Three Billy Goats Gruff Explained

Folk Tale Name:	Three Billy Goats Gruff
Aarne-Thompson Grouping:	122E
Country:	Norway
Published In:	Norwegian Folktales

"Three Billy Goats Gruff" (Norwegian: De tre bukkene Bruse) is a Norwegian fairy tale^[1] collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr, first published between 1841 and 1844.^[2] It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 122E. The first version of the story in English appeared in George Webbe Dasent's translation of some of the Norske Folkeeventyr, published as Popular Tales from the Norse in 1859.^[3] The heroes of the tale are three male goats who need to outsmart a ravenous troll to cross the bridge to their feeding ground.

Characters

The story introduces three billy goats (male goats), sometimes identified as a youngster, father and grandfather, but more often described as brothers. In other adaptations, there is a baby or child goat, mama goat and papa goat. But since they are male, it is either they are all brothers, a youngster, father, and grandfather, or a father and two sons.

"Gruff" was used as their family name in the earliest English translation by Dasent and this has been perpetuated; but this has been pointed out as a mistranslation of the Norwegian name Norwegian: Bruse which was here employed in the sense of "tuft, clump" of hair on the forehead of domesticated livestock.^[4] The word can mean "fizz" or "effervescence", but also a "frizzle (of hair)" according to Brynildsen's Norwegian-English dictionary, but the secondary meaning is better explained as "a tuft/clump of hair on a horse (or buck goat)" in the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (SNL), and Ivar Aasen's Norwegian-Danish dictionary.^[5]

Plot

Three billy goats live in a valley, all named "Gruff." There is very little grass in the valley, so they must cross a river to get to "sæter" (a mountain pasture) to graze and fatten themselves up. But under the bridge lives a fearsome and hideous troll who kills and eats everyone who tries to cross.

The smallest billy goat goes first. The troll stops him and threatens to "gobble him up!" The little goat tells the troll he should wait for his big brother to cross, because he is larger and would make for a more gratifying feast. The greedy troll agrees and lets the smallest goat pass.

Then the medium-sized billy goat approaches the bridge. He is more cautious than his brother, but the troll stops him too. The second goat convinces the troll to wait for their eldest brother, the largest of the three, and the troll lets him pass as well.

Then the largest billy goat steps on to the bridge and meets the troll waiting to devour him. The largest goat challenges him to fight and then throws him into the water with his horns. The troll drowns in the stream, and from then on the bridge is safe. The three billy goats go to eat in the rich fields around the summer farm in the hills, and live happily ever after.

Retellings

Writer and illustrator has created three books in Norwegian based on this the story. The first one, Bukkene Bruse på badeland (The Three Billy Goats Gruff at the Waterpark), came in 2009 and had by 2014 sold over 110,000 copies in Norway, making it one of the biggest selling picture books in the country. By March 2019 the three books had sold over 450,000 copies in Norway.^[6]

The following is a list of children's book adaptions of the story into the English language, suitable for the elementary school classroom:

• Arnold, Tim (1993) The Three Billy Goats Gruff Macmillan
• Barnett, Mac (Illustr. by Jon Klassen (2022). "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Orchard Books.^[7]
• Brown, Marcia (1991) [1957] The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Harcourt
• Chase, Richard (Illustr. by Berkeley Williams, Jr.) (1948), "Sody Sallyraytus" in Grandfather Tales, Houghton
• Galdone, Paul (1981) [1973] The Three Billy Goats Gruff. HMH Books for Young Readers
• Langley, Jonathan (1995) The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Harper Collins
• Loewen, Nancy (Illustr. by Cristian Bernardini) (2018). Listen, my bridge is SO cool!: The Story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff as Told by the Troll. Picture Window Books
• Mortimer, Rachel (Illustr. by Liz Pichon) (2010). The Three Billy Goats Fluff. Scholastic
• Ottolenghi, (Illustr. by Carol Mark Clapsadle) (2009). The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Brighter Child
• Palatini, Margie (Illustr. by Barry Moser)(2005). The Three Silly Billies. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Patchett, Ann (Illustr. by Robin Preiss Glasser) (2020) Escape Goat. Puffin Books
• Pinkney, Jerry (2017). The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Pye, Katie (Illustr. by Rodrigo Paulo) (2020). Trip Trap Trouble: A Story about the Three Billy Goats Gruffs and Gratitude. Headstart Thinking
• Rounds, Glen (1993). The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Holiday House
• S., Svend Otto (1989) The Three Billy Goats Gruff. D. C. Heath
• Shaskan, Stephen (2013) The Three Triceratops Tuff. Beach Lane Books
• Sims, Lesley (Illustr. by David Semple) (2015). Goat in a Boat. Usborne Publishing Ltd
• Stevens, Janet (1987) The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Harcourt
• Ziefert, Harriet (Illustr. by Laura Rader) (1994) The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Tambourine

