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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tale of Grunty Pig, by Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Tale of Grunty Pig
+       Slumber-Town Tales
+
+Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+Illustrator: Harry L. Smith
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24731]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joe Longo, Greg Bergquist and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG
+
+
+
+
+     _SLUMBER-TOWN TALES_
+     (Trademark Registered)
+
+     BY
+     ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+
+     AUTHOR OF
+
+     _SLEEPY-TIME TALES_
+     (Trademark Registered)
+
+     _TUCK-ME-IN TALES_
+     (Trademark Registered)
+
+     THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW
+
+     THE TALE OF OLD DOG SPOT
+
+     THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG
+
+     THE TALE OF HENRIETTA HEN
+
+     THE TALE OF TURKEY PROUDFOOT
+
+     THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS
+
+     THE TALE OF MISS KITTY CAT
+
+[Illustration: Grunty Pig is Scolded by Henrietta Hen.
+
+_Frontispiece_ (_Page 17_)]
+
+
+
+
+SLUMBER-TOWN TALES
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+THE TALE OF
+GRUNTY PIG
+
+
+BY
+ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+
+Author of
+"SLEEPY-TIME TALES"
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+AND
+
+"TUCK-ME-IN TALES"
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+HARRY L. SMITH
+
+
+NEW YORK
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+PUBLISHERS
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+     COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
+     GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                        PAGE
+
+      I THE RUNT                    1
+
+     II A NEW WAY TO EAT            5
+
+    III THE LOOSE BOARD            10
+
+     IV THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD       14
+
+      V SIXES AND SEVENS           19
+
+     VI MR. CROW HELPS             23
+
+    VII THE GRUMBLER               28
+
+   VIII FEARFUL NEWS               33
+
+     IX A GREAT ADVENTURE          38
+
+      X A QUEER BEAR               43
+
+     XI LOCKED OUT                 47
+
+    XII WOOF!                      51
+
+   XIII HOME AT LAST               55
+
+    XIV AN ODD THOUGHT             60
+
+     XV GRUNTY MEANS MISCHIEF      65
+
+    XVI DANGER AHEAD               70
+
+   XVII A PUZZLE SOLVED            74
+
+  XVIII THE LUCKIEST OF ALL        79
+
+    XIX DOG SPOT'S PLAN            83
+
+     XX A NEW KIND OF PIG          88
+
+    XXI BEECHNUTS                  94
+
+   XXII JASPER JAY OBJECTS         98
+
+  XXIII MOSES MOUSE'S WAY         104
+
+   XXIV A PIG IN THE PARLOR       109
+
+
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                       PAGE
+
+  GRUNTY PIG IS SCOLDED BY HENRIETTA HEN       Frontispiece
+
+  THE MULEY COW ADVISES GRUNTY PIG TO GO HOME            32
+
+  "ALWAYS MIND YOUR MOTHER," SAID MRS. PIG               64
+
+  GRUNTY PIG STUCK FAST IN THE FENCE                     80
+
+
+
+
+THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG
+
+I
+
+THE RUNT
+
+
+He was the smallest of seven children. At first his mother thought she
+would call him "Runty." But she soon changed her mind about that; for
+she discovered that even if he was the runt of the family, he had the
+loudest grunt of all. So the good lady made haste to slip a G in front
+of the name "Runty."
+
+"There!" she exclaimed. "'Grunty' is a name that you ought to be proud
+of. It calls attention to your best point. And if you keep on making as
+much noise in the world as you do now, maybe people won't notice that
+you're a bit undersized. You certainly sound as big as any little shote
+I ever saw or heard."
+
+So that was settled--though Grunty Pig didn't care one way or another.
+He seemed to be interested in nothing but food. There is no doubt that
+he would have been willing to change his name a dozen times a day for
+the slight bribe of a drink of warm milk.
+
+His mother sometimes said that he had the biggest appetite--as well as
+the loudest grunt--of all her seven children. And she was glad that he
+ate well, because food was the very thing that would make him grow.
+
+"You won't always be runty, Grunty, if you eat a plenty," Mrs. Pig often
+told him. And then he would grunt, as if to say, "You don't need to
+urge me. Just give me a chance!"
+
+Grunty Pig soon learned that being the smallest of the family had one
+sad drawback. His brothers and sisters (all bigger than he!) could crowd
+him away from the feeding trough. And they not only _could_; but they
+often _did_. Unless Grunty reached the trough among the first, there was
+never a place left where he could squirm in. If he tried to eat at one
+end of the trough he was sure to be shouldered away and go hungry.
+
+So whenever he did succeed in getting the first taste of a meal he took
+pains to plant himself in the exact middle of the trough. Then there
+would be three other youngsters on each side of him, all crowding
+towards him. And though he found it a bit hard to breathe under such a
+squeezing, at least he got his share of the food.
+
+Poor Mrs. Pig! Her children had frightful manners. Though she talked
+and talked to them about not crowding, and about eating slowly, and
+about eating noiselessly, the moment their food was poured into their
+trough they forgot everything their mother had said.
+
+That is, all but Grunty Pig! If he happened to be left out in the cold,
+so to speak, and had to stand and look on while his brothers and sister
+stuffed themselves, he couldn't help remembering his mother's remarks
+about manners.
+
+"It's awful to watch them!" he would gurgle. "I don't see how they can
+be so boorish." He thought there was no sadder sight than his six
+brothers and sisters jostling one another over their food, while he
+couldn't find a place to push in among them.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+A NEW WAY TO EAT
+
+
+One thing, especially, distressed Mrs. Pig. Her children _would_ put
+their fore feet right into the trough when they ate their meals out of
+it. Nothing she said to them made the slightest difference. Even when
+she told them that they were little pigs they didn't seem to care.
