Three Billy Goats Gruff

"Three Billy Goats Gruff" (Norwegian:De tre bukkene Bruse) is aNorwegian fairy talecollected byPeter Christen AsbjørnsenandJørgen Moein theirNorske Folkeeventyr, first published between 1841 and 1844.It has anAarne-Thompson typeof 122E. The first version of the story inEnglishappeared inGeorge Webbe Dasent's translation of some of theNorske Folkeeventyr, published asPopular Tales from the Norsein 1859.The heroes of the tale are three male goats who need to outsmart a ravenous troll to cross the bridge to their feeding ground.
The story introduces threebilly goats(malegoats), 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.
"Gruff" was used as their family name in the earliestEnglishtranslation by Dasent and this has been perpetuated; but this has been pointed out as a mistranslation of the Norwegian nameBrusewhich was here employed in the sense of "tuft, clump" of hair on the forehead of domesticated livestock.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 theGreat Norwegian Encyclopedia(SNL), andIvar Aasen's Norwegian-Danish dictionary.
Threebilly goatslive in a valley, all named "Gruff". There is very little grass in the valley, so they must cross a river to get to "Transhumance" (a mountain pasture) to graze and fatten themselves up. But under thebridgelives a fearsome and hideoustroll(guarding the bridge) 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. Then the three billy goats are able to use the bridge every day (to go to the meadow and eat grass in the rich fields around the summer farm in the hills), and live happily ever after.
WriterBjørn F. Rørvik[no]and illustratorGry Moursund[no]have created three books in Norwegian based on this story. The first,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 sellingpicture booksin the country. By March 2019, the three books had sold over 450,000 copies in Norway.
The following is a list of children's book adaptions of the story into the English language, suitable for the elementary school classroom:
Part of the story in the children's bookThe TrollbyJulia Donaldsonis 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 anthologySnow White, Blood Redis also an adaption of the fairy tale, for adults.
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.
Frank Lutherwrote 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 theBBC RadioprogrammeChildren's Favourites, in the 1950s and early 1960s.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 composedKinderkonzerts, a chamber music setting forstring quintetand narrator, with the text adapted byStephanie Sant'Ambrogio, recorded in the album "Klassics 4 Kids: Cactus Pear Music Festival Artists" (2010).
Gwen Edwards adapted the story into a popular children's musical calledBilly, Goat, Gruff: The Musical(summer 2007), atBarter TheatreinAbingdon, Virginia.
A musical adaptation by British composing teamGeorge StilesandAnthony Drewewas commissioned by theSingapore Repertory Theatre. It premiered there in 2015 and made its North American debut in 2017 at the Aurora Theatre inLawrenceville, Georgia.
Mere allusions are listed here.