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THE THREE
LITTLE PUGS 
Long ago in the far off
land of Tasmania,
lived three little pugs, Piggy, Pogo and Peggy, with their pug mother,
Muggy. They lived happily in a comfortable home far away from the city and their
mother made sure that they were always safely out of reach and out of sight of
Taz, the local Tasmanian devil.......who was known to have a taste for dog
meat.
However, when the three little
pugs started to grow up they longed to have a little more independence and one
day they all decided that it was time for them to leave home. Their mother's
entreaties were to no avail and she had to content herself with giving
them advice and helping them with their preparations. So on the day before they
were to embark on their big adventure they all sat round the dining room table
to discuss their plans.
Piggy, the eldest and the fattest
pushed out his fat chest and pompously said, "If I were you, (and
thank God I'm not) I'd build a solid brick house with an iron door and windows.
That's what I am going to do and I'd like to see Taz manage to get to me in my
little castle!"
To this, Pogo, the next in line
and the friskiest of the three, answered, "Oh brother you exaggerate in your
plans. Bricks and steel will break your back before Taz even dreams of you. I
will build my house out of wood because it is strong but light and is
found in abundance in these parts. And if my house fails to protect me, unlike
you, I can always count on my agility and speed to get away!"
Pogo's words nearly started a
fight and it wouldn't have been the first between the brothers if their mother
had not intervened." Boys, calm down and give your sister a chance to tell us
her plans," she said," Peggy what strategy are you going to take to keep out of
Taz's reach?"
"Oh mother you need not worry
about me because while my strong brothers were carrying their bricks and beams
and drawing their plans for their strong little fortresses I was doing some
research over the best defence to adopt."
"And what defence would that
be? Are you going to blow kisses at him?" laughed Pogo.
"No, she's going to hypnotise him
with her dreamy brown eyes!" Piggy guffawed.
"No! I learned that the best
defence is attack. My house will be made of the lightest and softest hay and my
door and windows will be garlanded with the sweetest and most perfumed flowers
of the season. I discovered........"
But that was as far as Peggy
could go because her brothers were rolling on their backs with laughter and even
her mother couldn't help a little giggle at her daughter's words.
Still with tears in their eyes
the brothers left their childhood home to face the challenges of life on their
own, while Peggy, more hurt by her mother's giggle than all her brothers'
ridicule and laughter shook off her mother's apologies and attempts to hold her
back and she too set off on her first experience of life on her own.
It wasn't long before Taz came to
know that our three little pugs were now living on their own, away from the
protection of their mother, so he decided to give the dogs a visit.
When he got to Piggy's house he
soon realised that getting inside was next to impossible. However on examining
the house carefully he soon came up with a plan. Seeing that the chimney was
smoking, he quickly climbed onto the roof and threw several big banana leaves on
its opening. In less than a minute Piggy's house was full of thick, black smoke
and the poor little pug, to avoid choking to death, had to rush
out.......straight into Taz's mouth.
With Piggy still jumping in his
bloated stomach Taz went on to Pogo's house. Circling the wooden hut, Taz soon
noticed that Pogo had a back door in his house and he easily figured out that
Pogo's plan was to use this door as an escape route if he ever was in danger.
Deciding to use Pogo's plan to his advantage, Taz quickly dug a burrow outside
Pogo's back door. He then went to the front door and started to scratch at it,
gnash his teeth and to utter the Tasmanian devil's blood chilling cry. As
expected, Pogo, scared for his life, ran out of the back door only to fall into
Taz's trap and in a few moments he had joined his brother in the little
monster's stomach.
Not content with a two course
meal, Taz went in search of a little dessert. However when Peggy's house came in
sight, he couldn't believe his eyes....her house was made of hay and decorated
with the sweetest smelling flowers of the season. Not knowing whether to laugh
or cry, Taz rushed forward, planning to burst through the soft walls of Peggy's
fragile home but to his dismay he was stopped short by....................... a
violent attack of sneezing. Peggy encouraged by her success opened a little
window and started blowing dandelion seeds at the bellowing little monster.
Taz's sneezing fit increased to gale proportions until Peggy's two brothers were
coughed up, all yucky and gooey from Taz's stomach juices but relatively
unharmed. Quickly joining her in fuelling Taz's attack, the latter's snorting
increased so much that he sneezed himself off the island and was never heard of
again.
That day the two brothers learned
that there are many different ways to face a problem and that the best plans do not only consider one's strengths but also the weaknesses
of one's adversaries.
freely adapted by Joseph Vella from "The
Three Little Pigs"
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