+
+"We're all bigger than Grunty is," said one of her sons--a bouncing
+black youngster who was the most unruly of the litter.
+
+"You're all greedy," Mrs. Pig retorted. "Do try to restrain yourselves
+when you eat. Remember--there's plenty of time."
+
+"But there's not always plenty of food," Grunty Pig told his mother.
+"Sometimes there isn't any left for me."
+
+"I know," said Mrs. Pig. "I know that your brothers and sisters eat your
+share whenever they can. Farmer Green furnishes enough food for you all.
+And if you children didn't forget your manners everybody would get his
+share--no more and no less."
+
+Now, Mrs. Pig was not the only one that noticed how piggish her
+youngsters were at the trough. One day Farmer Green himself remarked to
+his son Johnnie, as they leaned over the pen, that that litter of pigs
+did beat all he had ever seen.
+
+"They come a-running at meal time as if they were half starved. It's a
+wonder they don't get in the trough all over."
+
+Johnnie Green liked to watch the pigs.
+
+"That black fellow's the greediest of the lot," he declared. "He's
+getting to be the biggest. He's almost twice the size of the little
+runt."
+
+"The runt doesn't get his share," said Farmer Green. "We'll have to do
+something to help him, or he'll never be worth his salt."
+
+Grunty Pig looked up at Farmer Green and gave a plaintive squeal, as if
+to say, "Hurry, please! Because I'm always hungry."
+
+And Blackie, his greedy brother, looked up at Farmer Green too. He said
+nothing. But his little eyes twinkled slyly. And afterward he told his
+brothers and sisters that Farmer Green needn't think he could keep _him_
+from drinking all the skim milk he pleased.
+
+"If Mother can't make me behave, surely Farmer Green won't be able to,"
+he boasted.
+
+Of course Blackie Pig was very young. Otherwise he would never have
+made such a silly remark. And he soon learned that Farmer Green was more
+than a match for him.
+
+The next day Farmer Green made a long lid that dropped over the feeding
+trough and covered it completely. And in the lid he cut seven holes--one
+for each of Mrs. Pig's children.
+
+There was no more jostling at meal time. There was a place for
+everybody. And Mrs. Pig was delighted with the improvement. When Farmer
+Green filled the trough, each of the children stuck his head through a
+hole and ate in the most orderly fashion. To be sure, there was some
+squealing and grunting, and some snuffling and blowing. But it seemed to
+Mrs. Pig that no youngsters could have behaved more beautifully.
+
+And Grunty liked the new way of eating, too. But Blackie made a great
+fuss. He complained because he couldn't stick his nose through two holes
+at the same time!
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE LOOSE BOARD
+
+
+After Farmer Green put the lid with the holes in it over the top of the
+feeding trough, Grunty Pig began to grow. At last he was getting as much
+to eat as his brothers and sisters. And the bigger he grew, the more
+food he wanted. He was always on the watch for some extra tidbit--always
+rooting about to find some dainty that others had overlooked. Many a
+delicious piece of carrot, or turnip, or potato-paring rewarded him for
+his eager searching.
+
+Still, Grunty Pig was far from satisfied. He had a great longing to get
+outside the pen where he lived with the rest of Mrs. Pig's seven
+children.
+
+"Out in the wide world there must be many good things to eat," he
+thought. "I'd like to find the place where the potato-parings grow."
+
+But of all this, Grunty Pig said nothing to anyone. If the chance ever
+came to slip out of the pen, he intended to take nobody with him. He had
+not yet caught up with his brothers and 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 supposed that
+he could go on eating forever, if he were only lucky enough to have the
+chance. But to his surprise he found that there was a limit to the
+amount he could consume with comfort. He began to have a _tight_ feeling
+about his waistband. At first he dared hope it would go away. But the
+more he ate, the worse he felt. And at last he gave a grunt of
+disappointment.
+
+"I can't eat any more," he whined. "Here's a whole world full of food
+just going to waste. And I can't even hold one half of it!"
+
+Still, there were other pleasures to be had besides eating. Grunty
+crawled through the fence into the lane. And near the barn, where the
+cows had trampled, he beheld such beautiful, sticky, deep mud as he had
+never dreamed could be found anywhere.
+
+Grunty Pig gave a deep sigh of happiness as he wallowed in the mire. He
+lay on his stomach, he turned upon each side. He even squirmed through a
+puddle and rolled over in it, so that there wasn't a clean patch on him,
+anywhere. Little did he care that his silvery bristles were smeared with
+black. The mud felt delightfully cool upon his piggy, pinkish skin.
+
+"This is almost better than eating," Grunty squealed.
+
+At last his gurgles and grunts attracted the notice of a proud creature
+known as Henrietta Hen. She had been scratching for worms in the
+farmyard. And now she came running around a corner of the barn and
+peered through the fence at Grunty.
+
+"You careless child!" she squawked. "Stop playing in that mud! Don't you
+know that it's very dangerous to get your feet wet?"
+
+Grunty Pig stood up and looked at her.
+
+"Goodness! You're a sight!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed. "Does your mother
+know you're here?"
+
+Now, Grunty Pig didn't answer a single one of Henrietta's questions. He
+merely stared at her and said nothing. So it was no wonder that she
+thought him stupid.
+
+"Poor Mrs. Pig!" thought Henrietta Hen. "It's bad enough to have a child
+so untidy as this youngster. But it's far worse to have a dull-witted
+one."
+
+Then to Grunty she said sharply, "You'd better get out of that mudhole
+and go dry yourself in the sun."
+
+He actually obeyed her. And as soon as Henrietta Hen saw that he was
+sunning himself she walked out of sight around the barn, stopping now
+and then to pick up some tidbit or other.
