in every direction. And it would take a hundred
Grunty Pigs a whole summer to dig them free."

A broad smile spread over Jolly Robin's face.

"Then--" he ventured--"then wouldn't it take Grunty Pig a hundred
summers to dig up our tree, if he worked alone?"

"No doubt!" Grandfather replied. "Or, to be on the safe side, I'll say
he could uproot your tree in ninety-nine summers."

"Hurrah!" Jolly Robin shouted. "Hurrah--and thank you, Grandfather
Mole!" And leaving the old gentleman to dig himself out of sight, Jolly
Robin hurried home to his wife.

Mrs. Robin was glad to see him. She knew, as soon as she caught a
glimpse of his face, that he had good news for her. And she needed
cheering, poor soul! For Grunty Pig was beneath the tree again, digging
away in a most businesslike fashion.

"Let him dig!" Jolly Robin whispered to his wife. "Grandfather Mole says
it will take him ninety-nine summers to topple our tree over. And you
know that Grandfather Mole is the greatest burrower in Pleasant Valley."

Mrs. Robin felt better at once. Looking down at Grunty Pig, she said to
her husband, "How stupid this son of Mrs. Pig's is! He has turned up at
least a dozen angleworms while you've been gone. And he has let every
one of them get away from him!"

XVIII

THE LUCKIEST OF ALL

Grunty Pig found that being the smallest of the family wasn't all fun.
Not only could his brothers and sisters crowd him at the feeding trough.
Even when they were playing in the pen they often knocked him down and
walked right over him. And if he objected--as he usually did--they were
sure to laugh and call him "Runt."

Try as she would, Mrs. Pig couldn't rid her children of these boorish
ways. But she shouldn't be blamed for that. It must be remembered that
she had seven youngsters, all of the same age.

At least, Mrs. Pig did what she could to make Grunty's lot easier.

"Don't feel unhappy!" she said to him one day as he picked himself up,
whimpering, after a hard knock. "Don't feel unhappy because you are the
littlest of the family. In one way you are the luckiest of all my
children."

Grunty Pig didn't stop weeping. He saw no reason--yet--to feel more
cheerful.

"Did you know--" his mother asked him--"did you know that in one respect
you are the handsomest one of the whole litter? You have the curliest
tail of them all!"

Grunty Pig gazed, open-mouthed, at his mother. He stopped snivelling. Up
to that time he had scarcely g