May 11. Story of the Day: The Old Woman and Her Pig

Today's story comes from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. You can click on that link to see more stories from this book.

This is the story that gave its name to the widespread tale type ATU 2030 old woman and her pig.

The goal in this story is to get the pig to jump over the stile. As you can see in the illustration by John Batten, the pig is looking rather fat and dubious. The old woman will have to enlist a long chain of helpers in order to get her pig over that stile.

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The Old Woman and Her Pig

AN old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked sixpence. 'What,' said she, 'shall I do with this little sixpence? I will go to market, and buy a little pig.' As she was coming home, she came to a stile: but the piggy wouldn't go over the stile.

She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to him:
'Dog! dog! bite pig;
piggy won't go over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the dog wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said:
'Stick! stick! beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the stick wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a fire. So she said:
'Fire! fire! burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the fire wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met some water. So she said:
'Water! water! quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the water wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said:
'Ox! ox! drink water;
water won't quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the ox wouldn't.

She went a little further and she met a butcher. So she said:
'Butcher! butcher! kill ox;
ox won't drink water;
water won't quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the butcher wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a rope. So she said:
'Rope! rope! hang butcher;
butcher won't kill ox;
ox won't drink water;
water won't quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won' t get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the rope wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a rat. So she said:
'Rat! rat! gnaw rope;
rope won't hang butcher;
butcher won't kill ox;
ox won't drink water;
water won't quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'
But the rat wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said:
'Cat! cat! kill rat;
rat won't gnaw rope;
rope won't hang butcher;
butcher won't kill ox;
ox won't drink water;
water won't quench fire;
fire won't burn stick;
stick won't beat dog;
dog won't bite pig;
piggy won't get over the stile;
and I shan't get home tonight.'

But the cat said to her,
'If you will go to yonder cow,
and fetch me a saucer of milk,
I will kill the rat.'
So away went the old woman to the cow.

But the the cow said to her:
'If you will go to yonder haystack,
and fetch me a handful of hay,
I'll give you the milk.'
So away went the old woman to the hay-stack;
and she brought the hay to the cow.

As soon as the cow had eaten the hay,
she gave the old woman the milk;
and away she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk,
the cat began to kill the rat;
the rat began to gnaw the rope;
the rope began to hang the butcher;
the butcher began to kill the ox;
the ox began to drink the water;
the water began to quench the fire;
the fire began to burn the stick;
the stick began to beat the dog;
the dog began to bite the pig;
the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile;
and so the old woman got home that night.


NOTES

SOURCE Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes and Tales, 114.

PARALLELS Cf. Miss Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, 529; also No. 34, infra ('Cat and Mouse'). It occurs also in Scotch, with the title 'The Wife and her Bush of Berries', Chambers's Pop. Rhymes, p. 57. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, gives a game named 'Club-fist' (No. 75), founded on this, and in his notes refers to German, Danish, and Spanish variants. (Cf. Cosquin, ii, 36 seq. See also Celtic Fairy Tales, notes on 'Munachar and Manachar').

REMARKS One of the class of accumulative stories, which are well represented in England. (Cf. infra, Nos. 16, 20, 34, and 80 in More English Fairy Tales.)

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Here is a variant which Halliwell mentions, but which Jacobs did not include in his note:

* Or haymakers, proceeding thus in the stead of the rest of this paragraph:—"And fetch me a wisp of hay, I'll give you the milk.—So away the old woman went, but the haymakers said to her,—If you will go to yonder stream, and fetch us a bucket of water, we'll give you the hay. So away the old woman went, but when she got to the stream, she found the bucket was full of holes. So she covered the bottom with pebbles, and then filled the bucket with water, and away she went back with it to the haymakers; and they gave her a wisp of hay."

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Here is an illustration by L. Leslie Brooke from The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang:

CHAIN: pig - dog - stick - fire - water - ox - butcher - rope - rat - cat - cow - haystack - milk