The Goat and Her Three Kids
Encyclopedia
"The Goat and Her Three Kids" or "The Goat with Three Kids" is an 1875
short story
, fable
and fairy tale
by Romania
n author Ion Creangă
. 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.
Popularized by the Romanian curriculum
and included in primers
, Creangă's tale has endured as one of the best-known works in local children's literature
. "The Goat and Her Three Kids" has also been the topic of several music, theater and film adaptations, in both Romania and Moldova
.
The conversation is overheard by the wolf, who spies on the goat's family. Although being a godfather
to the kids (and therefore an in-law, cumătru, to the goat herself), the villain
has his eye set on eating the goat's children. A while after the mother has left, the wolf sneaks in front of the door and starts singing her song to the three kids. The ruse succeeds in convincing the eldest two children, who rush in to open the door. They are stopped by the youngest, who notices that the song is performed in an unusually coarse voice.
Having heard this too, the Big Bad Wolf hurries over to a smith's shop, where he gets his tongue and teeth "sharpened". He then returns to the goat's house, and this time performs the song in a soft voice. The eldest kid ignores his youngest brother's advice for more caution, and rushes in to let the stranger in. Meanwhile, the other two hide around the house: the youngest by tunneling his way up the soot-filled chimney, the second-oldest by hiding under an overturned trough. As soon as he is in, the wolf decapitates the careless kid and eats him whole. This prompts the polite but imprudent kid hiding under the trough to speak up and wish him să-ţi fie de bine (roughly, "may it serve you"). As a result of this, the intruder is able to drag him out of his hiding place and gulp him down. After spending some time looking for the third kid, the wolf tires and, in what is intended as a humiliating gesture, stains the walls with the kids' blood and places their heads on the window sills, modifying their facial expression to seem like they are smiling.
The wolf eventually leaves, and the youngest kid emerges from the chimney unharmed. 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. She soon afterward begins cooking a rich meal, and filling a large pit near her house with embers and slow-burning firewood. She covers the spot with thin layers of mats and earth, and places a stool made out of wax on top of these. The goat then walks into the forest and meets her cumătru, informing him that she has discovered his evil deed, but that she has moved on. She also asks the wolf to attend a traditional memorial service
for the kids, back at her house. The villain agrees, and unwittingly takes his seat on the wax chair, which melts as he consumes meal after meal. Eventually, he falls into the pit and is engulfed by the flames. As he slowly burns and pleads for rescue, the goat informs him that she follows "the words of the scripture
", or lex talionis
, which she paraphrases as "a death for a death [and] a burn for a burn". The story ends as the mother and child finish off their enemy with stoning, and all goats in the area celebrate the death with an actual feast.
, the influential interwar
literary critic and historian. 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. In his view, the work became "a drama
of maternity" and a fable
using characteristic anthropomorphism
("the devices of La Fontaine
"). In this context, he noted, the tale also provided a comedic "analogy between the animal and the human worlds", with "symbols-caricatures": the goat "with many utters and a bleating voice" as "a caricature of motherhood which nature itself has provided", but also as "the garrulous and whiny woman"; the wolf as a "man without scruples." 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).
Ethnologist
Şerban Anghelescu interpreted the entire story through its food- and fire-related symbolism. 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. The plot, Anghelescu notes, inverts these two main roles, transforming the goat into a carnivore, the wolf into "steak", and "the culinary fire" into a "fire of pain, of revenge and of death." 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.
A distinct interpretation of the narrative was provided by Dan Grădinaru, a researcher of Creangă's work, who exposed it to psychoanalytical
interpretation and contended that it offers insight into the writer's own childhood (as reflected in Creangă's own Childhood Memories
). In his interpretation, the wolf stands for Creangă's father Ştefan, who probably lived separate from Creangă's mother Smaranda, but who may have visited her occasionally for sexual privileges. Grădinaru's version also claims that the author, perceiving the events through a version of the Oedipus complex
, cast himself as the youngest kid, and that his escape into the chimney alludes to the maternal vagina
. Literary critic Luminiţa Marcu commends Grădinaru's monograph
overall, but argues that such interpretations are speculative, likening them to the esoteric
interpretations of philosopher Vasile Lovinescu and to "schoolboy applications of psychoanalytic patterns."
Ion Creangă's tale has left an enduring mark on the Romanian education system
. It has been a traditional feature of textbooks and reading recommendations for the youngest students throughout the 20th century, and has remained so into the 21st. A part of this period corresponded to communist rule
, during which the text was reportedly given an ideologized interpretation. 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
". "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. Such derivative works were also produced throughout communism and after the 1989 Revolution
. They include Cristian Pepino's puppet theater adaptation, which premiered in 2002.
