Squinty the Comical Pig: His Many Adventures · Chapter 3Squinty, the Comical Pig (3)
This chapter is not translated yet. You are reading the original.
"What happened to you, Squinty?" asked Wuff-Wuff.
"Oh, I had a fine swim in a brook," said Squinty.
"I wish that had happened to me," said Wuff-Wuff. "What else?"
"I found a nice field of corn," went on Squinty, "but I did not like the taste of it. I got lost in the cornfield."
"That's too bad," said Wuff-Wuff. "Did anything else happen?"
"Yes, I found some pig weed, and ate that, and some little potatoes."
"Oh, how nice!" exclaimed Twisty Tail. "I wish that had happened to me. Did you do anything else, Squinty?"
"Yes," said the comical little pig. "I saw something I thought was a potato, and it jumped away from me. It was a hoptoad."
"That was funny," said Squealer. "I wish I had seen it. Did anything else happen?"
"Yes," said Squinty. "I thought I saw another potato, but when I bit on it I found it was only a stone, and it hurt my teeth."
"That's too bad," said Wuff-Wuff. "I am glad that did not happen to me. Tell us what else you saw."
But just then Mrs. Pig grunted out:
"Come, now! All you little pigs must keep quiet and go to sleep. Go to sleep at once!"
So Squinty and the others cuddled closer together, snuggled down in the soft straw, and soon were fast asleep. Now and then they stirred, or grunted during the night, but they did not wake up until morning. They were running around the pen before breakfast, squealing as loudly as they could, for the farmer to come and feed them. But the farmer had his cows and horses and chickens to feed, as well as the pigs, and he did not get to the pen until last. And when he did, all the pigs were so hungry, even Mr. and Mrs. Pig, that they were squealing as hard as they could.
"Yes, yes!" cried the farmer, as though he were talking to the pigs. "I'm coming as fast as I can."
Soon the farmer poured some sour milk and corn meal down into the trough, and how eagerly Squinty and the others did eat it! Some of the smaller pigs even put two feet in the trough, they were so anxious to get their share. Squinty had an especially good appetite, from having run away, so perhaps he got a little more than the others.
But finally the breakfast was all gone, and the pigs had nothing more to do until dinner time--that is, all they had to do was to lie down and rest, or get up now and then to scratch a mosquito, or a fly bite.
"Well, I guess none of you will get out again," said the farmer, after a while, as he nailed a bigger board over the hole by which Squinty had gotten out. "Don, watch these pigs," the farmer went on. "If they get out, grab them by the ear, and bring them back."
"Bow wow!" barked Don, and that meant he would do as his master had told him.
For several days after this nothing happened in the pigs' pen except that they were washed off with the hose now and then, to clean them of mud and make them cool. Once in a while the farmer would take a corn cob and scratch the back of Mr. or Mrs. Pig, and they liked this very much. The other pigs were almost too little for the farmer to reach over the top of the pen.
One day the pigs heard merry shouts and laughter up at the farmhouse. There were the sounds of boys' and girls' voices. Then came the patter of many feet.
"Oh, look at the pigs!" someone cried, and Squinty, and his brothers and sisters, looking up, saw, over the edge of the pen, some boys and girls looking down on them.
"Oh, aren't they cute!" exclaimed a girl.
"Just lovely!" said another girl. "Pigs are so nice!"
"I wonder if any of them can do any tricks?" asked a boy who stood looking down into the pen.
"These aren't trained circus pigs," spoke one of the girls. "They can't do tricks."
The boy and the girls stayed for a little while, watching the pigs. Then the boy said:
"Let's pull some weeds and feed them."
"Oh, yes, let's!" cried the girls. The pigs were glad when they heard this, and they were more glad when the boy and the girls threw pig weed, and other green things from the garden, into the pen. The pigs ate them all up, and wanted more.
After that, for several days, Squinty and his brothers and sisters could hear the boy and the girls running about the garden, but they could not see them because the boards around the pig pen were too high. The boy and the girls seemed to be having a fine time.
Squinty could hear them talking about hunting the hens' eggs, and feeding the little calves and sheep, and riding on the backs of horses.
Then, one day Squinty looked up out of the pen, and, leaning over the top board he saw the farmer, the boy and another man.
"Oh, Father!" exclaimed the boy, "do let me have just one little pig. They are so nice!"
"A pig!" cried Father. "What would you do with a pig in our town? We are not in the country. Where would you keep a pig?"
"Oh, I could build a little pen for him in our yard. Look, let me have that one, he is so pink and pretty and clean."
