The Three Little Pigs

"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house that is made of bricks. The printed versions of this fable date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source. In 1886, Halliwell-Phillipps had published his version of the story, in the fifth edition of his Nursery Rhymes of England, and it included, for the first time in print, the now-standard phrases "not by the hair of my chiny chin chin" and "I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in".

The phrases used in the story, and the various morals drawn from it, have become embedded in Western culture. Many versions of The Three Little Pigs have been recreated and modified over the years, sometimes making the wolf a kind character. It is a type B124 folktale in the Thompson Motif Index.

"The Three Little Pigs" was included in The Nursery Rhymes of England (London and New York, c.1886), by James Halliwell-Phillipps. The story in its arguably best-known form appeared in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, first published on June 19, 1890, and crediting Halliwell as his source. The earliest published version of the story is from Dartmoor, Devon, England in 1853, and has three little pixies and a fox in place of the three pigs and a wolf. The first pixy had a wooden house:

"Let me in, let me in", said the fox.
"I won't", was the pixy's answer; "and the door is fastened."

The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek out their fortune". The first little pig builds a house out of straw, but the wolf blows it down and devours him. The second little pig builds a house out of sticks, but the result is the same. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely:

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in."
"No, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin."
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in."

The third little pig builds a house out of bricks, which the wolf fails to blow down. The wolf then attempts to meet the pig at a turnip field, an apple orchard, and a fair, but the pig always arrives early and avoids the wolf. Finally, the infuriated wolf resolves to come down the chimney, whereupon the pig lights a fire under a pot of water on the fireplace. The wolf falls in and is fatally boiled, avenging the death of his brothers. After cooking the wolf, the pig proceeds to eat him for dinner.

In some versions, the first two pigs escape to their brother's brick house. Most such versions omit any attempts by the wolf to meet the third pig after his failed attempt to blow the house in. Sometimes, the wolf simply burns his tail and runs away.