Discover the Magic of Threes In and For Storytelling

When we start to remember the familiar stories of our childhood, or look back on the fairytales collected by the brothers Grimm, or even recall or discover plots and characters in folktales from all over the world, we will notice a universal element — the use of threes. Remember “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and the “Three Little Pigs.” Usually, if someone is given wishes, they are given three wishes. Many tales include three brothers. In this article, I am going to suggest why I think the use of threes in storytelling is so prevalent. But I would also love to hear ideas from you about the whys and hows of using three.

Where do we find the use of “threes?” The number three appears so often, it is almost eerie. Of course, we remember the three Kings of the Orient at the birth of Christ. There are trilogies, triptychs, tripods, triangles, and triathlons. But I am straying from threes that are related to stories and storytelling. We find threes used as the number of main characters in a story. There are often three special objects. And there are many story plots with three challenges, three turns of events, three hurdles to cross, three choices, three wishes, and on and on. Many of the European folktales revolve around threes, but I have also found many stories from a variety of cultures that use the magic of threes.

How do three characters, three objects, and three actions make a story work? When I started to realize the abundance of threes in stories, I also realized that many of the stories that I enjoyed telling, listening to, and reading were loaded with threes. One of my favorites, The Magic Pomegranate, a Jewish tale, tells of three brothers who travel far and wide to find three special gifts to share with each other. When they meet on the appointed day, the oldest brother has a magic glass (telescope), the middle brother a magic carpet, and the youngest brother a magic pomegranate (what’s that?). Using the magic glass, they spy a princess who is sick and dying and whose father, the King, has promised that whoever can cure her will have her hand in marriage and the kingdom. Using the magic carpet, they fly to her side where the youngest brother brings her back to health by sharing the magic pomegranate. The question is who will get her hand in marriage? Each of the three brothers feel that he should be the one. After all wasn’t it his gift that was necessary to cure the princess?

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