The Goat and Her Three Kids
Figuratively illustrating for the notions of motherly love and childish disobedience, it recounts how a family of goats is ravaged by the Big Bad Wolf, allowed inside the secured home by the oldest, most ill-behaved and least prudent of the kids.
The only one of the children to survive is the youngest and most obedient, who then helps his mother plan her revenge on the predator, leading to a dénouement in which the wolf is tricked, burned alive and stoned to death.
On one day, the goat gathers all three around, telling them that she must leave on a quest for food, instructing them not to open the door unless they hear her singing, in characteristically soft voice, the refrain: Trei iezi cucuieți Ușa mamei descuieți!
Because mother is bringing you: Leaves on her lips, Milk in her teats, A ball of salt On her back, Cornmeal On her heel, A tuft of flowers In her armpits.
Initially deceived by the heads smiling at her as she enters the courtyard, the goat learns what happened from the youngest kid, and begins to plot her revenge.
Having identified the narrative's tentative moral as an "illustration of motherly love", he saw Creangă's story as moving beyond this limited goal, through both style and intent.
"[3] Literary historian Mircea Braga explored the narrative in order to locate themes he argues are characteristic for both Creangă's work and Romanian folklore: the "perturbing situation" (in this case, the departure of the goat and the unusual responsibility bestowed on her sons), the rite of passage trial (testing the kids' ability to hide from the path of danger) and the happy ending as a triumph of the good, which often involves a positive reply to each of the evil deeds preceding it (the mock-feast organized by goat).
In his assessment, the opposition is between goat and wolf is that between a "feeder par excellence", whose producing abilities are indicated by the password she selects, and an intruding "avid consumer", who celebrates his status by performing an "enigmatic ritual" with the kids' severed heads.
"[5] Also according to Anghelescu, the story implies a "triple sacrilege" in respect to Romanian Orthodox customs: the predator eats his godsons, the goat murders her cumătru, and the wolf's destruction occurs during a funeral feast.
Discussing the paraliterary propaganda of primers issued under communism as the a "political fairy tale subject to communist legality", literary critic Ion Manolescu referred to a 1986 edition, which featured an adapted and illustrated version of Creangă's tale, as confronting "a patibulary wolf with a bourgeois appearance" to "a goat dressed in peasant costume".
[8] "The Goat and Her Three Kids" inspired works in various media from as early as the interwar, when it was turned into a musical theater play for children by Romanian composer Alexandru Zirra.
In an endeavor to unveil the true nature of the famed bedtime story, the film aims to treat the audience to a different perspective, one that offers a glimpse at what the mother's tragedy actually looks like beyond the happy songs and colorful characters.