"Ha! So you want that pig, do you?" asked the farmer. The boy and his father and sisters were paying a visit to the farm.
"Yes, I want a pig very much!" the boy said. "And I think I'd like that one," and he pointed straight at Squinty. Poor Squinty ran and tried to hide under the straw, for he knew the boy was talking about him.
"Oh, see him run!" cried the boy. "Yes, I think he is the nicest pig in the lot. I want him. Has he any name?"
"Well, we call him Squinty," the farmer said. "He has a funny, squinting eye."
"Then I'll call him Squinty, too," the boy went on. "Please, Father, may I have that little pig?"
"Well, I don't know," said his father slowly, scratching his head. "A pig is a queer pet. I suppose you might have him, though. You could keep him in the back yard. Yes, I guess you could have him, if Mr. Jones will sell him, and if the pig will behave. Do you think that little pig will be good, Mr. Jones?" asked the father of the farmer man.
"Well, yes, I guess so," answered the farmer. "He has run away out of the pen a couple of times, but if you board up a place good and tight, I guess he won't get out."
"Oh, I do hope he'll be good!" exclaimed the boy. "I do so want a little pet pig, and I'll be so kind to him!"
When Squinty heard that, he made up his mind, if the boy took him, that he would be as good as he knew how.
"When can I have my little pig?" asked the boy, of his father.
"Oh, as soon as Mr. Jones can put him in a box, so we can carry him," was the answer. "We can't very well take him in our arms; he would slip out and run away."
"I guess so, too," laughed the boy.
CHAPTER VI
SQUINTY ON A JOURNEY
"Mamma, did you hear what they were saying about Squinty?" asked Wuff-Wuff, as the boy and the two men walked away from the pig pen.
"Oh, yes, I heard," said Mrs. Pig. "I shall be sorry to lose Squinty, but then we pigs have to go out and take our places in this world. We cannot always stay at home in the pen."
"Yes, that is so," spoke Mr. Pig. "But Squinty is rather young and small to start out. However, it may all be for the best. Now, Squinty, you had better keep yourself nice and clean, so as to be ready to go on a journey."
"What's a journey?" asked the comical little pig, squinting his eye up at the papa pig.
"A journey is going away from home," answered Mr. Pig.
"And does it mean having adventures?" asked Squinty, flopping his ears backward and forward.
"Yes, you may have some adventures," replied his mother. "Oh dear, Squinty! I wish you didn't have to go and leave us. But still, it may be all for your good."
"We might hide him under the straw," suggested Wuff-Wuff. "Then that boy could not find him when he comes to put him in a box, and take him away."
"No, that would never do," said Mr. Pig. "The farmer is stronger and smarter than we are. He would find Squinty, no matter where we hid him. It is better to let him do as he pleases, and take Squinty away, though we shall all miss him."
"Oh dear!" cried Curly Tail, for she liked her little brother very much, and she loved to see him look at her with his funny, squinting eye. "Do you want to go, Squinty?"
"Well, I don't want to leave you all," answered the comical little pig, "but I shall be glad to go on a journey, and have adventures. I hope I don't get lost again, though."
"I guess the boy won't let you get lost," spoke Mr. Pig. "He looks as though he would be kind and good to you."
The pig family did not know when Squinty would be taken away from them, and all they could do was to wait. While they were doing this they ate and slept as they always did. Squinty, several times, looked at the hole under the pen, by which he had once gotten out. He felt sure he could again push his way through, and run away. But he did not do it.
"No, I will wait and let the boy take me away," thought Squinty.
Several times after this the boy and his sisters came to look down into the pig pen. The pigs could tell, by the talk of the children, that they were brother and sisters. And they had come to the farm to spend their summer vacation, when there was no school.
"That's the pig I am going to take home with me," the boy would say to his sisters, pointing to Squinty.
"How can you tell which one is yours?" asked one of the little girls.
"I can tell by his funny squint," the boy would answer. "He always makes me want to laugh."
"Well, I am glad I am of some use in this world," thought Squinty, who could understand nearly all that the boy and his sisters said. "It is something just to be jolly."
"I wouldn't want a pig," said the other girl. "They grunt and squeal and are not clean. I'd rather have a rabbit."
"Pigs are so clean!" cried the boy. "Squinty is as clean as a rabbit!"
Only that day Squinty had rolled over and over in the mud, but he had had a bath from the hose, so he was clean now. And he made up his mind that if the boy took him he would never again get in the mud and become covered with dirt.
"I will keep myself clean and jolly," thought Squinty.
A few days after this Squinty heard the noise of hammering and sawing wood outside the pig pen.
