Stephen King’s novel is inspired by the children’s tale The Three Goats Gruff

“The Three Gruff Goats” is a very old and influential children’s story from Norwegian oral folklore. It was first written and widely published in 1841, but the story was probably told to children long before then. The story is about three goats crossing a bridge, the smallest going first and the largest going last. The troll under the bridge threatens to devour them all, but the first two goats tell him to wait for the third, because he is the biggest meal of all. The troll therefore waits for the biggest goat, but this one easily dominates him:

“He flew at the troll, gouged out his eyes with his horns, crushed him to pieces, body and bones, and threw him into the waterfall.”

There are many different versions of this story, each varying depending on the lesson the narrator wants to teach. Sometimes there are a bunch of monsters under the bridge, sometimes the monster is Death himself, and sometimes the first two goats are not so lucky. See also: The version of the story taught to children in the “Harry Potter” universe:

The connections to “It” are pretty clear, too. Not only does King have his monster attack multiple people at different times, but he also leaves readers with the lesson that the best way to stop it is to fight back. Don’t be afraid of it, don’t try to run away; if you confront it head-on, you’ll have a much better chance. It’s scary, sure, but just like that overconfident troll, it’s only scary if you think it’s scary. Reckless confidence can go a long way.