Week 7 Story: Wolf, Pig, and Owl

Pig lived in a brick house and baked a pie every day. One day, Wolf walked by and smelled the wonderful scent of a pie wafting down the road.

Wolf stopped by Pig's house and peered into the kitchen window.

He said to Pig, "Give me that pie."

Pig replied, "No, I will not give you this pie. I am excited to eat it and do not have time to make another."

Wolf said, "If you don't give me the pie, I will huff and puff and blow your house down."

Pig had seen Wolf blow down the houses of the other two pigs and was afraid of Wolf blowing his house down. Pig handed Wolf the pie through the window.

The next day, Wolf stopped by Pig's house again and demanded Pig give him the pie he was making that day. Day after day, Wolf stopped by Pig's kitchen window and took the pie Pig baked that day.

Owl was flying by Pig's window and could hearing sobbing coming from the kitchen.

He stopped by and asked Pig why he cried.

Pig sobbed, "Wolf takes my pie every day and I no longer get to eat my pies. If I do not give him my pie, he will blow down my house."

Owl said, "Pig, you are so foolish. Wolf is not strong enough to blow down your brick house."

The next day, Wolf stopped by for his daily pie. He was surprised to look in the window and see Pig eating the pie that was supposed to be his!

Pig told Wolf, "Owl has told me that you cannot blow down my house. You cannot take my pies anymore because you have no way of threatening me."

That night, Wolf went to the forest and saw Owl perched on a tree. Wolf crept up, intending to attack Owl.

Before he could leap, however, Owl saw Wolf and flew away. 

Wolf returned night after night to attack Owl, but Owl always saw him coming and took off flying. 

Wolf watched angrily every night as he saw Owl fly by in front of the light of the moon. And that is why Wolf howls at the moon. 

Author's Note: I based my story on "Jackal, Dove, and Heron" from the South African Folktales unit. In this story, Jackal takes Dove's children by threatening to fly up to her and steal them. After Heron tells Dove that Jackal cannot fly, Jackal breaks Heron's neck, which is why herons' necks are bent. I wanted to keep the same basic story, but change the characters that appear in the story. When I read about Dove being scared of Jackal coming to her home, I thought about the story of the 3 Little Pigs and how they were scared of the wolf coming into their homes. I decided to combine the two stories, but still needed an animal to take the place of Heron. I chose to use Owl because owls are known for their wisdom and I could use Owl to explain something about animals, like the original story does. I also decided to change Wolf's goal from Jackal's goal of eating children, because I though it was sad that Dove sent her children to their death pointlessly. 

Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910)

Top Image: Pie by Zozz_
Bottom Image: Pig by herbert2512