The text of I tre porcellini is an outline that only indicates the cast of characters, the scenes, the sceneries and the music used, and gives the summary of the action for the first scene. The following scenes only signal that the action is set outside a small house, in the wood and in the Ogre’s palace. From this, we can deduce that the show does not follow the plot of the well-known tale The Story of the Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916).

Asdrubale comes back from the market with the piglets and leaves them in his pigsty. He asks Canzio to cook a pigswill to feed them. The pigs are starving and eager to eat and they knock against the door with their small hooves to ask for food. Asdrubale worries and raises his stick to them, but this does not pacify them. Canzio exits the kitchen with the pot to feed them. Two farmers are walking towards the pigsty with the food, but a loud noise is heard – the three piglets have opened the door and run away.