The Three Little Pigs

My seven-year-old and I had a very enlightening discussion this morning about The Three Little Pigs. We've talked about it before, particularly the fact that the newer versions are so different from the traditional fairy tale. In the original, each of the first two pigs is pursued by the Big Bad Wolf, and after destroying its home, "He ate him up." Unable to blow down the house of the third pig, he determined to sneak down the chimney. The third pig started a pot of boiling water in the fireplace, waited for the wolf to fall in, "ate him for supper, and lived happily ever after."

The modern, more humane version has taken the danger out of the equation. The first distraught pig runs to the safety of the second pig's home. They two run to the brick house of the third pig, and in some of the more current adaptations, the wolf doesn't even attempt to come down the chimney but gives up and goes away.

So this was the topic of discussion this morning. We talked about the ramifications of civilizing a children's story in such a way. Were there any? Yes! This story was meant to be a lesson to its young readers. With the element of danger removed, so went the necessary, rational fear of it--the intended moral quality of the story.

"And the moral of this story is..." work hard, sacrifice yourself for a greater good, prepare for and protect yourself from life's hazards. If you waste the day in laziness and recreation, behaving as though nothing bad will ever happen to you, you will find yourself exposed to the bad and woefully underprepared to handle it. Do not be lulled to sleep by sunny days and flower beds. Make use of those good conditions. Build a lasting foundation for tough times ahead, and you won't have to be afraid.

Now, I certainly don't credit the alteration of a single fairy tale with the destruction of America's moral fabric, but it is a fitting microcosm. Let's see what the modernized Three Little Pigs produces in comparison.

"I have hastily thrown up a batch of straw for my house and spent the rest of the summer frivolously. A wolf showed up--a thing which I never expected! No matter, my brother has a house down the road. He'll take care of me." Repeat this process again, and we have both slothful pigs safe within the walls of their diligent brother's brick house. The wolf, not as big and bad as they thought, shrugs his shoulders and trots away to greener pastures. And the pigs throw a party.

There's another book out now called The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. In it, three cute, furry wolf pups are trying to go about their day while a mean pig keeps trying to destroy their homes. No matter how strong the building material of choice, he keeps tearing it down with various tools of destruction. In the end, the wolves construct a house of flowers. The scent so intoxicates the pig that he gives up trying to hurt them and joins them. It's most likely meant to be adorable and nothing more. Is it innocuouus, or a stamp of moral relativity impressed on young minds? Perhaps it's entertainment at the expense of enlightenment. Kind of like the unwise pigs in the age-old nursery story. Maybe even that would be a generous and forgiving assessment.

The ramifications of such an education are apparent.

"It won't be that bad. Someone will show up and take care of me." Here is a news photo captioned "Thousands still wait to be evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, September 2, 2oo5, 5 days after Hurricane Katrina" (Reuters, David J. Phillip/Pool).

"I'm not in danger (There is no wolf, or the wolf isn't after me.)" In 1977, fire broke out at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky. A show was beginning in the Cabaret Room, crowded over capacity with 1,300 guests. Initially, leading staff advised patrons not to be concerned. The show went on as conditions worsened, until a newly-hired busboy named Walter Bailey interrupted and gave evacuation instructions. Only some of the spectators evacuated. Soon after, fire burst into the room so quickly that those still inside had no time to escape. 165 people perished, and 200 others were injured.

In her book The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why, Amanda Ripley hypothesizes that the failure to conceive beforehand that disaster could strike lengthens one's response time when the real thing happens. Many of these people may not have been able to believe that such a thing would occur to them. They were mentally unprepared to react quickly and rationally, and they hadn't constructed a game plan in advance. They were first lulled into security and then 'stunned in the headlights.'

The two slothful pigs may have come up with many other worthy excuses for failing to be prepared, and their cautionary tale is not for physical matters alone. We have inside information about the Big Bad Wolf, granted to us by the Lord Himself:

For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

And others he will pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

And others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none--and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. (2 Nep. 28:20-22)

When Christ returns to the earth, he very well intends to take us by surprise.

If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee. (Rev. 3:3)

...take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

For as a snare it shall come on all those that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:34-36)

There is genius in many of the moral tales of old. They're fun--about interacting animals, mythical beings, royalty, and forces of nature. They're simple enough for the smallest of understandings. They impart solid, rich truth that binds firmly in the mind. And elements of them are legitimately threatening because the real enemy is legitimately threatening, and from youth, the people of earth should be made to understand it.

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. --D&C 38:30