Agong's Folktale: The Three Little Pigs (阿公讲古)

There lived an eccentric old man who liked to spend his time telling fairy tales, folktales and science fictions to the children in his village. Although he had been living there for a long time, nobody knew his real name. The children called him "Agong", a Chinese term of respect for grandfather or old man. As usual, one fine day in 1946, shortly after World War II, he sat on a rock under a tree outside his house with a group of children gathering around him eager to listen to his stories.

"Once upon a time there were three little pigs and a big bad wolf," began the old man. The children interrupted: "Our kindergarten teachers had already told us the story. It's nothing interesting!"

"My story is a bit different," replied Agong, "You will sure to find something new and interesting."

At this point, Agong paused and told the children, "Sorry, I have to rush to the toilet. Wait here for a short while for the rest of the story."

I have forgotten to inform the readers that the eccentric old man had a very weak stomach. Hence he often stopped halfway in the story to rush to the toilet. To him, "wait here for a short while" meant waiting for a long time, because he usually spent many hours in the toilet!

However, to the surprise of everyone this time, he returned shortly to continue his story. "You have made a fast deal," a 15-year-old boy said jokingly. "I am a master dealmaker second to none," quipped Agong.

Continuing the story which he had left a while ago, he said: "When the three little pigs were old enough, the old mother pig sent them out into the world to live independently. The first and second little pigs built their houses with straw and sticks respectively. The third little pig thought it was safer to build his house with bricks.

One day while the third little pig was laying bricks, a big bad wolf came and offered to buy a large number of bricks at sky-high prices. 'Why is the wolf so stupid?' thought the little pig. 'After selling some of my bricks, I can use the money to buy more bricks to build a bigger and much stronger house.'

The big bad wolf was not stupid at all. The apparent foolish deal was an example of his strategy of 'buying what it can, stealing what it must'. Unknown to the simple-minded little pig, the big bad wolf had passed the 'Brick Security Act' to ban the sale of bricks by all animals in the forest to the three little pigs.

The third little pig regretted his reckless acceptance of the big bad wolf's apparent lucrative offer as he could not find anyone willing to sell him any brick to finish building the rest of his house. In the midst of his regret and anguish, he suddenly remembered what he read about the Great Pyramids of Giza during his early stages of life with the mother pig. The pyramids were built of large stone blocks. The third little pig, of course, had to look for much smaller chunks of stone to finish building the rest of his house."

"Why didn't the big bad wolf eat up the little pigs?" asked a 7-year-old boy. Agong smiled: "Be patient, boy. You seem to be hungrier than the wolf. There were plenty of sheep in the plain below the forest hill to satisfy the hunger of the big bad wolf and his pack. Furthermore, the big bad wolf considered the three little pigs still too small and skinny for filling up his stomach."

Looking at the rest of the children, he asked, "Anymore questions?" As they remained silent, he continued his story: "The little pigs were full-grown pigs by the time they finished building their houses. In particular, the youngest pig had grown to be the biggest and fattest of the three. The big bad wolf's mouth began to water as he thought of eating the most delicious meat while getting a big, fat hug from the fattest pig.

First, he went to look for the first pig, blew down his straw house and devoured him in an instant. Next, he went to look for the second pig, blew down his house of sticks and finished him off.

Finally, he went to the house of bricks and stones, where he could smell the most delicious pork he had ever found. He huffed and he puffed, but he could not blow down the house. 'I'll be back!' He shouted in anger and frustration as he ran towards the plain to look for sheep."

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