The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Reading bedtime stories for kids here:
Three gruff Billy Goats try to cross a bridge – and outwit a troll who wants to eat them!
Once upon a time, three Billy goats lived in the meadow at the foot of the mountain, and their last name was Gruff. There’s the big, grumpy Billy goat, the medium-sized Billy goat, and the grumpy Billy goat. The three jumped around the rocks in the meadow and ate what grass they could find, but not much.
One day, the youngest Billy Goat Gruff looked up at the mountain high above his head and thought to himself: “It looks like there is a lot of good grass on the mountain. I will run up there alone without telling anyone, eat a lot of grass, and eat a lot so that when I grow up, I will be as big as anyone.”
So Little Billy Goat Gruff set off without telling his brothers a word about it. He ran along, tip, tip, tip until, at last, he came to a wide river with a bridge across it.
Now, Little Billy Goat didn’t know it, but this bridge belonged to a giant, terrible Troll, and the little goat was only halfway across when he heard the Troll scream from under the bridge.
“Who is crossing my bridge?” Troll shouted in his booming voice.
“It’s me, the Littlest Billy Goat Gruff!” Little Billy Goat answered in his soft voice.
“Oh! That’s the littlest Billy Goat Gruff. Well, you won’t go any further, for I’m the Troll who owns this bridge, and now I’m coming to eat you.” Then the Troll looked up at the edge of the bridge.
When little Billy the Goat saw him, he was terrified. “Oh dear, good Troll, please don’t eat me,” he cried. “I am such a small goat that I can hardly chew a single bite for you. I have a brother who is much older than me; wait for him to come because he will cook you a much better meal than me.”
“But if he’s much bigger than you, he might be tough.”
“Oh no, he’s just as gentle as me.”
“And a lot bigger?”
“Oh, yes, much bigger.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for him. Run after!”
So the little goat ran on, tip-tap! Tip-tap! Tip-tap! Cross the bridge and climb the mountain to safety. I can tell you that I’m glad he got out of that predicament.
Not long after that, medium-sized Billy Goat Gruff started thinking he wanted to go to the mountains, too. He didn’t say anything about it to Great Big Billy Goat Gruff, but he set it himself – trap-trap! Trap-trap! Trap-trap! A moment later, he reached the bridge where the Troll lived, and he stepped out on it, trap-trap! Trap-trap! Trap-trap!
He was just halfway through the story when the Troll began to scream at him in his terrible and terrible voice:
“Who is crossing my bridge?”
“It’s me, medium-sized Billy Goat Gruff,” medium-sized Billy Goat replied in his medium-sized voice.
“Oh, is that so? Then you are the one I’ve been waiting for. I am the Troll who owns this bridge, and now I will come to eat you.”
At that moment, medium-sized Billy Goat Gruff was extremely scared. “Oh, dear Troll, good Troll, please don’t eat me! I have a brother who is much older than me. Wait until he comes along because he will cook you a much better meal than me.”
“Much bigger?”
“Yes, much bigger.”
“Okay, run, and I’ll wait until he comes. Only the biggest goat can make a meal for me.”
The medium-sized Billy goat does not slow down when the Troll gives orders. He hurried across the river and up the mountain as fast as he could, “trap!” trap! Trap! And weren’t he and his brother happy to see each other again and be safe across the Troll’s bridge and onto the good grass?
And now it’s Big Billy Goat Gruff’s turn to think he wants to go to the mountains, too. “I believe that’s where little Billy Goat Gruff and medium-sized Billy Goat Gruff went,” he said to himself. “If I don’t pay attention, they will get fat there and become as big as me. I think I’d better go eat the long green mountain grass.” So, the following day, he left in the pleasant sunlight. Klumph-klumph! klumph-klumph! It was so huge that you could hear horses’ hooves pounding rocks when it was still a mile away.
A moment later, he came to the bridge where the Troll lived, and he walked off the bridge, klumph-klumph! klumph-klumph! And the bridge shook and bent under his weight as he walked. Then, the Troll living down there went on a terrifying rampage. “Who is crossing my bridge?” he roared, his voice so terrible that all the small fish in the river swam away and hid under the rocks when they heard that sound.
But Big Billy the Goat was not afraid at all.
“It’s me, the biggest Billy Goat Gruff,” he answered in a voice as loud as a Troll’s.
“Oh, is that so? Then stop for a moment – because you’re the one I’m waiting for. I’m the troll who owns this bridge, and now I’m coming to eat you! Then the gray troll stuck his head over the bridge; his eyes looked like two great mill wheels, and they turned round and round in his head angrily. But Big Billy Goat was not afraid at all.
“So you’re a Troll. And you own this bridge. And now you’re going to eat me? We’ll see about that:
“I have a forehead as hard as stone,
And I’ll mash you all up, body and bone!”
When the Troll heard Big Billy Goat talking to him that way, he roared so that Medium Billy Goat and Little Billy Goat heard up the mountain where they were. He jumped onto the bridge, stuck his big bushy head down, and ran towards Billy the Goat. Big Billy Goat lowered his head and ran at the Troll, and they met in the middle of the bridge. But Billy the Goat’s head was more complex than the Troll’s, so he knocked him down and beat him, then picked him up by his horns and threw him over the edge of the bridge into the river below, and the Troll sank like a monster. Piece of lead and was never seen or heard of again.
But Big Billy the Goat continued up the mountain, and you may believe that his two brothers were pleased to see him again and to hear that the wicked Troll had disappeared from under the bridge.
Then they all stayed together on the mountain, and the more miniature goats ate a lot of grass and became so fat that after a while, no one could distinguish one Billy goat from the other.