+
+"Good!" Grunty Pig grunted. "She's gone. This was the easiest way to get
+rid of her."
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+SIXES AND SEVENS
+
+
+Not until feeding time came did anyone discover that Grunty Pig was gone
+from the pen. It may seem strange that neither his mother nor any of his
+brothers and sisters missed him. But when there are seven children in a
+family it is no wonder that one of them could slip away without having
+his absence noticed. It is specially easy, in such a large family, to
+overlook the littlest.
+
+If Mrs. Pig had known there was a loose board on the pen she would
+certainly have counted noses to find out whether her children were all
+safe at home. But nobody knew about that loose board except Grunty
+himself.
+
+It was lucky that Farmer Green had made the lid for Mrs. Pig's
+children's feeding trough--the lid with the seven holes in it. When he
+poured the children's supper into the trough and slammed down the lid he
+stood and watched Mrs. Pig's youngsters as they scrambled to the trough
+and stuck--each of them--a nose into a hole.
+
+All at once Farmer Green noticed something queer. "Hullo!" he cried to
+his son Johnnie. "There's an empty hole here. We've lost a pig!"
+
+He looked closely at the row of six squirming bunches of squeals.
+
+"I declare!" said Farmer Green. "It's the runt that's gone."
+
+Mrs. Pig, who was enjoying her own supper a little way off, did not hear
+what Farmer Green said. Her children were making a good deal of noise.
+And to tell the truth, Mrs. Pig herself wasn't exactly a silent eater.
+When Farmer Green jumped into the pen and began to poke at the sides of
+it she wondered what he was doing. Soon he found the loose board and
+pushed against it with his foot, exclaiming, "Here's where he got away!
+Who'd have thought that the runt was the smartest of the family?
+
+"Run and get me a hammer and a few nails," said Farmer Green to his son
+Johnnie. "We must fix this pen before any more of the pigs crawl out."
+
+Well, when she heard the news Mrs. Pig nearly choked over a bit of
+something or other that she was eating. Grunty was gone! If she hadn't
+spent most of the afternoon dozing perhaps she would have missed him.
+And poor Mrs. Pig began to reproach herself for what wasn't really her
+fault at all.
+
+"I hope you'll find him," she told Farmer Green as he drove a nail into
+the loose board. "I hope you won't leave my son out to-night. There's no
+knowing what might happen to a child of his tender years."
+
+Maybe Farmer Green heard her request. Anyhow, as he handed the hammer to
+Johnnie he said, "Come and help me, after you put the hammer back. We'll
+have to find that pig. If a bear happened to come down from the mountain
+to-night he'd treat himself to a feast. That runt would make a nice,
+tender meal."
+
+Mrs. Pig must certainly have heard--and understood--Farmer Green's
+remark. For she gave a loud squeal of alarm.
+
+"Hurry!" she begged him. "Please, Mr. Green, do find Grunty before
+dark!"
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+MR. CROW HELPS
+
+
+It was a wonder that Johnnie Green and his father ever found Grunty Pig.
+
+Soon after Henrietta Hen left him, Grunty crept out of the lane and
+wandered into the cornfield. He had an idea that Henrietta might go and
+tell his mother that she had seen him wallowing in the mud behind the
+barn. And he did not want to be dragged back to the pigpen.
+
+Grunty had no way of knowing that Henrietta Hen forgot all about him
+before she had crossed the farmyard. She fell into a loud dispute with a
+neighbor. And she never thought of Grunty again.
+
+Grunty Pig enjoyed his ramble into the field of waving corn. The corn
+was sweet; and the dirt was loose--just the finest sort to root in that
+a body could possibly want. He had the place all to himself until at
+last a black gentleman came flying up in a great hurry and ordered him
+in a hoarse voice to "get out of the corn--and be quick about it!"
+
+On him Grunty Pig tried the same trick that he had used on Henrietta
+Hen. He looked up with a stupid stare at the newcomer and said never a
+word.
+
+Old Mr. Crow--for it was he that had commanded Grunty to leave--old Mr.
+Crow abused him roundly. Mr. Crow was not empty-headed, like Henrietta
+Hen. He was not to be deceived so easily.
+
+"Why don't you answer me?" he bawled. "You make noise enough when you're
+at home. I've heard you often, way across the cornfield." Mr. Crow
+cawed so angrily that a dozen of his cronies flew over from the woods to
+see what was going on. And the whole thirteen made such an uproar that
+Farmer Green couldn't help noticing them. He and Johnnie were in the
+orchard, hunting for Grunty Pig.
+
+"Those crows are up to some mischief," Farmer Green declared. "You don't
+suppose--do you?--that they're teasing that pig?"
+
+Well, Johnnie Green was willing to go and find out. And sure enough! he
+found Grunty in the cornfield.
+
+Johnnie Green picked him up, tucked him under his arm--plastered with
+dried mud as he was--and brought him in triumph to the barn.
+
+Farmer Green laughed when he saw Grunty Pig.
+
+"He looks as if he had been enjoying himself," he remarked as he
+dropped Grunty into the pen with the rest of Mrs. Pig's children.
+
+"Are you going to feed him?" Johnnie Green inquired.
+
+Again his father laughed.
+
+"No!" he replied. "That pig has stuffed himself so full he can scarcely
+waddle."
+
+As for Mrs. Pig, she didn't know whether to laugh or to weep. She was
+glad to have Grunty safe at home again; but he was a sad sight.
+
+At first Mrs. Pig thought Farmer Green had made a mistake. She thought
+he had found somebody else's child. For Grunty was so daubed with black
+mud that she actually didn't know him until she heard him grunt. "Where
+have you been?" she asked him in her sternest voice.
