The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe

First of all, thank you Helma, Granddad, Joan, Tomoko and Stefan for your nice emails and comments!

Now, I like to tell you about this book which we read at my school ISE and the story about three goats who are all named Gruff and who eat all the time on a hill full of grass.

One unlucky day, there is no grass left and the three hungry goats have to cross a bridge to get on the other side of the mountain. When the first and youngest one crosses the bridge a big ugly Troll comes out and says "I am going to eat you...."

For those who don't know: A Troll is a big ugly homeless monster. In England they call them Ogre. The one in this story lives under the bridge. Shrek is also a Troll, but he is much smarter as you will see when you read on.

The goat tells the Troll that it is to small to get eaten and that he has bigger, more delicious brothers. The Troll agrees and allows the goat to go. Then the second oldest goat wants to cross the bridge. The Troll comes out again, this time more hungry and explains to the goat that he's going to eat it. This goat also explains to the Troll that it is to little and that the Troll should wait a while. The biggest and strongest goat is next and when the Troll tries to start snacking on it, the goat attacks the Troll with his horns and down goes the Troll.

So what do we have: Three very smart goats and one very dumb Troll who trusts to much and should have had the first 2 goats for breakfast.

I liked the book because who doesn't like to read about smart goats versus stupid Trolls. In real life similar things like this happen every day...

The book is actually a Norwegian fairy tale. Check out the Wikipedia info if you want more details.

My comment: Eat it while you can and don't listen to the goats!

My rating: 4 out of 5