Summary
Summary of The Story of the Three Little Pigs
The Story of the Three Little Pigs at a glance
Summary: 9 min to read
- Reading time
- About 4 min3 min fast, 4 min slow
- Length
- 887 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1904by L. Leslie Brooke
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Story of the Three Little Pigs, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Each pig begins with a choice
An old sow cannot support her three little pigs, so she sends them out to seek their fortunes. Each meets a man carrying building material and politely asks for it. Their beginnings are much alike, but their choices will make the difference when danger comes.
The first pig accepts straw and quickly builds a house. The tale does not call him lazy or scold him. It lets his choice stand, ready for a test that politeness alone cannot help him pass.
Key idea 2
Courage cannot hold up weak walls
The wolf arrives at the straw house and asks to come inside.
Start free to read
Key idea 3
A stronger house can still fail
The second pig builds with furze, a prickly shrub that is tougher than straw.
Start free to read
Key idea 4
The bricks break the pattern
The third pig asks for bricks, choosing material that is heavy and takes more work to build with.
Start free to read
Key idea 5
The pig moves before the wolf
Unable to destroy the brick house, the wolf offers a friendly outing to gather turnips.
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Quick thinking rescues a stretched plan
The wolf next suggests gathering apples.
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Wisdom needs foresight and quick wit
The third pig brings together two kinds of wisdom.
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Repetition makes each change stand out
The house scenes follow a repeated pattern: a pig asks for material, builds a home and faces the wolf.
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Choose with the wolf in mind
The pigs leave the same poor home and face the same hungry visitor, but their building materials decide whose shelter holds.
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest free
Who it’s for
You will love this tale if you enjoy folk stories with a clear shape, if you read aloud to children, or if you like a clever small hero who wins by planning ahead.
What this book is
Why would a pig pick heavy bricks when a man is giving away light straw for the asking? That one choice sits at the center of The Story of the Three Little Pigs, a tale small enough to tell in minutes and sharp enough to stay with you for life. A wolf comes knocking at three doors. Behind the first two, the houses fall. Behind the third, something holds.
This version comes from L. Leslie Brooke, an English artist and illustrator who also made the picture book Johnny Crow's Garden. He gave an old folk tale a clear, bouncy telling, with a refrain that begs to be read aloud. You get the poor mother, the three pigs, the three loads of building material and the wolf who keeps coming back with new plans.
In this summary
- 1Each pig begins with a choiceFree
- 2Courage cannot hold up weak walls
- 3A stronger house can still fail
- 4The bricks break the pattern
- 5The pig moves before the wolf
- 6Quick thinking rescues a stretched plan
- 7Wisdom needs foresight and quick wit
- 8Repetition makes each change stand out
- 9Choose with the wolf in mind
A poor mother sends her pigs away
The tale opens in the plainest way. An old sow has three little pigs, and she does not have enough to keep them all. So she sends them out to seek their fortunes.
The young pigs are sent away because their mother does not have enough to support them. Each pig meets a man who gives him material with which to build a house. This is the old shape of a folk tale, where the young leave home and must prove what they are made of. Each pig will be tested.
The first pig is the first to leave. He meets a man carrying a bundle of straw and asks for it politely. He says please and he calls the man sir. The man hands it over, and the pig builds his house without delay. The story does not scold him or call him lazy. It simply shows what he chose and lets the wolf do the judging.
The other two pigs leave the same home and ask in the same polite way. Because the start is so alike, the only thing that sets the brothers apart is what each one chooses to ask for. Every plan starts with a choice of materials, and the easiest choice is often the one that costs the most later.
The first choice you make is the one that every later test will lean on.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Check yourself
Why does the third pig's house withstand the wolf?
Right. “The third pig meets a man with a load of bricks.”Not quite. “The third pig meets a man with a load of bricks.”
How does the pig defeat the wolf's turnip plan?
Right. “He gets up at five, goes to the field alone, gathers the turnips and is home again before six.”Not quite. “He gets up at five, goes to the field alone, gathers the turnips and is home again before six.”
Which two kinds of wisdom does the third pig show?
Right. “Foresight keeps the walls up, and quick wit gets you out of the corners.”Not quite. “Foresight keeps the walls up, and quick wit gets you out of the corners.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Story of the Three Little Pigs
About 10 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- The third little pig
- The clever third pig, who builds with bricks and uses quick wits, early rising and a good throw to stay one step ahead of the wolf.
- The wolf
- A hungry, sweet-talking wolf who knocks at every door, uses huffing and puffing as his weapon and keeps inventing new plans to catch a pig.
- The first little pig
- The first pig to leave home, who asks politely for straw and builds a house with the material he is given.
- The second little pig
- The second pig, who asks a man for furze and builds a house that the wolf eventually blows down.
- The old sow
- The mother of the three pigs, who has too little to keep them and sends them out to seek their fortunes.
- Mr. Smith
- The owner of the home field full of turnips, where the wolf says he will take the pig to find dinner.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 887 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about The Story of the Three Little Pigs
What is The Story of the Three Little Pigs about?
Three young pigs leave home and each builds a house from straw, furze or bricks. A hungry wolf visits each one and threatens to huff and puff and blow it in. The tale shows what planning and quick thinking can do.
What do the straw, furze and brick houses mean?
The three materials stand for three levels of effort and foresight. Straw is the quickest and weakest choice, furze is somewhat better, and bricks take the most work but give real protection. The tale lets the wolf test each choice.
Is The Story of the Three Little Pigs a true story?
No, it is a folk tale with animal characters. It passed from teller to teller long before it was printed, and L. Leslie Brooke, who died in 1940, gave it a lively and much-loved written form for young readers.
Is the tale easy to read aloud to children?
It reads aloud very well. The text is short, the sentences are plain, and the refrains about the chinny chin chin and the huffing and puffing invite children to join in. The three-part pattern is simple to follow.
What is the main message of the Three Little Pigs?
The main message is that careful work and clear thinking protect you better than shortcuts. The third pig builds with bricks, then outwits the wolf with early rising, a thrown apple and a rolling churn.
Cite this edition
Brooke, L. Leslie. The Story of the Three Little Pigs. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-the-three-little-pigs.
Brooke, L. L. (2026). The story of the three little pigs. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-the-three-little-pigs (Original work published 1904)
Brooke, L. Leslie. The Story of the Three Little Pigs. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-the-three-little-pigs.
@book{brooke2026story,
author = {Brooke, L. Leslie},
title = {The Story of the Three Little Pigs},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-the-three-little-pigs},
note = {First published 1904}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Story of the Three Little Pigs, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
