The Three Goats

Published: Aug. 2, 2007, 4:01 a.m.

Three wishes. Three oranges. Three musketeers. Three brothers. Three bears. Three little pigs. And three goats, of course. The pivotal number in folktales and fairy tales is back again with a starring role in "The Three Billy Goats", otherwise known as the "Billy Goats Gruff", a tale that seems to have originated in Poland, Norway and/or Germany. This tale is reminiscent of how some jokes are structured, with the three steps leading up to a punchline. Indeed, there are jokes based on a similar progression in physical size; and this story, you might say, has its own punchline at the end as well.

We come to you from the San Francisco Bay Area town of Walnut Creek. Yep, that's in California. We flew out from Providence for the weekend just to perform three times at the inaugural Chevron Family Theatre Festival at the magnificent Dean Lesher Center. The event was a great success, with sold out houses. We enjoy our shows in libraries and school cafeterias, but it was refreshing to perform again in a real theatre with a lighting technician and the works.

Our stage manager for the event was Zephyr's friend Libby, who is our guest voice on this week's podcast. And now we're back on the East Coast until our next cross-country flight -- two weeks from now for the 17th Annual HSC Homeschool=Education Conference in Sacramento Aug 16-19.

Happy Listening!
Dennis (narrator and biggest baddest goat), Kimberly (middle and none-too-bright goat), Libby (little goatlet in the gauntlet) and Zephyr (troublesome troll whose goat gets got)