Part of the story in the children's book The Troll by Julia Donaldson is based on the tale, with a troll that lives under varying bridges and waits for goats but in this story only other animals walk over the bridges.

Neil Gaiman's "Troll Bridge" (1993) in the anthology Snow White, Blood Red is also an adaption of the fairy tale, for adults.^{[8] [9]}

Golden Books did a version of the story that was similar to the book. The only difference is that when the troll is washed away by the stream, he is later mentioned to have moved into a cave.

Media adaptations

Audiobooks

• Scholastic Corporation produced an audio recording in 1963, with music composed and directed by Arthur Rubinstein, narrated by Bob Thomas, and cover illustration by Susan Blair and Ellen Appleby. It was first made available as a phonograph record,^[10] and then on Compact Cassette.

Films

• The 3 Billy Piñatas (2015) is a version with a Spanish twist, produced by "Team Juan" at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee

Television

• In 1995, Australian children's TV series Johnson and Friends adapted this fairy tale, with the characters 'roleplaying' and acting out the story in a humorous fashion.
• In 2004, the story is retold on Hi-5. This version has the goats replaced by sheep and instead of the troll wanting to eat them, he just wanted to sleep and was annoyed by their noise. The story ended with the biggest sheep giving him earmuffs made out of wool. In the original Australian version of the show, three sheep crossing a bridge disturb the napping bunyip underneath.^[11]
• In 2008, the BBC created a modern adaptation for its Fairy Tales TV series. In this, the story was given a twist in that the troll was presented as a tragic, cruelly maligned victim.^[12]

Music and musicals

Frank Luther wrote a version of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" geared towards music education for elementary school grade children, published in "Singing on Our Way", Our Singing World Series by the Ginn and Company (c. 1949). It was often played on the BBC Radio programme Children's Favourites, in the 1950s and early 1960s.^[13] Some years earlier Yvonne Ravell had recorded a version she wrote in sung (1940), cited as suitable education material for the theatre in one journal.

James Scott Balentine composed Kinderkonzerts, a chamber music setting for string quintet and narrator, with the text adapted by Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, recorded in the album "Klassics 4 Kids: Cactus Pear Music Festival Artists" (2010).^[14]

Gwen Edwards adapted the story into a popular children's musical called Billy, Goat, Gruff: The Musical (summer 2007), at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia.^[15]

A musical adaptation by British composing team George Stiles and Anthony Drewe was commissioned by the Singapore Repertory Theatre. It premiered there in 2015 and made its North American debut in 2017 at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Play productions

• Lazy Bee Scripts published Billy Goat Gruff (2009), a simple play for young children.^[16]

Games

• The Three Billy Goats Gruff (2013) game adaptation for tablets and mobile phones was developed by the Norwegian game studio Agens. The game was made with support from the Norwegian Film Institute.

In popular culture

Mere allusions are listed here.

