sant thing if
there were no more quarrels in this pasture.

"Will you tell your people not to break down the fences and spoil the
place and eat our food? We will then agree that the oxen and horses
shall not hurt your children and all the old troubles shall be
forgotten from this day."

Then one young Pig stood up to talk. "All this big pasture belongs to
the Master, and not to you," he said. "We cannot go to other places
for food.

"The Master sends a servant to feed us, and sometimes he sends us to
your yard to eat the corn and potatoes.

"The servants clean our pen every day. When summer comes, they fill
the ponds with fresh water for us to bathe in.

"Now, friends, can you not see that this place and this food all belong
to the Master? We eat the food and go wherever we like. We take your
food only after you have finished. It would spoil on the ground if we
did not do this.

"Answer this question--Do our people ever hurt your people? No; even
though every year some of our children are killed by bad oxen and cows.

"What is our food? It is nothing; but our lives are worth much to us.

"Our Master never sends our people to work as he does the horses and
oxen. He sends us food and allows us to play a year and a year the
same, because he likes us best.

"You see the Horses and Oxen are always at work. Some pull wagons,
others plough land for rice; and they must work--sick or well.

"Our people never work. Every day at happy time we play; and do you
see how fat we are?

"You never see our bones. Look at the old Horses and the old Oxen.
Twenty years' work and no rest!

"I tell you the Master does not honour the Horses and Oxen as he does
the Pigs.

"Friends, that is all I have to say. Have you any questions to ask?
Is what I have said not the truth?"

The old Cow said, "Moo, Moo," and shook her head sadly. The tired old
Horses groaned, "Huh, Huh," and never spoke a word.

The leader said, "My friends, it is best not to worry about things we
cannot know. We do not seem to understand our Master.

"It will soon be time for the New Year feast day; so, good night. And
may the Pig people live in the world as long and happily as the Horses
and the Oxen, although our Peace Party did not succeed."

On their way home the little Pigs made a big noise, and every one said,
"We, we! We win, we win!"

Then the old Horses and Oxen talked among themselves. "We are
stronger, wiser, and more useful