The Three Piglets: A Story-Poem for V and L

Dear George,

Katja and I are taking a Poetry Writing Workshop at the University.  Recently we had the task of writing a version of a myth or fairy tale from the viewpoints of two or more of the characters.  I wrote about the three little pigs and the wolf, and, afterwards, I decided to expand it into a story for our six-year-old grandchildren, V and L.  Here’s how it wound up.

Love,

Dave

The Three Little Piglets and the Wolf

Once upon a time in a land far away

Three piglets grew up with their mommy

She took them aside one bright summer day

And gave them some cheese and salami

“You’ll have to build your own houses,” she said

But the wolf is the worst sort of danger

He’ll eat you up like a loaf of white bread

Watch out for a fang-toothed stranger

The First Little Pig:

My mother told me to build my own house

But that sounds like really hard work

I’d rather play hopscotch and eat boiled grouse           

That wolf is a big stupid jerk

The easiest plan is a house made of straw

I can do it in less than an hour

The straw will get stuck in the bad wolf's craw

This piglet he’ll never devour

The Girl:

Soon after a girl named V came along

She saw the straw house and stopped

She explained to the pig that straw was all wrong

But the piglet just hippety hopped

The Wolf:

This silly little pig has no brains at all

About wolves he doesn’t know beans

With one little puff I’ll destroy his straw wall

And eat him with couscous and greens

So he huffed and puffed and blew the house down and he swallowed the first little pig

The Second Little Pig

I’m going to make my house out of sticks

It’s terrible what happened to my brother

But I’m sure I can fool that wolf with my tricks

He’ll never be eating another

The Boy

A boy named L took one look at the house

“Those sticks will never be enough”

But the pig just said, “That wolf’s like a mouse,

He’ll never get me or my stuff”

The Wolf

What is this flimsy house made of sticks?

That pig has the brains of a flea

He will taste swell in a fruit salad mix

Ooh that’s delicious to me

And he blew the stick house down and he swallowed the second little pig

The Third Little Pig:

That big old wolf is one scary dude

He can knock down a house with his breath

I’ll have to be very piggy shrewd

So that wolf cannot put me to death

The Boy and the Girl

You have to build your house very strong

Maybe iron or copper or brick

To build it that strong will take very long

But we’ll help you make your walls thick

The Wolf:

Here is another ridiculous pig

Bricks can't stop a big wolf like me

I'll eat this pig with a parsley sprig

And maybe a glass of chablis

So he huffed and he puffed but the brick house stood strong, and the wolf finally had to give up

The End of the Story

The wolf went home and ate pebbles and twigs

Then he gave an enormous burp

Out of his mouth popped the two little pigs

And they said, “Mister Wolf, you’re a twerp!”

The three pigs lived in the house of brick

The boy and the girl came to lunch

They all bounced around on a pogo stick

The pigs told V and L, “Thanks a bunch!”