Folktale Review: "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" (Book)

Folktale Title: "The Three Billy Goats Gruff"
Collection: Norske Folkeeventyr (English: Norwegian Folktales)

Taken From: Children's Book
Adapter: Joan Stimson

Collector: Peter Christen Asbjørnsen & Jørgen Moe
Origin: Norwegian

In the early 19th century (around the time of Napoleonic War), a German philologist named Jacob Grimm and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm (both are referred together as The Grimm Brothers), set out to publish a string of german fairy tales, many of which are far from alien to us today. If you love "The Snow White", "Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", and "Rumpelstiltskin", definitely no doubt your imagination have been entranced by no other than the Grimm Brothers.

Several decades later, two Norwegians Peter Asbjørnsen and his friend Jørgen Moe, were inspired by The Grimm Brothers and sought to emulate their cultural endeavor. They collected their own cultural folktales and published them together as "Norske Folkeeventyr" (Norwegian Folktales). Among the stories included in this Norwegian Folktales is "De Tre Bukkene Bruse" or widespreadly translated as "Three Billy Goats Gruff" in English.

"The Three Billy Goats Gruff" have been written in English over and over again, popularized by frequent occurrences of cultural allusion to the story in wide range of forms, from cartoons and novels to films and figurines. One of many publishers dedicated to the conveyance of the story is "The Ladybird Book".

The story is about three goats of different sizes called Billy goat Gruff who are looking for a green meadow to satiate their cravings for tasty grass. The meadow however, is located on the other side of a river and they have to cross a bridge to get there. 

Under the bridge, lives a grotesque and ravenous troll who would gobble up anyone who attemps to cross it. The troll would show up whenever he hears "trip trap trip trap" over the bridge. The three Billy goat Gruff then have to think of a way to outwit the troll and cross the bridge anyway to the meadow.

The story employs the trope of "eat me when I'm fatter". The youngest one first crosses and convinces the troll that he should eat his bigger sibling who will come soon following him. The middle one also convinces the troll with the same line and the troll decides to wait for the biggest one. However when the biggest one arrives, the plot takes a surprising turn as the biggest one is fully intent on fighting his way through the bridge.

It is just a children folktale however it doesn't fail to amuse me. A lot of questions linger on my mind with respect to the moral values which I'm supposed to take heed of. 

One may say that the troll is foolish and too stupid for waiting long enough until it gets more difficult to achieve what he wants, so we must not fail to seize opportunity as soon as possible. However in many instances, waiting proves to be a wiser move compared to rushing impatiently on the way to our goals. Waiting is after all, a matter of considerable debate in term of how long we should do so. There is no hard and fast rule, as everything depends on context. 

One lesson that I do appreciate is the importance of mustering our courage to take risks. In our life, the green meadow with long grass is the metaphor for our dreams while the troll is symbolic of the challenges which we must face. Every big dreams come with big risks and obstacles too. We must strengthen our resolve and soldier on to do what it takes for achieving our biggest aspirations.

True, this is a children story. But as adults, I don't think we should get repulsed by that fact especially if we are big fans of culture and literature. The study of the man behind the story, the time setting during which the folktale is published and the motivation that drives its publication may teach us a lot of things about Norwegian people history. This story was first  published in mid 19th century, when nationalism was running high in Europe. Bounded by the treaty of Kiel signed in 1814, Norway was not yet fully independent as it would be under Sweden's rule until the next century later (1905). "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" remains as Norwegian icon until today, made immortal by the widespread translation and cultural allusion.

To make it more interesting, subtle and overt references have been made to this story many times in various pop cultures. The cartoon Dora The Explorer features a troll under the bridge, which is a reference to the story. Toy Story Movie too features the characters of this story. In more eerie way, the story serves as foundational base on which Stephen King builds the structure of his bestselling novel "IT". Neil Gaiman too has written an adult version of the story which is incorporated into the "Snow White, Blood Red" anthology featuring many other re-told fairy tales for adults.

It could be frustrating, at least to me, not to know the famous story which people are referring to, what more if it has an interesting cultural and historical background. So I reckon, it will be definitely worth your time to appreciate this precious human heritage.