+
+"I've been out in the world," he answered. "And I've had a fine time."
+
+"It's easy to see," said Mrs. Pig, "that you're a born wallower. It's a
+pity that you haven't your brother Blackie's complexion. The dirt does
+show so dreadfully on silver bristles!"
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE GRUMBLER
+
+
+All the farmyard folk agreed that Farmer Green took the best of care of
+everybody. Mrs. Pig often told her children that they were lucky to have
+so good a home. And not having lived anywhere else, they never imagined
+that anything could be finer than their pen.
+
+After the day when he escaped from the pen, however, Grunty Pig began to
+complain. He wasn't satisfied with the food that Farmer Green gave him,
+he grumbled because there was no good place to wallow in mud, and
+especially did he object because there wasn't a tree to rub against.
+"The orchard," he often said, "is a much pleasanter place than this pen
+is. There are trees enough in the orchard for every member of our family
+to rub against--all at the same time."
+
+Somehow, when Grunty talked in that fashion every one of Mrs. Pig's
+children began to crowd against the sides of the pen. And even Mrs. Pig
+herself felt an annoying tickling along her back. She did wish that
+Grunty wouldn't mention such matters.
+
+But nothing Mrs. Pig could say seemed to do any good. He was always
+prattling, anyhow. She could no more stop his flow of grunts and squeals
+than she could have kept the water in the brook from babbling down the
+mountainside to Swift River.
+
+And even more annoying to Mrs. Pig was the way her son Grunty tried to
+rub his back against _her_. She said "Don't!" to him so often that she
+became heartily sick of the word.
+
+What bothered Mrs. Pig most of all was Grunty's behavior whenever Farmer
+Green came to the pen. It was mortifying to her to have her son actually
+try to _scratch his back_ against her in the presence of a visitor.
+
+"I do hope," said Mrs. Pig to Farmer Green, "I do hope you don't think
+that I haven't tried to teach this child better manners." And then, when
+all the rest of her family began to squirm and fidget against the sides
+of the pen she added with a sigh, "Look at them! Anyone would suppose
+they had had no bringing up at all!"
+
+Farmer Green smiled as he leaned over the pen and watched the antics of
+Grunty Pig and his brothers and sisters.
+
+"There's something that I can do for your family to make them happier,"
+he told Mrs. Pig. "To-morrow--if I can spare the time--I'll make a
+change here. A lady who's raising such a fine family as yours deserves
+the best there is. She ought to have a home with every modern
+improvement."
+
+"There!" Mrs. Pig exclaimed to her children as soon as Farmer Green left
+them. "Did you hear what he said? Farmer Green is a kind man. I
+shouldn't have blamed him if he had put us into the poorest pen on the
+place, after seeing your unmannerly actions. You'll have to behave
+better--especially after we have our new improvements."
+
+Well, the next day Farmer Green brought a stout post and set it firmly
+in the center of Mrs. Pig's pen.
+
+"That's for you and your family to rub against," he informed Mrs. Pig.
+
+Really, he needn't have explained what the improvement was for. No
+sooner had he climbed out of the pen than Mrs. Pig and her children
+began to put the rubbing post to good use. Grunty was the first of all
+to try it. And to his mother's delight, he stopped grumbling at once.
+Nor did he ever again disgrace her by scratching his back against her.
+Instead, he always walked up to the rubbing post like a little
+gentleman. At least, that was what Mrs. Pig said.
+
+[Illustration: The Muley Cow Advises Grunty Pig to Go Home.
+
+(_Page 34_)]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+FEARFUL NEWS
+
+
+There came a day at last when Farmer Green gave Mrs. Pig and her family
+a great treat. He let them out of their pen and turned them loose in a
+little yard out of doors. Such gruntings and squealings hadn't been
+heard on the farm for a long time. It was just like a picnic. And
+everybody had the finest of times. Still, Grunty Pig wasn't content to
+stay in the yard with the rest of the family. It wasn't long before he
+found a hole in the fence big enough to wriggle through. And off he
+went. And he was actually glad, for once, that he was the littlest of
+the family. There wasn't another of Mrs. Pig's children that could
+squeeze through the opening.
+
+Grunty Pig trotted the whole length of the lane. When he reached the
+pasture he found himself face to face with the Muley Cow, who acted much
+surprised to see him there.
+
+"You'd better go back home at once," she advised him. "There are bears
+on Blue Mountain. Sometimes they come down this way. Only last week I
+had an adventure with one in the back pasture." She did not tell Grunty
+that she had run away from Cuffy Bear, down the hillside. "A bear," said
+the Muley Cow, "would be delighted to meet a tender little pig like
+you."
+
+Grunty Pig did not even thank the Muley Cow for warning him.
+
+"I'd like to meet a bear," he declared stoutly. "I hope I'll meet one
+to-day."
+
+Leaving the Muley Cow, he zigzagged up the hill through the pasture,
+stopping now and then to dig up many a juicy root.
+
+Although Mrs. Pig missed her runaway son after a time, she was not
+greatly disturbed.
+
+"He can't be far off," she thought. "He'll come back before dark." And
+when Grunty did at last come crawling into the little yard Mrs. Pig was
+merely vexed with him for having gone off without her consent. She was
+just about to give him a well deserved scolding. But before she could
+speak to him, Grunty greeted her with a loud squeal.
+
+"I saw a bear in the pasture!" he cried.
+
+Mrs. Pig promptly forgot her displeasure. Although her son was certainly
+unharmed, she couldn't help being startled. It gave her what she called
+"a turn" to learn that Grunty had met a bear.
+
+"A bear!" Mrs. Pig gasped. "A bear is a terribly dangerous creature.
