"Peter and the Wolf" is a story about the victory of a weaker power over a seemingly insurmountable superior strength through clever trickery. Young Peter, who lives with his grandfather somewhere out there in the Russian taiga, would never, of course, have had a chance against the hungry wolf who roams the forests and does not stop short of human settlements.

One day, Peter goes out into the garden in front of the house without his grandfather's permission. He witnesses how the little bird, ...