Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Certainly not the third graders at Chocowinity Primary School, who pronounced him guilty at the trial of B.B Wolf vs. the Three Little Pigs (Curly, Ham and Bacon, Barbecue) at the Beaufort County Courthouse on Friday.

The three pigs allege that Mr. Wolf came to each of their houses and threatened to blow them down. The pigs said they feared for their lives and huddled in fear at Barbecue Pig’s brick house.

During the trial, nervous chatter erupted around the room as B.B. Wolf made his way to the seat beside his attorney. Both sides questioned the three pigs and the wolf, while the stand-in bailiff made sure to monitor B.B. Wolf’s noisy outbursts of coughing. Third grader Rihanna Tripp acted as presiding judge.

“He said, ‘If you don’t let me in, I’ll blow your house down,’” Ham and Bacon Pig said on the stand. “Next thing I know, he took a big, huge, deep breath and he blew my house down.”

“He said, ‘Little pigs, little pigs, let me in. And me and my sisters said, ‘Not by the hair of our chinny chin chin!’” Barbecue Pig testified.

But after the pigs had their say, it was time to hear the wolf’s side of the story.

B.B. Wolf testified he was only excited to tell the pigs about the recent medical experiment that cured him of excessive drooling and had no plans to eat them.

“I thought they were my friends, I really did,” the wolf said. “I’ve never eaten an innocent pig.”

“I mean just look at those beady eyes and those sharp teeth,” Ham and Bacon Pig argued. “He’s got barbecue breath!”

Having the mock trial was meant to mix the familiar with the unfamiliar, to use a well-known story to teach the students what happens in the courtroom.

Each year Chocowinity Primary brings some of its students to the courthouse to tour the building, learn about the court system and perform a mock trial. There were two groups this year: one at 10 a.m. and another at 12 p.m.

The students were excited by the tours of the courthouse, one of which was led by Clerk of Superior Court Marty Paramore, even by a basement room full of files. One of the big hits was the stamp of the official seal of North Carolina, which one student was able to test.

The third graders were able to learn about a variety of court topics, including tickets, where files are stored and the different people present during a court proceeding.

In the end, although B.B Wolf did have a few supporters in the crowd, the majority of the student jury decided on a guilty verdict for the wolf, delivering justice to the pigs.