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Author
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Comment
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Northerner4me
Registered User
(5/4/06 9:35 am)
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Is The Three Little Pigs gruesome?
I've started some voluntary work with Sure Start. I'm learning to be a storyteller. Today the children were all out in the garden doing outdoor activities so there were no opportunities for stories. I let them play with some of my puppets instead.
There were parents and grandparents with some of the children. I
asked one grandparent about stories I could tell his grand-daughter
eventually. "How about The
Three Little Pigs?" I asked him. "It's a bit gruesome"
he said. Yes, okay, the third little pig prepares a pot of boiling
water for the nasty old wolf. It is a pretend world though.
What else is gruesome? Little
Red Riding Hood getting eaten by the wolf? Hansel
and Gretel being left alone in the forest to die before the
nasty old witch takes a fancy to cook Hansel? The world is a nasty
place and some of the old folk tales reflect this. Do I have to
think more carefully and use alternative stories?
I will be using traditional tales only, unless I make up a few of my own to use as well.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(5/4/06 12:43 pm)
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Re: Is The Three Little Pigs gruesome?
What ages are you working with? I have no problem with reading or telling "Three Little Pigs" to a 2- or 3-year old, and tend to think the kids have less problems with the wolf landing in the pot than the parents (or grandparents) might. That said, since the parents and grandparents are also part of your audience, and you don't want to belittle their concerns, you might want to think about kinder, gentler tales - Little Red Hen, Henny-Penny, Three Billy Goats Gruff.
You may also want to check out the SurLaLune Storytime site, where Heidi has some very good storytime themes: surlalunefairytales.com/storytime/index.html
Another thing to keep in mind is that one of the marvelous things about storytelling is that you can adapt your story to your audience - not only what parts of a story you tell, but how you tell it. Posture, pacing and tone of voice can make a potentially scary moment less scary, or more so. Even then, there are limitations and you want to use good judgement, but you do have a bit of flexibility.
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searsmith
Registered User
(5/4/06 12:52 pm)
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3 Little Pigs
I change the stories when I tell them to my young son.
With the Three Little Pigs, for example, the wolf eats pig one and two, but explodes when he tries to blown down the brick house of pig three. Then all three pigs do a little dance together and live happily ever after in the brick house.
My son doesn't seem to mind the wolf blowing himself to bits, as long as the little pigs make it out alright in the end. The gruesome details can be spared.
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rosyelf
Registered User
(5/4/06 3:09 pm)
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gruesome ?
I do agree that children seem to have fewer issues with this kind of thing than the grown-ups. My problem with certain "alternative" stories is that all the nastiness is taken out, leaving a rather saccharine remnant. (One of the many gripes I, and many other people here and elsewhere, have with Disney adaptations.) Life isn't like that-and kids know it isn't !
My own experience is that kids love these stories because, whilst knowing they are "pretend", they get to experience rage, jealousy, abandonment, etc. vicariously through them. Because the wolf has eaten two of the pigs, it is only right and proper that he should fall into the boiling pot. I know life isn't always as clear-cut as that but it's an important concept : actions lead to consequences ; if you are cruel, you will not have friends ; and so on.
But I would step much more carefully if I was working with kids with a very difficult and disturbing home-life. Children who feel very unsafe in the real world may need a gentler story than the secure happy kids. ( Having said this, even a gentle story needs to be realistic.) At least, this is my hunch.
What do other people think ?
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Northerner4me
Registered User
(5/4/06 4:58 pm)
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Re: gruesome ?
Some interesting food for thought there. I certainly don't want to antagonise a loving grandparent. Mind you, many of the traditional tales seem to have animals or people who come to sticky ends. I think it might be difficult to avoid unpleasant situations. Hmm, I'll think about this a bit more. Thank you for your opinions.
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bielie
Unregistered User
(5/15/06 3:18 pm)
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Gruesome stories
I have two daugters: Almost three and almost six. When I tell them stories they have to be the main characters. The older one is always Rosie the Rose Fairy, the younger one is mostly Little Red Riding Hood (She has red hair, and there is some confusion about the hair and the hood), and sometimes a little pig. The villian is always the Big Bad Wolf. I find that the more gruesome the wolf is portrayed the greater the delight. The danger they are in is alway mortal, they scream with mock terror and devise all sorts of plans to overcome the wolf. Eating grandma seems to go off better than just locking her in the cupboard. If grandma survives the wolf's intestines, it's fine, but if she doesn't they don't seem to worry. The wolf invairably comes to a very sticky end, often as the meal of their pet wolf-eating dragon.
So, am I training little terrorists?
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LovedAngel
Registered User
(5/17/06 9:37 am)
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Re: Gruesome stories
i think the story is Gruesome because u have a wolf eating pigs then wouldn't the three bears be Gruesome as well in some of the stories you hear goldilocks gets away but in others she gets eaten
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Northerner4me
Registered User
(5/24/06 12:05 pm)
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Re: Gruesome stories
I did this story with the children last week and it went very well. No problems for the children about it being gruesome. They loved the wolf coming to grief.
Tomorrow I go on to The
Three Billy Goats Gruff.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(5/30/06 1:24 am)
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Re: Gruesome stories
To me the wolf being boiled is more shocking than the wolf eating the pigs. For one thing, the wolf is killing for food, doing a direct, natural sort of thing -- that you expect from a fairy tale villain. The pig is setting a trap, is only killing for convenience; it didn't need to be a deathtrap; excessive force is not what I expect from a Good Guy. Also, I know how boiling water feels, so it's easy to imagine how the wolf felt; I've never even been dog-bit.*
Or maybe it's just that I wouldn't want a wolf in my food kettle, ecchy. :-)
*But I was bitten by an octopus once, so there.
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Northerner4me
Registered User
(5/30/06 1:45 am)
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Re: Gruesome stories
The way I read the story the wolf is not killed - he just gets a singed tail - an unpleasant surprise. The children seem to love that bit. Even though they are young the children seem to know the difference between reality and a make-believe story. Yes, adults probably see things differently. Interestingly there is a modern story where the roles are reversed and there is a big bad pig and several poor little wolves - it is quite a successful story.
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twinkle2000
Registered User
(5/30/06 7:12 pm)
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Re: Gruesome stories
These stories have always been a git gruesome, but the children who heard them always turned out ok.
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