+It's a wonder that you ever got home.... What did you do when you saw
+him?" Mrs. Pig demanded.
+
+"I walked away," said Grunty.
+
+"He couldn't have noticed you," Mrs. Pig declared. "If you had squealed
+it would have been the end of you."
+
+Grunty Pig felt that he was the most important member of the family. Not
+one of his brothers or sisters had ever seen a bear. At least they had
+never claimed to have enjoyed so fearsome a sight.
+
+"It was nothing," he boasted. "I'd as soon meet a bear as the Muley
+Cow."
+
+His mother, however, was of another mind. She kept looking about in an
+uneasy fashion.
+
+"I wish Farmer Green would come and put us into our pen," she murmured.
+"It will soon be dark. And I shouldn't like to spend the night out
+here--not with a bear in the neighborhood."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A GREAT ADVENTURE
+
+
+The next outing that Farmer Green gave Mrs. Pig's family in the little
+yard proved to be anything but a picnic--for Mrs. Pig. That poor lady
+had a dreadful time. Grunty ran away again. And he hadn't been gone long
+before his mother heard a loud squealing in the nearest field. The sound
+rapidly grew louder. And as she stood still and listened, Mrs. Pig knew
+that it was Grunty's squeal and that he was drawing nearer every moment.
+
+"Dear me!" she cried. "He must be in trouble."
+
+Soon Grunty tumbled through the fence. And scrambling to his feet he
+ran to his mother, crying at the top of his voice, "A bear chased me!"
+
+"Oh! Oh!" shrieked Mrs. Pig. "It's a mercy he didn't catch you. Oh! Oh!
+It's lucky you're no fatter, else you couldn't have run so fast." Being
+more than fat, herself, and greatly excited, Mrs. Pig had to stop
+talking for a time, because she gurgled and wheezed and panted in a most
+alarming fashion.
+
+At last, when she had somewhat recovered from her flurry, she called to
+Grunty. And looking at him severely Mrs. Pig said to him, "Let this be a
+lesson to you. Never, never stray away from the farmyard again!"
+
+"Yes, Mother!" was Grunty's glib reply. Then he sidled away. Somehow he
+felt uneasy under his mother's gaze.
+
+"Perhaps it was a good thing, after all, that the bear chased him,"
+Mrs. Pig muttered. "Maybe this fright will keep him at home."
+
+She soon discovered that it would take more than a mere fright--more
+than a command--to stop Grunty from running away. For it wasn't long
+before she missed him again.
+
+If Mrs. Pig hadn't been so upset she might have been vexed--and with
+good reason.
+
+"Oh! that dear little Grunty!" she wailed. "The bear may have caught him
+already, in the cabbage patch."
+
+Then piercing squeals fell once more on Mrs. Pig's ears.
+
+"Dear! Dear!" she cried. "I ought to have watched him. I ought to have
+kept an eye on Grunty. After all, he's little more than a baby."
+
+Again the squeals grew louder. Again Grunty Pig burst through the hole
+in the fence and romped up to his mother.
+
+"He chased me another time!" he grunted. "The bear chased me almost as
+far as the fence."
+
+"Sakes alive!" his mother shrieked. "Somebody ought to tell Farmer
+Green! This farm is not a safe place to live, with a bear prowling about
+it."
+
+"Do you want me to go and tell Mr. Green?" Grunty inquired.
+
+"_You?_" his mother exclaimed. "No, indeed! You stay right here with me!
+Don't you dare stir out of this yard!" And to Grunty's astonishment,
+Mrs. Pig bowled him right over, to show him that she meant what she
+said.
+
+He jumped to his feet in a jiffy. And he was all ready to slink away
+into a corner of the yard; but his mother bade him wait.
+
+"This bear--" she said--"what did he look like?"
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A QUEER BEAR
+
+
+Grunty Pig's little eyes fell away from his mother's when she asked him
+what the bear looked like--the bear that had chased him.
+
+"Er--he was whitish, with brown spots, like Johnnie Green's dog," said
+Grunty; "and--er--he had a long tail like the old horse Ebenezer's; and
+he had six legs."
+
+Mrs. Pig suddenly made a most peculiar sound. It couldn't be called a
+squeal, nor a grunt, nor a gurgle, nor a gasp. It was a little like all
+four. And springing clumsily upon her son, Mrs. Pig upset him before he
+could dodge her.
+
+Grunty Pig began to whimper. "What have I done?" he whined.
+
+"You've deceived me!" his mother cried. "You haven't seen a bear. You've
+never seen a bear in all your life."
+
+"Ouch," Grunty howled, as his mother sent him sprawling once more. "I
+didn't mean any harm. I was only having fun with you."
+
+"Well," said his mother. "Turn about is fair play. I'll have a little
+fun with _you_, now."
+
+Mrs. Pig gave her wayward son such a punishing that he remembered it all
+the rest of that day. At least, he stayed at home. And Mrs. Pig dared
+hope that at last she had cured him of two bad habits--running away and
+telling fibs.
+
+The next day, however, the fields called again to Grunty Pig. They
+called so plainly that he couldn't resist answering.
+
+"I'll slip away for just a little while," he said to himself. "If I'm
+not gone long no one will miss me." So when his mother was taking a nap
+he stole through the hole in the fence. "I'll be back before she wakes
+up," he chuckled.
+
+In the garden, up the lane, through the pasture he made his way. And he
+enjoyed his holiday to the full--until he remembered suddenly that he
+had been gone a long time--a much longer time than he had planned to
+spend away from the farmyard.
+
+"Oh, dear!" he whined. "Mother must be awake now; and she'll punish me
+if I go back." The more he thought about returning, the less he liked
+the idea.
