Mother Pig sends her three little piglets out into the world to "seek their fortune". One day the big bad wolf came and knocked on the first little pig's door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." And the little pig answered, "No, no, I won't let you come in, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin."
"Well," said the wolf, "then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down and swallowed the first pig.
The second pig builds a house of sticks, has the same conversation with the wolf, who huffs and puffs the house down and swallows the second pig.
The third pig builds a house of bricks. The wolf cannot huff and puff hard enough to blow the house down. He attempts to trick the third little pig out of his house, but the pig outsmarts him at every turn. Finally, the wolf threatens to come down the chimney, whereupon the third little pig boils a pot of water into which the wolf plunges.
In some versions, the pig cooks the wolf into a stew and eats him. In recent years, the story has been retold in softer tone. In these retellings, no one is eaten; the two less prudent pigs escape to their brother's house, while the wolf escapes rather than being fatally boiled.
