dy to play with," her mother
had said, "don't stop to think about it, and don't act as though you
cared. Have a good time by yourself and you will soon have company. If
you cannot enjoy yourself, you must not expect others to enjoy you."
"That is what I will do," exclaimed the White Pig. "My mother always
gives her children good advice when they go out into the world, and she
is right when she says that Pigs of fine family should have fine
manners. I will never forget that I am a Yorkshire. I'm glad I didn't
say anything mean."
So the White Pig rooted in the sunshine and wallowed in the warm brown
earth that she had stirred up with her pink snout. Once in a while she
would run to the fence to watch somebody in the lane, and before she
knew it she was grunting contentedly to herself. "Really," she said, "I
am almost having a good time. I will keep on making believe that I would
rather do this than anything else."
* * * * *
The big sister of the Brown Pigs looked over to the White Pig and said,
"She's having lots of fun all by herself, it seems to me."
Big brother raised his head. "Let's call her over here," he answered.
"Oh, do!" cried the twelve little Pigs, wriggling their tails. "She
looks so full of fun."
"Call her yourself," said the big sister to the big brother.
"Ugh!" called he. "Ugh! Ugh! Don't you want to come over with us, White
Pig?"
You can imagine how the White Pig felt when she heard this; how her
small eyes twinkled and the corners of her mouth turned up more than
ever. She was just about to scamper over and root with them, when she
remembered something else that her mother had told her: "Never run after
other Pigs. Let them run after you. Then they will think more of you."
She called back, "I'm having too good a time here to leave my
rooting-ground. Won't you come over here?"
"Come on," cried all the little Pigs to each other. "Beat you there!"
They ate and talked and slept together all afternoon, and when the Brown
Hog called her children home, they and the White Pig were the best of
friends. "Just think," they said to their mother, "the White Pig let us
visit her, and she is just as nice as she can be."
The White Pig in her corner of the pen heard this and smiled to herself.
"My mother was right," she said; "'Have a good time alone, and everybody
will want to come.'"
THE KITTEN WHO LOST HERSELF
"I think," said the Blind Horse, "tha
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