Page:A Study of Fairy Tales.djvu/240

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A STUDY OF FAIRY TALES

centers in the character. The beauty lies in the setting of the adventures, as Medio Pollito came to a stream, to a large chestnut tree, to the wind, to the soldiers outside the city gates, to the King's Palace at Madrid, and to the King's cook, until in the end he reached the high point of immortalization as the weather-vane of a church steeple.

The Story of Three Pigs could contend with The Three Bears for the position of ideal story for little people. It suits them even better than The Three Bears, perhaps because they can identify themselves more easily with the hero, who is a most winning, clever individual, though a Pig. The children know nothing of the standards of the Greek drama, but they recognize a good thing; and when the actors in their story are great in interest and in liveliness, they respond with a corresponding appreciation. The dramatic element in The Three Pigs is strong and all children love to dramatize it. The story is the Italian Three Goslings, the Negro Tiny Pig, the Indian Lambikin, and the German The Wolf and Seven Kids. This tale is given by Andrew Lang in his Green Fairy Book. The most satisfactory presentation of the story is given by Leslie Brooke in his Golden Goose Book. The German version occurred in an old poem, Reinhart Fuchs, in which the Kid sees the Wolf through a chink. Originally the characters must have been Kids, for little pigs do not have hair on their "chinny chin chins."