In literature

• The tale is the inspiration of Kevin P. Futers's novel The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruff, which is set in seventh-century Northumbria and includes goats named Edgar, Bert, and Frith.
• The tale in brief is incorporated into Gordon R. Dickson's "3-Part Puzzle" (1962).^[17] translated into an ET language as "The THREE (Name) (Domestic Animals) (Name)" (and the (horrendous, carnivorous, mythical creature)). The ET Envoy is puzzled over the glee that children show over this "simple and boring" "lesson in tactics".
• The Billy Goats Gruff make an appearance in Jim Butcher's book Small Favor (2008), the tenth novel of the Dresden Files series.
• Stephen King's It (1986) alludes to this story.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Lords and Ladies (1992) refers to this story, as does a joke made in the first chapter of Monstrous Regiment (2003).
• Andri Snær Magnason's's Tímakistan (2013) is a retelling of Snow White features a troll who meets a kid, its mother, and her husband. When the mother goat tells the troll to eat her husband instead of her, "the troll lost his appetite. 'What's the world coming to?', he cried. 'The kid tells me to eat its mother, and she tells me to eat her husband! Crazy family!'."^[18] The troll goes home leaving the goats uneaten.

In comics

• Bill Willingham's 2002 comic book Fables contains mention of the goats, and the troll is an ongoing character.
• Pierry Radrik's 2020 One comic book.

In film

• In My Neighbour Totoro (1988) the eponymous creature Totoro is named after misspelling 'Toro-ru', which means 'troll' in Japanese. In the end scene is a book of the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff" with Totoro on it visible, indicating that Totoro is named after this story.^[19]
• In Toy Story 4 (2019), it is revealed that Bo Peep's three-headed sheep, previously unnamed, were named "Billy", "Goat", and "Gruff", after the story.
• In the Norwegian film Trollhunter (2010), the title character attempts to bait a troll by placing three goats on a bridge.
• Mike Flanagan's Kickstarter-funded film Absentia (2011) is a modern-day retelling centred around a tunnel, a series of abductions, and a troll-like creature.

In television

• In 1994, Animaniacs, for its second-season premiere, did its own parody of the story in the short "Take My Siblings, Please!". In the story, the goats are portrayed by the Warner Brothers and their sister, Dot. In the end, Yakko simply whacks the troll with a giant mallet.
• In 1996, the TV show Aaahh!!! Real Monsters told its version of the Three Billy Goats Gruff in the episode "Oblina and the Three Humans". In this telling, the goats are represented by humans and the monster under the bridge is the main character of the story.
• In the April 19, 2015 segment about "patent trolls" of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, it is referenced with "trolls actually do something, they control bridge-access for goats and ask people fun riddles".^[20]
• In the TV series Thomas & Friends an episode named "Three Steam Engines Gruff" is a reference to this story.
• Between the Lions had a few episodes about the characters reading the story.

In music

• The tale appears to be cryptically referenced in the song "John Brown" (1988) by indie-rock band Masters of Reality. The lyrics are usually understood to be "John Brown, bring him down; pull his body to the ground. Left him up, for long enough; let me be the Baby Gruff."^[21]
• The song "Much Chubbier" by Nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot on his album Question Bedtime (2014) is a retelling of the story.

In games

• In the card game , a card named "Clackbridge Troll" was printed in the 2019 expansion Throne of Eldraine. In its art, a troll is seen looming over three goats on a bridge.
• The tale also comes into play during the first King's Quest (1983) game. A troll is guarding a bridge Graham needs to cross. The optimum solution to the puzzle is to lure a goat over to the bridge. Upon seeing the troll, the goat is angered, and butts it into the river below.
• The tale also comes into play during Magicland Dizzy (1990). A troll is guarding a bridge Dizzy needs to cross. He says the only way to cross is to give him 30 diamonds before kicking Dizzy in the air away from him, but this is a red herring, as there are 30 in the whole game with one behind him and many in the Ice Palace afterwards. The only solution to the puzzle, is to cut the rope holding the goat using the dagger, before hitting him with the stick to make him charge towards the troll. Along his way, the goat butts the troll into the air.
• The tale is also included in the video game Simon the Sorcerer (1993).
• In the video game (2011), near a place called Purewater Run, there is a stone bridge near a waterfall. If it is the player's first time there, they will see three goats; upon looking under the bridge, they will find a dead troll.

Eponymy

• Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham, Alabama has a hiking trail and bridge named after the eponymous bridge in the story.

