The three little pigs

The youngest little pig didn’t feel like working and, to keep himself warm, he made a house of straw; the middle little pig worked a little harder and made a house of wood; the eldest worked very hard to build a house of bricks and when the wolf came and blew and blew…

The Three Little Pigs is one of the best known and most popular traditional stories among children. Bruno Bettelheim, in his Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales, emphasizes that the symbolism of the characters, as well as the actions they perform and the subsequent outcome, can be interpreted as metaphors of the process of growth and development of the personality. The child, according to Bettelheim, through identification with each of the three little pigs, learns in a simple way that people evolve and that growing up has great advantages. That is why it is the oldest piggy who finally defeats the enemy, combining effort, intelligence and rational planning.

The three animals symbolize the evolution and progress of man, from an immature state to that of who knows how to face up to conflicts intelligently, allowing the child to come up with his or her own conclusions.

True to the known traditional tale, the album brings us simple and amusing images creating a visual dialogue easily seen. Helga Bansch shows once again her empathy with the youngest reader, playing with the characters’ expressiveness and with the details that enrich each illustration inviting us to open the book time and time again.

Text by Raquel Méndez, from a traditional story Illustrations by Helga Bansch