The Old Woman and Her Pig

From English Fairy Tales, collected by Joseph Jacobs

This tale comes from English Fairy Tales, collected by Joseph Jacobs in the nineteenth century. It is a cumulative story, where each new helper is added to a growing chain. The pattern helps young readers predict what comes next and enjoy the rhythm of repeated words. The old woman meets one problem after another, but she solves it by being kind and helpful. The story shows that cooperation works better than commands, and that small acts of kindness can start a chain of good things. This kind of tale has been told for hundreds of years, and children love the surprise when everything happens all at once at the end.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readers, about 4 to 5

Length

short · about 386 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

English Fairy Tales, Joseph Jacobs · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.