3 Billygoats Gruff vs. Hansel & Gretel

[saltpoint]

Poll question: 3 Billygoats Gruff vs. Hansel & Gretel

Which of the two tales, "The Three Billygoats Gruff" or "Hansel and Gretel," is the best?

In the first, 3 goat brothers outwit a troll who threatens their passage over a bridge.

In the second, two children are abandoned by their father in the forest only to discover a witch living in a candy house.

[saltpoint]

1. "Hansel and Gretel" grabs the early lead.

[flvegan]

2. The "Musicians of Bremen" whip both they asses.

Piledriver off the top rope.

1-2-3.

Dingdingding!!!

[saltpoint]

3. Hi, flvegan. It is a good story. Those dumb bandits living in that

house didn't know what hit 'em.

And the animals were better as a team together than any of them was separately.

Great tale.

[saltpoint]

4. Obviously people are so obsessed with this issue that they can hardly

bring themselves to even vote in the poll, nevermind comment on the tales.

Well, I just can't apologize for bringing these hot, controversial, asbestos-glove topics to DU.

I just can't.

[bigwillq]

5. H&G

:bounce:

[Mojambo]

6. I only vaguely remember that billygoat one.

I'm gonna have to go look for it.

[saltpoint]

7. It's more physically violent than Hansel & Gretel, but Hansel & Gretel has

psychic torment and abandonment of children.

This is serious business!

[Throckmorton]

8. Rob is a Dingbat

That is all.

[saltpoint]

14. Agnes thinks robots are silly.

[Madspirit]

9. Had to go with the goats....

Both these stories scared me when I was little.
Lee

[saltpoint]

15. I don't blame you one bit. They're unsettling tales.

Even now they have a creepy element to them.

[meegbear]

10. Hansel?

Hansel? Han-sel?

[saltpoint]

13. Hansel. Have I spelled it wrong? 'Haven't had German since high school

and that was a long time ago.

Gretel is the real champion in the story -- she slams the oven door on the witch. But Hansel has a couple good moments, too, especially the idea with the white stones shining in the moonlight. Pretty resourceful young folks in a tale where all the grown-ups are spineless, conniving, or evil.

[philosophie_en_rose]

25. Your muzzah rides a vacuum cleanah!

[meegbear]

27. LOL!

I was looking for shot the prince, but couldn't find it.

[sammythecat]

11. Obvious flamebaiting.

IBTL

I voted for "The Three Billygoats Gruff". One of my very favorites when I was little. :)

[saltpoint]

12. LOL! The goats' tale is making this a hot race. Early on I thought

Hansel & Gretel were going to run away with it.

[Pithlet]

16. It's about time Billygoats Gruff took the lead.

I was beginning to wonder what I was doing at DU. :silly:

[saltpoint]

19. Hi, Pithlet. I'm kind of surprised the poll is as close as it is.

I expected Hansel & Gretel to win easily, but at this hour, the Three Billygoats Gruff has taken the lead and has the Big Mo.

The goats' tale is one of unbridled machismo. Hansel & Gretel honors quick-wits and resourcefulness. It's a classic clash of civilizations!

[MorningGlow]

17. Three Billygoats--no contest

Mention that title to my older brother and his eyes roll back in his head. Apparently when I was a wee tot I wouldn't eat my dinner unless someone read me that story over and over and over until I was done eating. Every. Single. Night. Sometimes while my mom was shoveling my food in, she made my brother read it to me--just what a guy in his late teens (there's 15 years between us but no other siblings in the gap) wants to do with his evenings...
:rofl:

Ah, no need to wonder why he hates me so...

[saltpoint]

18. MorningGlow, that is a TREMENDOUS story! It's BETTER than the

tale of the 3 goats and Hansel & Gretel put together.

Now please, please tell me that your brother looks back on those evenings at the supper table with fondness. Please tell me he smiles and that it moves him to think about it.

Because it is just perfect.

I think that's a kitchen I would love. Good for you to insist on being read to, and good for you for picking a great tale to hear.

Outstanding.

[MorningGlow]

20. ROFL! Thank you! You're too kind!

It's one of the "family legends" (and we've got a million of 'em--one for just about every relative--Italian family, can you tell? :P ).

I would love to say that my brother is fond of that memory, but he'd never admit it if he did. However, he still tells the story, so it has SOME kind of a place in his heart...or a location farther south in his anatomy...maybe it's what's causing his IBS...
:rofl:

Anyway, one of the things he and I do agree on is that somebody ought to write a book about our family. We also agree that it'd have to be classified as fiction, because nobody would believe every word was true. I guess it's up to me, as I'm the professional writer in the family. Could be refreshing, bucking the recent trend of memoirs about sicko-dysfunctional families and the authors who survived them. Yes, our family was completely dysfunctional, but in a wackadoodle kind of way.

Now ask me about the time my Uncle Sam accidentally drove his car into the lake...complete with my Aunt Fanny (yes, Aunt Fanny) in the passenger seat, swearing at him in high-volume Italian for the entire 12-second launch...

[saltpoint]

21. Yes, go ahead and write that memoir.

If it's more wackadoodle than depressing, that's fine -- but go right ahead and write it.

I hope one of these days your older brother will own that 3 Goats every night at the kitchen table story.

It is just a great, great scene. I can see it and hear it. I love your recalcitrance as a child, insisting on hearing the story repeated as you eat. The long Rochester winters dragging by and every single night in your kitchen that damned troll getting his ass kicked.

I love it.

[MorningGlow]

22. Well now, maybe I will, then!

Yes, it would be 98 percent wackadoodle, considering my family. And I can't stand the latest trend of depressing memoirs; I would be more Bill Bryson about it for sure. And the family lends itself to that anyway (as if you couldn't tell).

Thing is, I have no idea why I loved that story so much. What was it that I latched onto? I'll never know. Such is the mind of a 2-year-old, I guess.

I wish I still had that Little Golden Book. But another wackadoodle element of my family is that for years my mom was a huge garage sale fanatic--having them, not cruising them. And she sold all my Little Golden Books for 10 cents apiece. Cleaned me out. At least they went to a kindergarten teacher.

'Kay, another chapter from the wackadoodle family for your Friday night amusement: In one of these grand purges, a customer came up to her around 9:00 a.m. and said, "You wouldn't happen to have a bed for sale, would you?" She made my brother get up and sold his bed out from under him. He went downstairs to eat breakfast. Another customer: "You wouldn't happen to have a kitchen table for sale, would you?" Mom said to my brother, "Pick up your cereal bowl" and sold the table and chairs out from under him. Then another customer started eyeing his '69 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible. The guy finally said NO WAY. Thank goodness.
:rofl:

[saltpoint]

23. Ok, it's decided, then. You'll do the memoir. I'd take a year off, at least.

You'll need a made-to-order cabin in the woods and tell people to leave you alone until you're good and done.

I'm sorry you no longer have those early books, but I like your sentiment that they at least went to a kindergarten teacher. Still, that was a kick in the stomach. Had a similar experience myself, and so I appreciate how it might have felt.

Your poor brother. No bed, no breakfast table... I'm beginning to see why he's so reticent!

[southerncrone]

24. What could be better than 3 billygoats & a TROLL!

Maybe, 3 donkeys outwitting a TROLL! Couldn't resist!

:dem: :dem: :dem:


Rove

[saltpoint]

26. Either way, it's soundin' pretty good.

Thanks for throwing in on this thread, southerncrone.

:hi:

[xchrom]

28. hansel and gretal -- cause i was always rooting for the witch.