"The farmer must be building another barn," said Mr. Pig, for he and his family could not see outside the pen. "Yes, he must be building another barn, for once before we heard the sounds of hammering and sawing, and then a new barn was built."
But that was not what it was this time.
Soon the sounds stopped, and the farmer and the boy came and looked down into the pig pen.
"Now you are sure you want that squinty one?" the farmer asked the boy. "Some of the others are bigger and better."
"No, I want the squinty one," the boy said. "He is so comical, he makes me laugh."
"All right," answered the farmer. "I'll get him for you, now that you have the crate all made to carry him home in on the cars."
Over into the pig pen jumped the farmer. He made a grab for Squinty and caught him.
"Squee! Squee! Squee!" squealed Squinty, for he had never been squeezed so tightly before.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you," said the farmer, kindly.
"Squinty, be quiet," ordered his papa, in the pig language. "Behave yourself. You are going on a journey, and will be all right."
Then Squinty stopped squealing, as the farmer climbed out of the pen with him.
"At last I am going on a journey, and I may have many adventures," thought the little pig. "Good-by!" he called to his papa and mamma and brothers and sisters, left behind in the pen. "Good-by!"
"Good-by!" they all grunted and squealed. "Be a good pig," said his mamma.
"Be a brave pig," said his papa.
"And--and come back and see us, sometime," sniffled little Curly Tail, for she loved Squinty very much indeed.
"I'll come back!" said the comical little pig. But he did not know how much was to happen before he saw his pen again.
"There you go--into the box with you!" cried the farmer, as he dropped Squinty into a wooden box the boy had made for his pet, with a hammer, saw and nails.
Squinty found himself dropped down on a bed of clean straw. In front of him, behind him, and on either side of him were wooden slats--the sides of the box. Squinty could look out, but the slats were as close together as those in a chicken coop, and the little pig could not get out.
He did not want to, however, for he had made up his mind that he was going to be a good pig, and go with the boy who had bought him for a pet from the farmer.
Over the top of the box was nailed a cover with a handle to it, and by this handle the pig in the little cage could be easily carried.
"There you are!" exclaimed the farmer. "Now he'll be all right until you get him home."
"And, when I do, I'll put him in a nice big pen, and feed him well," said the boy. Squinty smacked his lips at that, for he was hungry even now.
"Oh, have you caged him up? Isn't he cute!" exclaimed one of the boy's sisters. "I'll give him the core of my apple," and she thrust it in through the slats of the box. Squinty was very glad, indeed, to get the apple core, and he soon ate it up.
"Come on!" cried the boy's father. "Is the pig nailed up? We must go for the train!"
"I wonder what the train is," thought Squinty. He was soon to know. The boy lifted him up, cage and all, and put him into the wagon that was to go to the depot. Squinty knew what a wagon was and horses, for he had seen them many times.
Then away they started. Squinty gave a loud squeal, which was his last good-by to the other pigs in the pen, and then the wagon rattled away along the road.
Squinty had started on his journey.
CHAPTER VII
SQUINTY LEARNS A TRICK
Squinty, the comical pig, tried to look out through the slats of the box, in which he was being taken away, to see in which direction he was going. He also wanted to watch the different sights along the road. But the sides of the farm wagon were so high that the little pig could see nothing. He stretched his fat neck as far as it would go, but that did no good either. Squinty wished he were as big as his papa or his mamma.
"Then I could see what is going on," he thought.
But just wishing never made anyone larger or taller, not even a pig, and Squinty stayed the same size.
He could hear the farmer and the children talking. Now and then the boy who had bought Squinty, and who was taking him home, would look around at his pet in the slatted box.
"Is he all right?" one of the girls would ask.
"He seems to be," the boy would say. "I am glad I got him."
"Well, he acts real cute," said another girl, who was called Sallie, "but I never heard of having a pig for a pet before."
"You just wait until I teach him some tricks," said the boy, whose name was Bob. "Then you'll think he's fine!"
"Ha! So I am to learn tricks," thought Squinty in his box. "I wonder what tricks are, anyhow? Does it mean I am to have good things to eat? I hope so."
You see Squinty, like most little pigs, thought more of something to eat than of anything else. But we must not blame him for that, since he could not help it.
Pretty soon the wagon rattled over some stones, and then came to a stop.
"Here we are!" called the children's father. "Bring along your little pig, Bob. Here comes the train."
"Ha! It seems I am to go on a train," thought Squinty. "I wonder what a train is?"
Squinty had many things to learn, didn't he?
The little pig in the box felt himself being lifted out of the wagon. Then he could look about him. He saw a large building, in front of which were long, slender strips of shining steel. These were the railroad tracks, but Squinty did not know that. Then all at once, Squinty heard a loud noise, which went like this:
"Whee! Whee! Whee-whee!"
"Oh my! what a loud squeal that pig has!" exclaimed Squinty. "He can squeal much louder than I can, I think. Let me try."
So Squinty went:
"Squee! Squee! Squee!"
And then the big noise sounded again, louder than before:
"Whee! Whee! Toot! Toot!"
"Oh my!" said Squinty to himself, snuggling down in the straw of his box. "I never can squeal as loud as that. Never!"
He looked out and saw a big black thing rushing toward him, with smoke coming out of the top, and then the big black thing cried out again:
"Whee! Whee! Toot! Toot!"
"Oh, what a terrible, big black pig!" thought Squinty. And he was a bit frightened. But it was not a big black pig at all. It was only the engine drawing the train of cars up to the station to take the passengers away. And it was going to take Squinty, also.
Squinty thought the engine whistle was a pig's squeal, but it wasn't, of course.
Pretty soon the train stopped. The passengers made a rush to get in the cars. Bob, the boy, caught up the handle of Squinty's box, and, after some bumping and tilting sideways, the little pig found himself set down in a rather dark place, for the boy had put the box on the floor of the car by his seat, near his feet.
And there Squinty rode, seeing nothing, but hearing many strange noises, until, after many stops, he was lifted up again.
"Here we are!" the little pig heard the children's papa say. "Have you everything? Don't forget your pig, Bob."
"I won't," answered the boy, with a jolly laugh.
"Well, I wonder what will happen next?" thought Squinty, as he felt himself being carried along again. He could see nothing but a crowd of persons all about the boy who carried the box.
"I don't know whether I am going to like this or not--this coming to live in town," thought the little pig. "Still, I cannot help myself, I suppose. But I do wish I had something to eat."
I guess the boy must have known Squinty was hungry, for, when he next set down the box, this time in a carriage, the boy gave the little pig a whole apple to eat. And how good it did taste to Squinty!
"Are you going to make a pen for him?" asked one of the boy's sisters, as the carriage drove off.
"Yes, as soon as we get to the house," said the boy.
By this time Squinty was thirsty. There was no water in his cage, but, a little later, when he saw through the slats, that he was being carried toward a large, white house, he was given a tin of water to drink.
"I'll just leave him in that box until I can fix a larger one for him," the boy said, and then, for a while, Squinty was left all to himself. But he was still in the box, though the box was set in a shady place on the back porch.
All this while Mr. Pig and Mrs. Pig, as well as the brother and sister pigs, in the pen at home, were wondering what had happened to Squinty.
"Where do you think he is now, Mamma?" Wuff-Wuff would ask.
"Oh, I don't know," Mrs. Pig answered.
"And will he ever come back to us?" asked Twisty Tail.
"Perhaps, some day. I hope so," said Mrs. Pig, sort of sighing.
"Oh, yes, I think he will," said Mr. Pig. "When he gets quite large the boy will get tired of having him for a pet, and perhaps bring him back."
"Were you ever carried off that way, Papa?" asked Grunter, as he rubbed his back, where a mosquito had bitten him, against the side of the pen.
"Oh, yes, once," answered Mr. Pig. "I was taken away from my pen, when I was pretty large, and given to a little girl for a pet. But she did not keep me long. I guess she would rather have had her dolls, so I was soon brought back to my pen. And I was glad of it."
"Well, I hope they will soon bring Squinty back," Wuff-Wuff said. "It is lonesome without him."
But, after a while, the other pigs found so many things to do, and they were kept so busy, eating sour milk, and getting fat, that they nearly forgot about Squinty.
But, all this time, something was happening to the comical little pig.
Toward evening of the first day that Squinty had been put in the new little cage, the boy, who had not been near him in some time, came back to look at his pet.
"Now I have a larger place for you," the boy said, speaking just as though Squinty could understand him. And, in fact, Squinty did know much of what was said to him, though he could not talk back in boy language, being able to speak only his own pig talk.
"And I guess you are hungry, too, and want something to eat," the boy went on. "I will feed you!"
"Squee! Squee! Squee!" squealed Squinty. If there was one word in man-talk that he understood very well, it was "feed." He had often heard the farmer say:
"Well, now I must feed the pigs."
And right after that, some nice sour milk would come splashing down into the trough of the pen. So when Squinty heard the word "feed" again, he guessed what was going to happen.
And he guessed right, too.
The boy picked Squinty up, box and all, and carried him to the back yard.
"Now I'll give you more room to run about, and then I'll have a nice supper for you," the boy said, talking to his little pig just as you would to your dog, or kittie.
With a hammer the boy knocked off some of the slats of the small box in which Squinty had made his journey. Then the boy lifted out the comical little pig, and Squinty found himself inside a large box, very much like the pen at home. It had clean straw in it, and a little trough, just like the one at his "home," where he could eat. But there was nothing in the trough to eat, as yet, and the box seemed quite lonesome, for Squinty was all alone.
"Here you are now! Some nice sour milk, and boiled potatoes!" cried the boy, and then Squinty smelled the most delicious smell--to him at least. Down into the trough came the sour milk and potatoes.
"Squee! Squee!" yelled Squinty in delight, And how fast he ate! That was because he was hungry, you see, but pigs nearly always eat fast, as though they were continually in a hurry.
"Oh, isn't it cute!" exclaimed a voice over Squinty's head. He looked up, half shutting his one funny eye, and cocking one ear up, and letting the other droop down. But he did not stop eating.
"Oh, isn't he funny!" cried another voice. And Squinty saw the boy and his sisters looking at him.
"Yes, he surely is a nice pig," the boy said, "In a few days, when he gets over being strange, I'm going to teach him some tricks."
"Ha! There's that word tricks again!" thought Squinty. "I wonder what tricks are? But I shall very soon find out."
For a few days Squinty was rather lonesome in his new pen, all by himself. He missed his papa and mamma and brothers and sisters. But the boy came to see Squinty every day, bringing him nice things to eat, and, after a bit, Squinty came to look for his new friend.
"I guess you are getting to know me, aren't you, old fellow?" the boy said one day, after feeding Squinty, and he scratched the little pig on the back with a stick.
"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty. That, I suppose, was his way of saying:
"Of course I know you, and I like you, boy."
One day, about a week after he had come to his new home, Squinty heard the boy say:
"Now I think you are tame enough to be let out. I don't believe you will run away, will you? But, anyhow, I'll tie a string to your leg, and then you can't."
Squinty wished he could speak boy language, and tell his friend that he would not run away as long as he was kindly treated, but of course Squinty could not do this. Instead, he could only grunt and squeal.
The boy tied a string to Squinty's leg, and let him out of the pen. The comical little pig was glad to have more room in which to move about. He walked first to one side, and then the other, rooting in the dirt with his funny, rubbery nose. The boy laughed to see him.
"I guess you are looking for something to eat," the boy said. "Well, let's see if you can find these acorns."
The boy hid them under a pile of dirt, and watched. Squinty smelled about, and sniffed. He could easily tell where the acorns had been hidden, and, a moment later, he had rooted them up and was eating them.
"Oh, you funny little pig!" cried the boy. "You are real smart! You know how to find acorns. That is one trick."
"Ha! If that is a trick, it is a very easy one--just rooting up acorns," thought Squinty to himself.
Squinty walked around, as far as the rope tied to his leg would let him. The other end of the rope was held by the boy. Once the rope got tangled around Squinty's foot, and he jumped over it to get free. The boy saw him and cried:
"Oh, I wonder if I could teach you to jump the rope? That would be a fine trick. Let me see."
The boy thought a moment, and then lifted Squinty up, and set him down on one side of the rope, which he raised a little way from the ground, just as girls do when they are playing a skipping game.
On the other side of the rope the boy put an apple.
"Now, Squinty," said Bob, "if you want that apple you must jump the rope to get it. Come on."
At first Squinty did not understand what was wanted of him. He saw nothing but the apple, and thought how much he wanted it. He started for it, but, before he could get it the boy pulled up the rope in front of him. The rope stopped Squinty.
"Jump over the rope if you want the apple," said the boy. Of course Squinty could not exactly understand this talk. He tried once more to get the apple, but, every time he did, he found the rope in front of him, in the way.
"Well!" exclaimed Squinty to himself, "I am going to get that apple, rope or no rope. I guess I'll have to get over the rope somehow."
So the next time he started for the juicy apple, and the rope was pulled up in front of him, Squinty gave a little spring, and over the rope he went, jumping with all four legs, coming down on the other side, like a circus man jumping over the elephant's back.
"Oh, fine! Good!" cried the boy, clapping his hands. "Squinty has learned to do another trick!"
"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, as he chewed the apple. "So that's another trick, is it?"
CHAPTER VIII
SQUINTY IN THE WOODS
Bob, the boy who had bought Squinty, the comical pig, laughed and clapped his hands. His two sisters, who were playing with their dolls in the shade of an evergreen tree, heard their brother, and one of them called out: