Piggy

“ Every plum clung selfishly to its twig, and piggy could have cried with vexation. Surely plums were made for pigs! Why could he not have his share? Angrily he flung himself at the base of the tree, but he was not as heavy as before he became a circus pig, and nothing was hurt but his back. This was too much. Was he to be lamed and bruised by a scrubby old tree just because he admired its fruit? In a rage he took a running start, and struck the tree head first a fearful blow. ”

“ Whereat, the dog, which was of many breeds, checked its attack in mid-course, tucked a grubby tail between its flanks, and wheeled in flight; turning piggy's solo squeals into close harmony by the addition of a long, fear-stricken howl. ”

“ Smithson major was no popular hero.
Quentin felt—as his schoolfellows would have put it—bucked. It is one thing to be called Pig in enmity and derision. Another to be called Piggy—an affectionate diminutive, after all—to the chorus of admiring smacks. ”

“ But Doggie just wags his tail and capers,
And never an egg has he.
"Now, Dobbin, Dobbin, I'm sure you must have one,
Hid down in your manger there."
But Dobbin lays back his ears and whinnies,
With "Come and look, if you dare!"
"Piggywig, Piggywig, grunting and squealing,
Are you crying 'Fresh eggs for sale'?"
No! Piggy, you're very cold and unfeeling,
With that impudent quirk in your tail.
"You wise old Gobbler, you look so knowing,
I'm sure you can find me an egg.
You stupid old thing! just to say 'Gobble-gobble!'
85 And balance yourself on one leg." ”

“ These tusks are Piggy's weapons, and very good ones they are.
“The home of Piggy the Peccary is in the hot southwestern part of this country, where live Jaguar and Ocelot, the beautiful spotted members of the Cat family. They are two of his enemies. He never likes to be alone, but lives with a band of his friends and they roam about together. He is found on the plains and among low hills, in swamps and dense forests, and among the thickets of cactus and other thorny plants that grow in dry regions. Plenty of food and shelter from the hot sun seem to be the main things with Piggy.” ”

“ At night, when she laid herself down in her sty,
In vain she attempted to close her bright eye:
Not a wink could she get through the whole of the night,
And wept till she made herself look like a fright.
She turned first on one side, and then on the other,
And two or three times thought of waking her mother;
But this was not easy, for pigs are sound sleepers,
And not very willing to open their peepers.
At last morning dawned, and mamma pig awoke,
When thus poor Miss Piggy with much spirit spoke:
"Dear mother, it certainly is a great pity,
To kill me while I'm so young and so pretty ”

“ The family pig, upon which was centered many hopes, would be feeding in a little pasture near the house, when a great hulking bear would come rolling over the fence and little piggy, with a frantic squeal issuing from one end of him, and his curly tail twisting frantically from the other, would disappear in the dark woods, never to be heard of more. ”

“ I waited until they arrived from school, and seeing me, they ran to get Piggy, who was a pretty, broken-colored, short-haired English pig that had been brought to them from the West Indies.
With some trepidation I saw this precious pig put into a basket and entrusted to my care. On arriving home I carried her to the aviary, where my (70) solitary rabbit was rambling alone, and put her on the ground. ”

“ I see a man hurrying along a path, a little child with him and their black pig following like a terrier. Sometimes piggy stops a moment to smell or root at the foot of a palm, but always with a glance over his shoulder; if the distance seems growing too wide between [55] himself and his family, he rushes after them, and for a moment or two trots soberly at his master's side.
After luncheon we went over to the village in one of the boats going for shell, landing at the white trader's house. From the first, I had been puzzled by a strange figure on the trader's veranda. ”

“ A whisper from the doorstep prompted Piggy to "ask her why;" whereat Piggy echoed: "Why can't he, Miss Morgan?"
"One's a trick elephant. You'd die a-laughing if you saw him."
"Henry misbehaved in church last night, and we've agreed that he shall stay home from the circus."
Piggy advanced a step or two inside the door, laughing diplomatically: "O—no, Miss Morgan; don't you think he's agreed. He's just dyin' to go."
Miss Morgan smiled, but did not join in Piggy's hilarity—a bad sign. Piggy tried again: "They got six elephants, and one's a trick elephant. You'd die a-laughin' if you saw him." ”

