The Four Little Pigs, 2020
Once upon a time, there were Three Little Pigs who escaped the Big Bad Wolf by the hair on their chinny chin chins. All over the world, mamas and papas told their little children the story of the Three Little Pigs. They hoped their babies would know that they must build strong houses, brick by brick, before disaster strikes.

Unknown to everyone, the three little pigs had a sister who could only build castles in the air. She looked at clouds, read strange books and thought strange thoughts. It was embarrassing. Baby sister didn’t know how to be a real pig, but they loved her anyway.

Long after they had chased the Big Bad Wolf away, along came a Mighty Dragon whose Dragon-breath set people on fire! The little pigs were very scared. The little pigs now live in a mansion made of brick with a double fence made of iron. Can brick and iron stand up to dragon fire? They thought and they thought, and the three little pigs started to build a bubble that kept out fire.

‘But how will we breathe?”  the fourth little pig squeaked.

The hair on their chinny chin chins began to stand on end. The Fourth Little Pig had a point.

The Fourth Little Pig said, “Why don’t we take a little something — almost nothing — that will make us feel really hot, just like fire? When the Mighty Dragon comes sweeping through town, he will pass us by, as we are already on fire.”

The Three Little Pigs started to shake their heads at their silly little sister. And then they stopped and thought. Maybe they could trust this head-in-the-cloud sister to figure this out, just once. They primed their inner houses to tackle the Dragon with a little something that was almost nothing.

Sure enough, when Dragon came to town, he passed them by. With a flick of his Dragon tail, and a wink of his eye, he waved to the Fourth Little Pig who saved her pig-headed brothers from his Mighty Cleansing Breath.

—

After the Big Fire of 2020, the little pigs moved out of their mansion and became Dragon Ninjas.

Instead of playing League of Legends, they played Spot the Patterns. They started to see the Writing on the Wall in the forests that were left. They gazed at the clouds that changed from black, to grey, to white to clear blue skies. They read the signs their littlest friends left everywhere. They listened to the whisperings of the Wind. They became tourists in their own little village.

Pigs will be pigs. Rebuilding was hard work, and it made their backs ache. So, they made friends with the fish in the stream, and the birds in the sky, and together they taught all the little animals on the earth how to help one another so that they could help themselves. Just enough, just in time, was their mantra. Houses of sticks and straw seemed just right again.

Best of all, no one was scared of the Big Bad Wolf and the Mighty Dragon because they all lived and worked together happily ever after.