classic. There is just something about nursery rhymes. Anyway, it was great.
Lots of lessons from the new telling, huh!@!
Hi Pat and thanks for the comment. Re-telling stories gets our creative juices flowing… should do it more often. 🙂
Positive Motivation Tip: We have the ability to change our stories and choose the path of compassion and redemption. You choose.
God keeps telling me this…
blessings
jane
Same here too… We all need to find that place inside… peace is imperative. 🙂
Pigs is smart. 😉
Nice re-telling of a classic tale. Thanks, Eliz.
Sure is… 😉
Thanks again Nancy, as you can tell, I really got into it; especially towards the end. 🙂
“any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne.
Beautiful and a brilliant retelling of a claasic. The quote above gave mr a lot of insight and things to consider. I agree and like Vivian, I choose what I read and choose peace as my story.
I love your posts and their messages.
B
Thank you B, I came across the quote by Donne and felt it spoke volumes to me and many around the world. Like you, I choose peace and I never want to forget or become jaded. Thank you. 🙂
Eliz
I enjoyed reading your versions of the Three Little Pigs. We never grow too old to like hearing stories we heard many times as a child. Retelling our stories for our own interputation can be fun. When I am reading one of my romance novels, and it does not end the way I want it to, I make up my own endings.
We have the ability to change our stories and choose the path of compassion and redemption. You choose. I like that, and as usual you have a way of writing that inspires our hearts and our minds.
Oh, now that is interesting… lol! I usually don’t change the ending to a novel as I get into the emotions of the story all the way to the end and then rejoice or sympathize with the protagonists…. I like your idea though.
Yes, we all do have a choice to change our narrative, it doesn’t have to become some self-fulfilling prophesy of negativity. It can be uplifting too. Sending healing light to your brother.
Eliz
Oh, I love this one! I’m not familiar with this original version, and I’m wondering whether to look it up… I prefer believing my “story” that you’ve written the entire thing! 😉 Thank you so much for the reminder of how we are all connected…
Actually, I did add a link to the original… see English Fairy Tales above. The original is by Joseph Jacobs and I retold it with my modifications added. The original is actually longer than mine. 🙂
Great work! I really enjoyed it.
I love this! I think I think I even like this more than the original. I love stories with twists!
This is a very popular post, missy!! I note that the pigs all want to please their two little daughters…hmmm. 🙂
I read the original – can you say violent? The one I grew up with always had the first two running to the house of the third with the moral of the story being take the time to build it strong and protect yourselves! (My old version had the farmer or some such person take the wolf away or kill it – I cannot remember. ) Having the sheriff take the wolf away and “relocate” it did give me quite a laugh!!