+
+"I won't go home at all!" he cried at last. "I'll stay in the pasture
+the rest of my life. There's plenty to eat here; and plenty of fun,
+too."
+
+It was afternoon when Grunty Pig made up his mind that he would never
+go home. When the Muley Cow warned him once more to beware of the bears
+he actually jeered at her.
+
+"There are no bears in Pleasant Valley," he scoffed. "And you needn't
+trouble yourself to mention them again to me. I'm going to live in this
+pasture and there's no use of your trying to frighten me away."
+
+The Muley Cow said nothing more to him. She merely looked at him and
+smiled wisely.
+
+"He'll sing a different song," she thought, "when it begins to grow
+dark."
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+LOCKED OUT
+
+
+The Muley Cow was right. She had said to herself, with a smile, that
+Grunty Pig, the runaway, would be glad enough to go home when night
+came. He had decided to stay right there in the pasture for the rest of
+his life, where there was plenty to eat and plenty to do. He felt sure
+that he would have a much pleasanter time there than at home. For one
+thing, he knew well enough that there was a punishing waiting for him at
+the piggery--if he ever went back to get it.
+
+Not until Johnnie Green and old dog Spot came to the pasture to drive
+the cows down the lane did Grunty Pig begin to feel the least twinge of
+homesickness. And even then he tried to forget it. He hid in a clump of
+brakes near the fence while Johnnie Green and Spot were in the pasture,
+for he didn't want them to spy him and take him home with them.
+
+There was a delicious, damp, woodsy smell in the cool shade of his
+hiding place.
+
+"How much nicer this is than our stuffy pen!" Grunty exclaimed under his
+breath.
+
+Now and then he peeped out to watch the procession of cows moving slowly
+towards the barn to be milked. And when the last one had entered the
+lane, hurrying to catch up with the rest--and to avoid Spot's nips at
+her heels--Grunty crept out into the open.
+
+Then, strange to say, he hurried towards the lane himself. All at once
+the pasture seemed a great, lonesome place. Who knew when a bear might
+rise out of a clump of bushes near him?
+
+He was careful not to follow too closely after the herd as they
+meandered down the lane. At the same time, he was careful not to fall
+too far behind. And he took many a quick backward glance, to make sure
+no bear was creeping up on him.
+
+Not far from the barn Grunty left the lane and hurried toward the little
+yard outside the piggery, where he had run away from his mother and his
+brothers and his sisters.
+
+When he reached the fence through which he had crept while Mrs. Pig was
+enjoying a nap, he met with a great surprise. The hole in the fence was
+no more! Somebody had mended it. And there he was, outside the yard!
+
+Grunty Pig squealed for his mother. But no one answered. The fence was
+too high for him to look over it. It was too tight for him to peep
+through.
+
+"I want to get in!" Grunty cried. "Why doesn't somebody answer?"
+
+The silence from the other side of the fence was dreadful. Grunty Pig
+would have been _glad_ to have his mother scold him then, just for the
+comfort of hearing her voice.
+
+"Oh! Oh!" he wailed. "What shall I do? Whatever shall I do? Farmer Green
+must have put the family back in the pen. And I'll have to spend the
+night out here alone!"
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+WOOF!
+
+
+Night found Grunty Pig huddled close to the outside of the piggery. Many
+times he had walked around the low building, snuffing at the doors and
+trying in vain to find some opening through which he might crawl. To his
+dismay, all was snug and tight. There wasn't a hole big enough even for
+Miss Kitty Cat to creep through.
+
+Though Grunty had called a good many times, nobody had answered him.
+Inside the piggery, in their pen, Mrs. Pig and her other children were
+sound asleep. Now and then Grunty could hear a throaty snore, which he
+knew to be his mother's.
+
+"How can she sleep, when I'm missing?" he cried.
+
+Now, Mrs. Pig had been much upset by Grunty's absence. And when Farmer
+Green came to put her family into the piggery for the night she had
+tried to explain to him that Grunty had run away. Unfortunately, it
+happened that Farmer Green was in a great hurry. He didn't stop to find
+out what was troubling Mrs. Pig, but hustled her and her children inside
+and closed all the doors.
+
+Try as she would, Mrs. Pig hadn't been able to stay awake. Her eyes
+would close, in spite of all she could do. Though she slept, she dreamed
+about the truant Grunty. Now and then she cried aloud in the darkness,
+when some terrible creature seemed to be chasing him. But Mrs. Pig never
+quite waked up.
+
+Once Grunty Pig thought he heard his mother speak his name. And he
+called out in as brave a voice as he could muster, "Here I am, just
+outside the piggery! Won't somebody please let me in?"
+
+He called in vain. At last he fell asleep, for he was about as tired as
+any little pig could be.
+
+In the middle of the night Grunty Pig awoke with a start. Somebody said
+"Woof!" And somebody came sniffing and snuffing around the corner of the
+piggery. Dimly Grunty could see a dark, burly form. And he was so
+frightened that he bawled right out, "It's a bear! It's a bear! It's a
+bear!"
+
+Almost at the same instant old dog Spot ran out of his kennel, barking
+furiously. And like magic the prowler--whoever he was--vanished into the
+night.
+
+"Keep still!" Grunty's mother called to him; for the noise had half
+roused her. "Don't you mention the word _bear_ again, or I'll attend to
+you in the morning."
+
+Drowsy as she was, Mrs. Pig actually thought Grunty was right there in
+the pen with the rest of her children. And in no time at all she was
+snoring again.
+
+Grunty Pig didn't dare open his mouth nor close his eyes the rest of the
+night. And when morning came, Farmer Green found him huddled against the
+door of the piggery.
+
+It was a joyful meeting--for Grunty Pig.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+HOME AT LAST
+
+
+"What's this?" Farmer Green exclaimed, when he went to unlock the
+piggery in the morning and found Grunty Pig lying up against the door.