The tale is part of Ion Creangă's legacy in Romania's neighbor, Moldova
—a former part of the Soviet Union
, known then as the Moldavian SSR
. In 1968, it was turned into an animated
short by filmmaker Anton Mater. A 1978 opera
tic version was composed by Zlata Tkach
, with a libretto
by poet Grigore Vieru
. Igor Vieru, one of the Moldavian SSR's critically acclaimed visual artists, created illustrations for local editions of the story.
1875 in literature
The year 1875 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*October 1 - American poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe is reburied in Westminster Hall and Burying Ground with a larger memorial marker. Some controversy arose years later as to whether the correct body was exhumed.*...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
and fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
by Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n author Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
. 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
Big Bad Wolf
The Big Bad Wolf is a term used to describe a fictional wolf who appears in several precautionary folkloric stories, including some of Aesop's Fables and Grimm's Fairy Tales.-Interpretations:...
, 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
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
to death.
Popularized by the Romanian curriculum
Education in Romania
According to the Law on Education adopted in 1995, the Romanian Educational System is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research . Each level has its own form of organization and is subject to different legislation. Kindergarten is optional between 3 and 6 years old...
and included in primers
Primer (textbook)
A primer is a first textbook for teaching of reading, such as an alphabet book or basal reader. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book that presents the most basic elements of a subject....
, Creangă's tale has endured as one of the best-known works in local children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. "The Goat and Her Three Kids" has also been the topic of several music, theater and film adaptations, in both Romania and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
.
Plot
The story opens with an introduction of its protagonists: the hardworking and widowed goat and her three kids, of whom the two older ones are misbehaved, while the youngest obeys his mother. 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 cucuieţi Uşa mamei descuieţi! Că mama v-aduce vouă: Frunze-n buze, Lapte-n ţâţe, Drob de sare În spinare, Mălăieş În călcăieş, Smoc de flori Pe subsuori. |
Three kids with growing horns, Open the door for your mother! 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. |
The conversation is overheard by the wolf, who spies on the goat's family. Although being a godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
to the kids (and therefore an in-law, cumătru, to the goat herself), the villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
has his eye set on eating the goat's children. A while after the mother has left, the wolf sneaks in front of the door and starts singing her song to the three kids. The ruse succeeds in convincing the eldest two children, who rush in to open the door. They are stopped by the youngest, who notices that the song is performed in an unusually coarse voice.
Having heard this too, the Big Bad Wolf hurries over to a smith's shop, where he gets his tongue and teeth "sharpened". He then returns to the goat's house, and this time performs the song in a soft voice. The eldest kid ignores his youngest brother's advice for more caution, and rushes in to let the stranger in. Meanwhile, the other two hide around the house: the youngest by tunneling his way up the soot-filled chimney, the second-oldest by hiding under an overturned trough. As soon as he is in, the wolf decapitates the careless kid and eats him whole. This prompts the polite but imprudent kid hiding under the trough to speak up and wish him să-ţi fie de bine (roughly, "may it serve you"). As a result of this, the intruder is able to drag him out of his hiding place and gulp him down. After spending some time looking for the third kid, the wolf tires and, in what is intended as a humiliating gesture, stains the walls with the kids' blood and places their heads on the window sills, modifying their facial expression to seem like they are smiling.
The wolf eventually leaves, and the youngest kid emerges from the chimney unharmed. 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. She soon afterward begins cooking a rich meal, and filling a large pit near her house with embers and slow-burning firewood. She covers the spot with thin layers of mats and earth, and places a stool made out of wax on top of these. The goat then walks into the forest and meets her cumătru, informing him that she has discovered his evil deed, but that she has moved on. She also asks the wolf to attend a traditional memorial service
Memorial service (Orthodox)
A memorial service is a liturgical observance in honor of the departed which is served in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches.-The service:In the Eastern Church, the various prayers for the departed have as their purpose: to pray for the repose...
for the kids, back at her house. The villain agrees, and unwittingly takes his seat on the wax chair, which melts as he consumes meal after meal. Eventually, he falls into the pit and is engulfed by the flames. As he slowly burns and pleads for rescue, the goat informs him that she follows "the words of the scripture
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
", or lex talionis
Eye For An Eye
Eye for an Eye is a Polish hardcore punk rock band founded in 1997 in Bielsko-Biała. EFAE, as it is also known, plays an old school style of punk, more along the veins of The Exploited or even, some say, Agnostic Front. The punk stylings of EFAE has been compared to fellow countrymen Post Regiment,...
, which she paraphrases as "a death for a death [and] a burn for a burn". The story ends as the mother and child finish off their enemy with stoning, and all goats in the area celebrate the death with an actual feast.
