Then the wolf ran to a baker and said, “I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me.” And when the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said, “Strew some white meal over my feet for me.” The miller thought to himself, “The wolf wants to deceive someone,” and refused; but the wolf said, “If you will not do it, I will devour you.” Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Yes, that’s how people are.
~Brothers Grimm
Two things before I begin: 1) this project was launched based on the post: “Project Grimm” if you want to know more about the format go read that post, and 2) an update to that post: my friend doesn’t call satchels man purses, rather, he calls them purses. Now that the housekeeping is done, I will jump into the analysis, so click [Read More] only if you don’t care about spoilers.
Beginning with the moral of the victim, the surface level rule is to distrust a wolf if you’re a sheep. That the wolf will kill you if given the opportunity. This is a pretty generic rule of thumb for a fairy tale. If there’s a wolf, it will kill you and eat you. Now, we aren’t sheep (or are we oooooohhhh), but seriously, we aren’t sheep who have to be concerned about being tricked by a wolf and then devoured. Instead, we have to be concerned about strangers who would do us harm. The children are locked in the home while their mom is out, and she had warned them that he would attempt to get in. In order to prepare them, she tells them two details that would let them know it is the wolf: his voice is deep and paws are black. At each attempt by the wolf, they are successful in determining that the enemy has arrived.
Yet, my reading of the story led me to a different basic moral: don’t show your hand. The mother in this piece specifically explained how they could tell that it was a wolf they were talking to: “The wretch often disguises himself, but you will know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet”. Knowing these pieces of datum, they are approached by the wolf who remains hidden behind the door and asks them to let him in. The children respond the first time with: “you are not our mother. She has a soft. pleasant voice, but your voice is rough; you are the wolf!” A fatal mistake, they have shown the wolf their cards, and he quickly leaves and eats chalk to conceal his voice. Upon his second arrival, his voice tricks them but they see his black paws. Once again, they tell the wolf that they know it is him and how: the black paws. This leads into the pulled quote above where the wolf goes and gets his paws colored white.
In the end, the children fail to realize the wolf has returned a third time and let him in. They hide, and he eats six but cannot find the seventh. This is a classic mistake in conversation and is the basis for social engineering. The wolf was successful not because of his intellect or cunning, rather, he was able to navigate their security parameters because they provided him with all the information he needed to trick them. These sheep also failed to realize that the wolf would leave after the second time and come back again. Upon his third visit, their awareness should been turned up to eleven (one more than ten). Yet, through their failure, he ate them.
This brings us into the moral for the villain. While the wolf was successful, he should have assumed that the mother would return and hunt for him. Instead, his hubris got the best of him. He laid out in the middle of a field and took a nap. While he is the enemy, in performing his actions (eating some sheep), he has created a new villain who would do what she could to get revenge. Therefore, he suffers from a lack of vigilance or is too prideful. He assumed he was better, stronger, and more cunning than the sheep. This was his mistake, and unlike the sheep, it led to his death; when the mom found him, cut out her children (who are still alive since he gobbled them up whole) and then sewed him back up with rocks in his belly, he was dead. With stones in his belly, and thirst looming, he ends up falling to his death in a well. He was outsmarted because of his confidence in his own intellect and power. Yet, he failed to realize he was most vulnerable while asleep and should never have rested alone or in plain view.
After analyzing this fairy tale, I would say it is a good read. The Brothers Grimm are known for their tragic endings, yet, this one doesn’t have an unhappy ending (unless you side with the wolf). As such, it seems to be a piece you could read to a child about stranger danger. It still holds relevance in our current day and age by teaching the reader about social engineering. Therefore, you can teach your kids an effective lesson about identity theft. Five out of seven, would recommend.
Now for the pull quote. I loved this quote so much I decided to create this blog project. What I truly enjoyed was the final sentence: “Yes, that’s how people are.” It sums up humanity in such a great way. You have an intelligent human being who knows the wolf is up to know good. That he is literally doing this in order to break some law. So you standup to the villain only to back down at the threat of bodily harm. Odds are the wolf would have found a way to get those white paws, but he (the miller) made it extremely easy – a one stop shop. Here is the true moral in my mind, don’t count on people to do the right thing when it gets tough. Most of us will break and succumb to the request of evil men. So count on your fellow man, but you need to rely on yourself more.
~Theodore Maestranzi