THE THREE

SILLIES
Prepared by Batsman A.
 Plot of
The Three Sillies
A farmer and his wife are welcoming a young man to
their house since he is trying to date their daughter. As
they're preparing for dinner, the young woman goes
down into the cellar to draw cider for the meal. While
she's in the cellar, she spies a mallet hanging from a
beam above her head and becomes upset. She begins
crying when she thinks about marrying the young man
and having a son, who one day might be hit on the head
by the mallet.
Wondering what's taking so long, the daughter is joined
first by the mother and then by the father. When the
young man goes to the cellar to see what's happening,
all three are sitting and crying over the thought of the
young woman's future son suffering a bump on the
head and possibly dying from the hanging mallet.
The young man tells the family members that he has
never met anyone sillier than them. He decides to set
off on a quest to find three bigger sillies and will return
and marry the daughter after he does.
In his journey, the young man meets many sillies,
including an old woman trying to get her cow to climb
up her house's roof to graze on the grass at the top.
The second silly he encounters is a man he shares a
room with in an inn. The man is trying to put on his
pants by jumping into them. The traveler shows the
man how to properly put on his pants.
The third silly he met people who had thought that
moon’s tumbled into the pond. When traveler told them
to look up into the sky, and that it was only the shadow
in the water, people abused him shamefully
04/10/2021
 Composition of ‘The Three Sillies’
◦ Undefined setting:
Once upon a time there was a farmer
and his wife who had one daughter,
and she was courted by a gentleman.
◦ Occurrence of repetitious elements:
“look at that horrid mallet!
Suppose we was to be married, and was to have a son, and he was to grow up,
and was to come down to the cellar to draw the beer,
and the mallet was to fall on his head and kill him, what a dreadful thing it would be!”
***
“Dear, dear!”
***
Well, that was one big silly.
◦ A happy end: Gentleman married daughter of a farmer. 04/10/2021
 Composition of ‘The Three Sillies’
◦ Contrast between smart and silly people.
◦ The hero is isolated and must act alone — the gentleman traveled alone and searched three sillies by himself.
◦ Presence of magical numbers: 3 sillies.
◦ Fairy tale characters are “flat”, without inner psychological development: we don`t have any information that farmers became
smarter.

It is TALL tale, because it is humorous story close to anecdotes.

04/10/2021