sisters in size, even if he had
outstripped them in the matter of brains. And he feared that any one of
them would crowd him away from the good things that he meant to find
beyond the walls of the pigsty.

Little did Mrs. Pig dream what plans filled the head of her son Grunty.
When she saw him sniffing around the walls of the pen she never once
guessed that he could be looking for anything except something to eat.
How could she know that Grunty--the littlest of the family--was
searching for a place to escape?

Now, it happened that there was one loose board in a corner of the
pigpen. The nails that once held it had rusted away. Nobody but Grunty
Pig had discovered that by pressing against an end of this board one
could bend it outward.

It was too bad--for him--that he had grown so rapidly. Had he been just
a bit smaller he could have squeezed through the opening.

Here Grunty met the first real problem of his life. For some days he
puzzled over it. One thing was certain: he couldn't make himself
smaller, unless he stopped eating. And that was out of the question. In
the end he made up his mind that there was only one thing to do: he must
make the opening bigger.

Day after day Grunty Pig crowded against the loose board. And at last
came his reward. Two more rusty nails gave way all at once. Under
Grunty's weight the board opened wide. And as he slipped through the
space, to freedom, the board snapped back into place again.

There he was, with the wide world before him. And there was the pen,
with no opening anywhere to be seen.

With a grunt of delight Grunty Pig trotted out of the low building and
found himself on the edge of Farmer Green's orchard.

He noticed that there was a fragrant smell of apples in the air.

IV

THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD

It was the first time Grunty Pig had ever been outside his pen. And
since he didn't know how long it would be before Farmer Green found him
and took him back home, he decided that he had better make the most of
his outing while it lasted.

Hurrying into the orchard, Grunty ate heartily of the fruit that lay
upon the ground. After he had devoured a few dozen apples he began to
lose his appetite for that sort of food. So he started to root beneath
the trees. It was fun to dig. Besides, he found a good many tender roots
that tickled his taste. They were different from anything he had ever
eaten before.

After a while Grunty Pig learned something. He had always