+"Did you get locked out last night? Was it you that old Spot was barking
+at?"
+
+Grunty Pig didn't dare answer. When Farmer Green dropped him into the
+pen he said nothing to anybody--not even "Good morning!"
+
+A little later Farmer Green found something more outside the piggery. In
+the loose dirt he discovered--bear tracks!
+
+"Aha!" he cried to his son Johnnie. "Look here! We had a visitor last
+night. It was no wonder old Spot woke us all up. A bear called on us!
+And he'd certainly have had that pig if Spot hadn't scared him off."
+
+Naturally the news soon spread all over the farmyard. And when Mrs. Pig
+heard it she began to tremble.
+
+"To think," she quavered, "that my littlest child spent the night out of
+doors, with a bear prowling about the neighborhood! And I slept through
+it all!
+
+"Tell me all about it, Grunty!" she commanded that young gentleman.
+
+It is not surprising that Grunty Pig was puzzled. Hadn't his mother told
+him, during the night, not to mention the word _bear_ again? And now she
+was urging him to talk about that very animal.
+
+"Squeak up!" said his mother sharply--which was the same as saying,
+"Speak up!"
+
+So he told his story. And when he had finished Mrs. Pig fairly covered
+him with caresses.
+
+"It seems to me--" she sniffed--for she was quite upset--"it seems to me
+that I remember your saying something about a bear last night. But I
+wasn't wide awake at the time. And I thought you were fibbing again.
+
+"Perhaps," she added, "this will teach you a few things that you needed
+to learn.... _Always mind your mother!_" said Mrs. Pig. "And _always
+tell the truth_!"
+
+Her children all repeated the words after her. And Grunty Pig's voice
+could have been heard plainly above all the rest.
+
+His mother looked at him fondly. She had always claimed that she had no
+favorite among her children. But now she couldn't help thinking what a
+promising youngster Grunty was, even if he was the runt of the family.
+
+"That's a good Grunty," said Mrs. Pig. "You won't forget this lesson,
+will you?"
+
+"No, Mother!" Grunty answered.
+
+Now, that very afternoon Mrs. Pig took it into her head to have her
+children say the morning's lesson again. So she called her youngsters
+together. And she asked Grunty the first of all to recite what she had
+taught him.
+
+"I think it was something about a bear," he stammered, "but I can't
+remember exactly."
+
+"Dear me!" said poor Mrs. Pig. "I don't know what I'll do with this
+lad."
+
+Then she asked the other children, one by one, what they had learned
+that very morning.
+
+There wasn't one of them that hadn't forgotten everything.
+
+"Dear me!" said unhappy Mrs. Pig. "I don't know what I'll do with all of
+them. But I'll treat them all alike. I have no favorite. There isn't one
+of them that's stupider than another."
+
+When Grunty Pig heard that he felt quite proud. It was something,
+anyhow, to be as stupid as the rest, even if he was smaller.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+AN ODD THOUGHT
+
+
+"Umph! Umph!"
+
+Farmer Green had fenced off a piece of the old orchard. And into this
+new yard he turned Mrs. Pig's children.
+
+"Umph! Umph!"
+
+They had a fine time there, rooting down under the sod, rubbing their
+backs against the trunks of the old apple trees, and sprawling in the
+shade when they were sleepy.
+
+"Umph! Umph!"
+
+Sometimes an apple dropped from a tree. And then there was a mad
+scramble.
+
+"Umph! Umph!"
+
+"Dear me!" said Jolly Robin's wife as she sat in the apple tree where
+she and her husband had a nest every summer. "Don't Mrs. Pig's children
+make a dreadful noise? I never knew half-grown pigs to have such loud
+voices. Their grunts certainly are full-sized."
+
+Jolly Robin, who had perched himself beside his wife, looked down at
+their new neighbors.
+
+"They're having a good time," he observed cheerfully. "We ought not to
+complain. We may be thankful that they don't climb trees and try to
+sing."
+
+Jolly Robin had a way of looking on the bright side of things. It was
+seldom that he couldn't act cheerful. Even when he felt quite
+downhearted, _inside_, he managed usually to appear happy, _outside_.
+And now his remark put his wife in a pleasanter frame of mind.
+
+"Imagine a pig up a tree!" Mrs. Robin tittered.
+
+"Umph! Umph! Are you talking about me?" a voice inquired right beneath
+them. It gave Mrs. Robin such a start that she almost tumbled off the
+limb.
+
+"No! No! We're not talking about you--not exactly!" Jolly Robin
+answered.
+
+It was Grunty Pig that had spoken.
+
+"Pardon me!" he said. "I thought I heard you mention the name, 'Pig'."
+
+"Er--yes! We did speak of your family, in a general way," Jolly Robin
+admitted.
+
+"Ah!" said Grunty Pig. "And what was it you said about us? Weren't you
+and your wife laughing about our climbing trees?"
+
+Somehow Jolly Robin thought that Grunty's little eyes had a spiteful
+gleam as he looked upward into the tree top. And Mrs. Robin couldn't
+help moving to a higher limb. Grunty's glare sent a most uncomfortable
+shiver over her.
+
+Jolly Robin tried his best to act at his ease.
+
+"It was just an odd thought that popped into my head," he assured Grunty
+Pig. "It made Mrs. Robin giggle when I mentioned it." He laughed merrily
+enough. And his wife managed to smile faintly. But Grunty Pig frowned.
+
+"I thought so!" he cried. "You Robins were poking fun at me and my
+brothers and sisters. Yes! And no doubt at my mother, too!"
+
+"Oh, no!" Jolly Robin assured him. "We weren't thinking of any one in
+particular."