“ It takes a Chinaman to make little piggy go the right way, and this is done by putting him in a basket and carrying him. Two men carry this basket, hung on a pole. It is a sort of cradle in which piggy goes to market. The only time the pig can show his obstinate temper is when he is asked to go into the cradle. ”

“ But I am happy to say that he wasn’t really hurt, for I went to see him some days afterwards, and found him as hearty as pig could be.
Master George and I agreed, as we walked back to the Castle, that it is a shame to have a pig-race.
[198]
“No,” said he, “let men run any risk they like of broken heads or limbs for themselves; they may play or not as they like. But Piggy has no choice, and to let him run the risk of having the legs pulled out of his body before he is wanted for pork, isn’t fair.” ”

“ Me an' Jakin are the only acting-drummers that'll be took along. All the rest is full men, an' we'll get our medals with them."
"They might ha' taken anybody but you, Piggy. You'll get killed—you're so venturesome. Stay with me, Piggy, darlin', down at the Depôt, an' I'll love you true forever."
"Ain't you goin' to do that now, Cris? You said you was."
"O' course I am, but th' other's more comfortable. Wait till you've growed a bit, Piggy. You aren't no taller than me now." ”

“ I should think you would like to stay in your own house, so neat and comfortable."
"Ugh, ugh!" said piggy.
"Oh! you were lonesome, were you?" said Bob. "You thought it was no more than civil to call on your neighbors. You wanted to show us that you were not too proud to be sociable. Next time please to send in your card first."
"Ugh, ugh!" said piggy.
That was more than a week ago; and piggy has staid at home since then. Perhaps he is waiting for us to return his call. ”

“ While these friendly salutations were taking place, Flea Obie and Wash Simmons, the Dickinson halves, approached Piggy, who, sick at heart, was stamping his feet and churning his arms to convey to Red Dog, opposite, the impression that he was thirsting for his blood.
Wash gave Piggy one withering glance and said loudly to the Red Dog:
"This fellow's a quitter. He's got yellow in his eyes. Smash him good and hard, Red Dog. Don't waste any time about it, either."
"He's got a chicken liver," said Red Dog, who looked a reed beside the sturdy Piggy. "He shuts his eyes when he tackles! I'll fix him. ”

“ When summer, therefore, has come, piggy must follow the cow up into the high pasture, where the cheese is to be made. The whey, that will be expressed from the curd, will be his share. Upon this he will thrive moderately. When he will descend from the mountains with some little weight of flesh upon him, he will be taking his last walk. He is about to pass into the mummy condition. ”

“ It is Piggy the Peccary, known as the Collared Peccary, also called Wild Pig, Muskhog, Texas Peccary and Javelina.
“He is a true Pig and in shape resembles that lazy, fat fellow in Farmer Brown's barnyard when he was little. You would know him for a Pig right away if you should see him. But in every other way excepting his habit of rooting up the ground with his nose, he is a wholly different fellow. For one thing his legs, though short, are more slender and he is a fast runner. There isn't a lazy bone in him, and he is too active to grow fat. ”

“ The words-of-three-letters lesson in the old blue spelling book begins with Piggy’s biography. He was fat; he had the soul of a rat, the habits of a bat, and the magnanimity of a cat . . . He wore expensive clothes; and was a connoisseur in starvation. He could look at a shop-girl and tell you to an hour how long it had been since she had eaten anything more nourishing than marshmallows and tea. He hung about the shopping districts, and prowled around in department stores with his invitations to dinner. Men who escort dogs upon the streets at the end of a string look down upon him. ”

“ One man, a butcher, was pulling on a rope which was tied around a porker's snout. Three other men were forcibly pushing the animal along. They made but little progress however, for master piggy placed his feet so firmly on the ground that it required all the efforts of the four men to make him move. ”

“ "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." ”

“ The head, too, hung near,—but without its fine wig,
And was now to be seen as the head of a pig.
Many times has the butcher thought of his good luck,
But he'll never again capture such a gay buck.
If pigs will walk upright, and strut with fine canes,
Stalking in towns, 'stead of roaming in lanes,
Misfortunes they'll meet with, no doubt, such as Jack's,
Getting shots through their ears, and kicks on their backs.
Piggy left a good sty,
And went out, like a guy ”