Critical reception and cultural legacy
An early critical interpretation of "The Goat and Her Three Kids" was provided by George CălinescuGeorge Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
, the influential interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
literary critic and historian. Having identified the narrative's tentative moral
Moral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
as an "illustration of motherly love", he saw Creangă's story as moving beyond this limited goal, through both style and intent. In his view, the work became "a drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
of maternity" and a fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
using characteristic anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
("the devices of La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
"). In this context, he noted, the tale also provided a comedic "analogy between the animal and the human worlds", with "symbols-caricatures": the goat "with many utters and a bleating voice" as "a caricature of motherhood which nature itself has provided", but also as "the garrulous and whiny woman"; the wolf as a "man without scruples." Literary historian Mircea Braga explored the narrative in order to locate themes he argues are characteristic for both Creangă's work and Romanian folklore
Folklore of Romania
A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre...
: the "perturbing situation" (in this case, the departure of the goat and the unusual responsibility bestowed on her sons), the rite of passage
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
trial (testing the kids' ability to hide from the path of danger) and the happy ending
Happy ending
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains....
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).
Ethnologist
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
Şerban Anghelescu interpreted the entire story through its food- and fire-related symbolism. 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. The plot, Anghelescu notes, inverts these two main roles, transforming the goat into a carnivore, the wolf into "steak", and "the culinary fire" into a "fire of pain, of revenge and of death." Also according to Anghelescu, the story implies a "triple sacrilege
Sacrilege
Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...
" in respect to Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
customs: the predator eats his godsons, the goat murders her cumătru, and the wolf's destruction occurs during a funeral feast.
A distinct interpretation of the narrative was provided by Dan Grădinaru, a researcher of Creangă's work, who exposed it to psychoanalytical
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
interpretation and contended that it offers insight into the writer's own childhood (as reflected in Creangă's own Childhood Memories
Childhood Memories (Creangă)
Childhood Memories is one of the main literary contributions of Romanian author Ion Creangă...
). In his interpretation, the wolf stands for Creangă's father Ştefan, who probably lived separate from Creangă's mother Smaranda, but who may have visited her occasionally for sexual privileges. Grădinaru's version also claims that the author, perceiving the events through a version of the Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
, cast himself as the youngest kid, and that his escape into the chimney alludes to the maternal vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
. Literary critic Luminiţa Marcu commends Grădinaru's monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
overall, but argues that such interpretations are speculative, likening them to the esoteric
Esotericism
Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...
interpretations of philosopher Vasile Lovinescu and to "schoolboy applications of psychoanalytic patterns."
Ion Creangă's tale has left an enduring mark on the Romanian education system
Education in Romania
According to the Law on Education adopted in 1995, the Romanian Educational System is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research . Each level has its own form of organization and is subject to different legislation. Kindergarten is optional between 3 and 6 years old...
. It has been a traditional feature of textbooks and reading recommendations for the youngest students throughout the 20th century, and has remained so into the 21st. A part of this period corresponded to communist rule
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, during which the text was reportedly given an ideologized interpretation. Discussing the paraliterary
Paraliterature
Paraliterature is an academic term for genre literature, such as science fiction, fantasy, mystery, pulp fiction and comic books, which is not generally considered literary fiction by mainstream literary standards....
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
of primers
Primer (textbook)
A primer is a first textbook for teaching of reading, such as an alphabet book or basal reader. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book that presents the most basic elements of a subject....
issued under communism as the a "political fairy tale subject to communist legality
Socialist law
Socialist law denotes a general type of legal system which has been used in communist and formerly communist states. It is based on the civil law system, with major modifications and additions from Marxist-Leninist ideology. There is controversy as to whether socialist law ever constituted a...
", 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
Romanian dress
Romanian dress refers to the traditional clothing worn by Romanians, who live primarily in Romania and Moldova, with smaller communities in Ukraine and Serbia. Today, a strong majority of Romanians wear Western-style dress on most occasions, and the garments described here largely fell out of use...
". "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. Such derivative works were also produced throughout communism and after the 1989 Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
. They include Cristian Pepino's puppet theater adaptation, which premiered in 2002.
The tale is part of Ion Creangă's legacy in Romania's neighbor, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
—a former part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, known then as the Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...
. In 1968, it was turned into an animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
short by filmmaker Anton Mater. A 1978 opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic version was composed by Zlata Tkach
Zlata Tkach
Zlata Moiseyevna Tkach was a Moldovan composer and music educator. She was the first woman to become a professional composer in Moldova.-Biography:...
, with a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by poet Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru was a Moldavian poet and writer. He is mostly known for his poems and books for children. His poetry is characterized by vivid natural scenery, patriotism, as well as a venerated image of the sacred mother...
. Igor Vieru, one of the Moldavian SSR's critically acclaimed visual artists, created illustrations for local editions of the story.