Goldilocks and the Three Pigs

Goldilocks skipped happily on the dirt path, then stopped by a big rock. She grunted, took off her left shoe, and shook it upside down. Two pebbles came out. Then she tightened her pig tails and continued on her way.

She knew she shouldn’t speak to strangers, but that little pig sure looked like he needed some help. He was trying to tie bunches of straw together to make a house, but they kept collapsing.

“Hello, Mr. Pig,” Goldilocks said. “Can I help you build your house?”

“I don’t know if you can,” the pig answered, “but you may try to help me.” He pushed up his glasses with his hoof and handed her a piece of string.

They worked together for a while, until Goldilocks remembered something. “I must go now, Mr. Pig. I must gather a bouquet of wildflowers for my mother’s birthday. I’m glad I could help!”

Mr. Pig shook her hand heartily. “Thank you for all you’ve done.” He looked at his near-complete house and sighed in satisfaction.

Goldilocks walked some more until she met another pig, carrying a bundle of sticks on his back. The pig’s plump belly wiggled at every step he took. Drops of sweat rolled down from his ears to his triple chin. He finally put his bundle down in an empty field and wiped his forehead with a red and white polka dot handkerchief.

“Building a house?” Goldilocks asked as she passed by.

“Trying to,” the pig answered, catching his breath. “I spent all my energy carrying this wood.” He slumped on a fallen log and stretched his legs out. “At this rate, it will be dark before I can settle in my new house.”

“I can help you,” Goldilocks offered. “What kind of house are you building – a log cabin? A teepee? A hut?”

“Whatever is easier,” the pig answered, gulping water and wiping his mouth with the back of his hoof.

By the time they finished the roof, the sun was starting to go down. “My, it’s getting late,” Goldilocks said. “I’d better get going!” She waved to her new friend who thanked her again and again until she disappeared out of view.

Goldilocks went up a little hill and turned a bend in the path. That’s when she noticed a pile of bricks near a half-built house. She could see a green hat peeking from behind the wall, and an occasional hoof smudging cement and laying bricks.

“Hello?” she said, poking her head through the open door.

“Hi, there!” the third pig answered. He was wearing dark green overalls and a striped green and white shirt. “Can you please hand me some more bricks?”

“Sure!” Goldilocks said, running back outside. She came back in the house with an armful of bricks and handed them, one by one, to the pig.

In no time, the walls were high enough. The two friends worked on building the roof. Goldilocks forgot about the time. When she took her leave and stepped back outside, the sun was setting, casting long shadows on the newly-built house.

She gasped. “Now I’ll never be able to gather flowers for my mother’s birthday!” she moaned. She hurried down the path and into the field of wildflowers. She decided to stop after picking ten daisies and head back home.

“Wait!” a voice called from up the hill. The third pig was coming toward her with a bunch of roses in his hands. “I just want to thank you for your help,” he said. “Be careful with the thorns!” He tipped his hat, and headed back up his hill.

Goldilocks smiled. She wrapped the roses and daisies in her sunhat and kept walking. She was almost jogging, knowing her mother would be worried if she didn’t get back before dark.

“Hey there!” someone called from behind the bush, making her jump a mile. She recognized the stick house and the plump pig. “I saw you coming down the hill, and I just couldn’t let you pass by without giving you this, as a token of appreciation.” He shoved three lilac branches in her arms.

“Thank you very much!” Goldilocks said. The pig smiled and went back inside his new stick house, and Goldilocks continued on her way.

She was running now, trying not to drop any daisies, roses, or lilacs from her hat. She almost bumped into the first pig she had met. He handed her a gigantic sunflower. “Thanks for putting sunshine in my day,” he said, blushing slightly from behind his glasses.

Goldilocks made it home just before dark. She hurried to the shed, grabbed the largest flower pot she could find, filled it with pebbles, and arranged all the flowers in it. Then she rushed into the house, and said, “Happy birthday, Mother!” grinning from ear to ear.

“Goldilocks! I was starting to worry. What is… My, what a wonderful bouquet! No wonder it took you so long to come back.”

Goldilocks laughed. “Some of them come from the three pigs I helped. They would have never finished their houses if it hadn’t been for me. They each thanked me with flowers. I wish you could meet them some day.”

Mother shook her head. “Last time it was three bears, now three pigs? What next – three wolves? I just wish you were more responsible, Goldilocks. You wouldn’t have to make up all those stories if you came back on time.”

“But…” Goldilocks started. Then she remembered grown-ups don’t always know that reality is often stranger than fiction. She hugged her mother and they all had a piece of birthday cake her father had just baked.