“ I will go to market, and buy a little pig.' As she was coming home, she came to a stile: the piggy would not go over the stile.
"She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to the dog, 'Dog! bite pig; piggy won't go over the stile; and I shan't get home to-night.' But the dog would not.
"She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said, 'Stick! stick! beat dog; dog won't bite pig ”

“ Charles Lamb could sing with delicious enthusiasm the praises of roast pig—that “young and tender suckling, under a moon old, guiltless as yet of the sty”; but if he had been asked to take Piggy, unroasted, alive, into his good graces, he probably would have declined with a shrug.
But still, to a degree, the pig is appreciated. Jerrold’s sketch, [196] called “The Manager’s Pig,” had a foundation in fact. The manager of a London theater, anxious for novelty, had a play written expressly to bring a pig upon the stage. ”

“ When Bud and Cactus ceased talking they heard Piggy's formidable voice holding forth to the others as usual while he was engaged in checking, though never satisfying, his ravening appetite.
"Wat's de use," he was saying, "of chasin' little red cowses and hosses 'round for t'ousands of miles? Dere ain't nuttin' in it. Gallopin' t'rough dese bushes and briers, and gettin' a t'irst dat a brewery couldn't put out, and missin' meals! Say! You know what I'd do if I was main finger of dis bunch? I'd stick up a train. I'd blow de express car and make hard dollars where you guys gets wind. ”

“ But on the next page, if I have left any of those ice cream cones with raisins inside, to give to the trolley car conductor when he punches my transfer, I'll tell you about the piggie boys at school.
STORY VII PIGGY BOYS AT SCHOOL One day Curly, the little pig who had such a funny shaped tail, said to his brother, Flop Ear:
"Say, let's run off and look for adventures as Uncle Wiggily, the old gentleman rabbit, used to do!"
"Where shall we run?" asked Flop. ”

“ They are ordinarily fed upon the inferior oranges, the fruit being shaken down to them in the evenings; hence they acquire the habit of resorting to the orange-trees, to wait for a lucky windfall. The Mocking-bird feeling148 nettled at the intrusion, flies down and begins to peck the hog with all his might:—Piggy, not understanding the matter, but pleased with the titillation, gently lies down and turns up his broad side to enjoy it; the poor bird gets into an agony of distress, pecks and pecks again ”

“ All of a sudden, as the older piggie boy was walking along, digging up nice sweet roots with his nose—for you know that is the way piggies dig—all of a sudden, I say, there was a growling noise in the bushes, and before the little pig boy could jump out of the way, or even call for his mamma or papa, a big black bear sprang out from inside a hollow stump, and grabbed him. Right in his paws he grabbed that little pig boy. ”

“ Every alley we pass adds some curly tail to the procession. Now he is ready to turn out of the town into that grove, and see what an army of piggies follows him! He never looks for any of them, but they hear the music of his pipe and start because they learned long ago that it leads them to good pastures. ”

“ Of course this pig got into the garden, and was whipped by the farmer, and bitten by the dog, and had all sorts of unpleasant things happen to him, till he was glad to get back again to the sty.
"Now I'll tell you a pig story," said Birdie, with a very wise look.
"Once there was a big mother-pig, and she had lots of children-pigs. One was spotted, and his name was Spotty; one's tail curled, and he was Curly; another was white, and he was Whitey; another was Browny; and another was Greeny." ”

“ One day in June Mother Grunty thought she must go on a journey, and she worried about leaving Blacky-ears and Little-wee Pig alone, for she had not forgotten that the Wandering Wolves were not all dead and that one of them might get after her babies.
"Come here, piglets," she called from her kitchen window.
"All right, Mother, I'm coming," answered Little-wee Pig as he jumped from his swing and ran to the house.
But not so Blacky-ears! And I'll tell you why. Bad Boy Mischief, you remember, is always after everyone; little children, little bears, and little pigs. ”

“ Well, the piggie boys had not gone very far, carrying the pumpkin home to make a Jack o'lantern, when, all of a sudden, out from behind a lot of bushes, jumped a big wolf. Isn't it funny how those bad creatures seem to always bother the piggie boys? Every once in a while something is happening to them. ”