Reading Notes: English Tales, Part A

 

The Pig. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

    This story is about a woman who found some money while sweeping her house. She decided to use the money to go and buy a little pig from the market. After leaving the market with the pig, she and the pig run into something known as a stile. A stile is something like a ladder or steps that are used to get over a wall or fence. The woman leaves to find some help to get the piggy over the stile. She finds a dog and asks him to bite the pig to get it to go over the stile; however, the dog declines. She goes further and encounters a stick. She asks the stick to beat the dog since it won't bite the pig, and the stick refuses. Eventually, she meets some fire. She asks the fire to burn the stick, who wouldn't beat the dog. This process goes on and on with each object/animal refusing to do what the old lady asks. However, she eventually meets a cat who is willing to do what the lady asks under certain conditions. The story ends with an almost "unfolding of the story." The cat does what the lady asks, which causes a domino effect of the other objects/animals doing what they originally refused to do. All of this results in the pig being forced to jump over the stile, which allows the old lady to make it home with the little pig.

    This story was repetitive but was very cool! I liked how each event would lead to another event. All of the actions kept building up until there was a turning point in the story that led to a domino effect of events. I think if I chose this source for my story, I would keep the animals and objects the same in my version. I really like how they all flowed and fit together nicely throughout the story.

Story Source: "The Old Woman and Her Pig" from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten