r, as she lay in the shade of an
oak tree. "There are white Pigs, although I never fancied the color. It
looks too cold and clean. Brown is more to my taste, brown or black.
Your poor father was brown and black, and a finer looking Hog I never
saw. Ugh! Ugh!" And she buried her eyes in the loose earth. The Pigs
looked at her and then at each other. They did not often speak of their
father. Indeed the younger ones did not remember him at all. One of the
Cows said he had such a bad temper that the farmer sent him away, and it
is certain that none of them had seen him since the day he was driven
down the lane.

While they were thinking of this and feeling rather sad, the wagon
turned into their lane and they could plainly see the Pig inside. She
was white and quite beautiful in her piggish way. Her ears stood up
stiffly, her snout was as stubby as though it had been broken off, her
eyes were very small, and her tail had the right curl. When she squealed
they could see her sharp teeth, and when she put her feet up on the
wooden bars of her rough cage, they noticed the fine hoofs on the two
big toes of each foot and the two little toes high on the back of her
legs, each with its tiny hoof. She was riding in great style, and it is
no wonder that the twenty-two Brown Pigs with black spots and black feet
opened their eyes very wide. They did not know that the farmer brought
her in this way because he was in a hurry, and Pigs will not make haste
when farmers want them to. The Hogs are a queer family, and the Off Ox
spoke truly when he said that the only way to make one hurry ahead is to
tie a rope to his leg and pull back, they are so sure to be contrary.

"She's coming here!" the Brown Pigs cried. "Oh, Mother, she's coming
here! We're going to see the men take her out of her cage."

The old Hog grunted and staggered to her feet to go with them, but she
was fat and slow of motion, so that by the time she was fairly standing,
they were far down the field and running helter-skelter by the side of
the fence. As she stared dully after them she could see the twenty-two
curly tails bobbing along, and she heard the soft patter of eighty-eight
sharp little double hoofs on the earth.

"Ugh!" she grunted. "Ugh! Ugh! I am too late to go. Never mind! They
will tell me all about it, and I can take a nap. I haven't slept half
the time to-day, and I need rest."

Just as the Mother Hog lay down again, the men lifted the White Pig from
the