External links

• • • • Norwegian version, ePub and audio books in Speex format available.
• SurLaLune website: annotated Three Billy Goats Gruff in the version from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Popular Tales from the Norse George Webbe Dasent, translator. Edinburgh: David Douglass, 1888.
• Three Billy Goats Gruff with other regional variations and 122E stories.

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia of American folklore: Facts on File library of American literature. Linda S. Watts. Infobase Publishing, 2007. . p. 383.
2. Web site: Answers.com: Asbjørnsen and Moe. Answers.com.
3. Book: Asbjørnsen . Peter Christen . Peter Christen Asbjørnsen . Moe . Jørgen Engebretsen . Jørgen Engebretsen Moe . Dasent . George Webbe . George Webbe Dasent . Popular tales from the Norse . Forgotten Books . 978-1-60506-787-2. 313.
4. Web site: The Goats that Got Away . Hawes . Barbara . . Hawes, Barbara, Curator Germanic Collections . Posted by Olga Kerziouk . European Studies Blog . British Library . 19 October 2015 . The story's original Norwegian title in full (a bit less snappy than the English one we know) was De tre Bukkene Bruse, som skulde gaa til Sæters og gjøre seg fede which roughly translates as 'The three Billy-Goats Gruff who were going to mountain pastures to fatten themselves up'. 'Bruse', which is the name of the goats, was translated as 'Gruff' in the first English version, and this translation has stuck ever since but in fact the word refers to the hairy tuft on a goat's forehead.
5. Store Norske Leksikon s.v Bruse: "Norwegian: Bruse er en tett og lav busk, særlig av einer. Ordet brukes også om en hårdusk i pannen på en hest eller bukk (bukkene Bruse)"
6. Web site: The Three Billy Goats Gruff at the Water Park . norla.no. 29 March 2019.
7. Web site: Cover Reveal: 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen . . Feb 3, 2022 . publishersweekly.com . June 25, 2024.
8. Neil Gaiman, "Smoke and Mirrors"
9. Book: Gaiman, Neil . Neil Gaiman . The Toll Bridge . HDatlow les . Ellen . Ellen Datlow . Windling . Terri . Terri Windling . Snow White, Blood Red . New York . Open Road Media . 2019 . 1993 . https://books.google.com/books?id=lGl0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT230 . 9781504055765 .
10. Scholastic Records CC 0612, Long Play 33-1/3 RPM
11. Hi-5 Series 1, Episode 22 (Animals), segment of "" @ Hi 5 Official Channel
12. News: Horne, Mathew . Deacon, Michael . Daily Telegraph . Once upon a time.... https://web.archive.org/web/20080307141542/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/01/05/nosplit/bvtvsatfeat05.xml. March 7, 2008. May 1, 2008. The troll character is dirty and smelly and everybody is frightened of him, and I think that heightens the pathos of the ending, because it's a witch hunt, without any evidence.
13. Web site: Children's Favourites . Whirligig-tv.co.uk . 2005-11-28 . 2010-06-09.
14. Web site: Kinderkonzerts . Cactus Pear Music Festival. Balentine, James Scott . Sant'Ambrogio, Stephanie . Guildhian Music.
15. Web site: It's curtains up on Barter's '07 season . GoTricities.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20070502140501/http://www.gotricities.com/content/article.dna?idNumber=4301 . 2007-05-02 .
16. Web site: Billy Goat Gruff. Lazy Bee Scripts. 2009.
17. Book: Dickson. Gordon. Beginnings. 1988. Baen Books. 0-671-65429-2. 51–53.
18. 'Þá missti tröllkarlinn matarlystina. Hvert er heimurinn að fara? hrópaði hann. Kiðlingurinn segir mér að éta móður sína og hún segir mér að éta manninn sinn. Hvílík fjölskylda!'; Andri Snær Magnason, Tímakistan (Reykjavík: Mál og Menning, 2013), p. 131.
19. Web site: My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - IMDb. www.imdb.com.
20. Patents: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/3bxcc3SM_KA . 2021-12-22 . live. HBO.
21. Web site: genius.com. Masters of Reality "John Brown" lyrics.