+
+"Aha!" Grunty snorted. "You were laughing at all of us, then." And Jolly
+Robin could say nothing to change his opinion. "You can't fool me,"
+Grunty declared. "You have insulted my whole family. And it's time that
+you learned better manners. I see that I shall have to teach you a
+lesson."
+
+Well, when they heard that speech Jolly Robin and his wife had to laugh.
+The idea of a lesson in manners from Grunty Pig was the funniest thing
+on the farm.
+
+[Illustration: "Always Mind Your Mother," Said Mrs. Pig.
+
+(_Page 57_)]
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+GRUNTY MEANS MISCHIEF
+
+
+Jolly Robin and his wife told all their friends that Grunty Pig was
+going to teach them a lesson. The birds had many a laugh over the
+matter. Not till old Mr. Crow visited the orchard one day did the Robin
+family cease chuckling over what they called "the joke of the season."
+
+"Don't laugh too soon!" Mr. Crow croaked. "This Grunty Pig means
+mischief. He isn't going to teach you the sort of lesson you've been
+snickering about. What he intends to do is to harm you in some way."
+
+Now, nobody in Pleasant Valley could look gloomier than old Mr. Crow.
+And when he hinted darkly, in his hoarse way, that there was trouble
+ahead for the Robin family, he threw Jolly Robin's wife into a flutter.
+
+"Oh, what does Grunty Pig mean to do to us?" Mrs. Robin quavered.
+
+"I'd rather not tell you," said old Mr. Crow. "I don't want you to
+worry."
+
+Mr. Crow left them then. Of course he couldn't have chosen a better way
+to upset Mrs. Robin. Even Jolly himself had to admit after a while that
+he could think of nothing that seemed to cheer his wife in the least.
+"I'll speak to Mr. Crow again," he told his wife. "I'll ask him just
+what he meant."
+
+Alas! Mr. Crow couldn't tell him. The truth was that Mr. Crow had
+already told all he knew.
+
+"I'll ask Grunty Pig himself what he means to do to us," Jolly then
+declared to his wife. "I've noticed that he digs every day at the foot
+of our apple tree. The next time he comes here I'll have a talk with
+him." So that very day Jolly put his question to Grunty Pig.
+
+"What is it," he asked, "that you intend to do to us?"
+
+"You'll find out later," said Grunty Pig. "I expect to be in the top of
+your apple tree before fall. And then--"
+
+Jolly Robin couldn't wait for him to finish. He had to laugh right out,
+on the spot. And his wife, who had been listening eagerly, burst into
+the first giggle that had passed her bill for days and days.
+
+So Grunty Pig expected to climb a tree! Mr. and Mrs. Robin gave each
+other a merry look. It was all too funny for words.
+
+"Umph!" said Grunty Pig. "You won't laugh when I'm in your tree top."
+
+"How are you going to get up here?" Jolly Robin asked him, with a wink
+at Mrs. Robin. "Are you going to _fly_?"
+
+"No!" Grunty Pig said. "No!"
+
+"Then you're going to _climb_," cried Mrs. Robin. And both she and her
+husband choked, as they pictured fat Grunty Pig scrambling up the trunk
+of the old apple tree.
+
+"No!" Grunty Pig said. "No!"
+
+"Well, well!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. "Don't be so short with your
+answers! Explain how you expect to get up into the top of our apple
+tree."
+
+"I never said I expected to get up there," Grunty Pig corrected him.
+
+"What?" cried Jolly Robin. "What?" cried his wife.
+
+"No!" said Grunty Pig. "I said I'd be in the tree top before fall. If I
+work here every day around the foot of the tree I'll have it uprooted at
+last. And when it topples over and falls on the ground I'll have no
+trouble getting into the top of it."
+
+When they heard that, Jolly Robin and his wife stopped laughing.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+DANGER AHEAD
+
+
+Jolly Robin and his wife were terribly worried. Grunty Pig meant to
+uproot the apple tree where they had their nest. Every day he came and
+dug at the foot of the tree. Every day, just before he went away, he
+looked up at them and said, "I hope you'll sleep well to-night. You'd
+better enjoy your home while you have it, for the tree will be flat on
+the ground before fall."
+
+Sleep! Mrs. Robin complained that she never had a good night's rest any
+more. She said that she had bad dreams. She dreamed that the tree was
+falling. And then she was sure to wake up with a start. And her husband
+wasn't there to calm her, because he was roosting in a thicket over in
+the pasture with their first brood of the season.
+
+They both agreed--Jolly and his wife--that they must get their second
+brood of children out of the nest as soon as they could.
+
+"The moment they're old enough, we must teach them to fly," Mrs. Robin
+told her husband.
+
+"Yes!" he said. "And we'll have to be careful of them, too, with all
+these seven young porkers in the orchard."
+
+"Suppose--" said Mrs. Robin--"suppose Grunty Pig should bring our tree
+toppling to the ground before the children leave the nest!"
+
+"Oh! There's no danger of that," Jolly assured her. She was always
+looking on the dark side of things. But he didn't tell her so.
+
+"I don't know how we're going to be sure the children are safe," Mrs.
+Robin continued. "How long do you think it will take Grunty Pig to
+uproot our tree?"
+
+Jolly Robin had to confess that he couldn't answer his wife's question.
+
+"Then ask somebody who knows something about such matters!" Mrs. Robin
+cried. And there was a tart note in her voice that made Jolly Robin say
+hastily, "Yes! Yes, my dear! I'll go right now and find an answer to
+your question."
+
+Off he flew. And not knowing where else to go, he sat down on a bush in
+Farmer Green's garden, to ponder. Who could tell him how long it would
+take Grunty Pig to uproot the old apple tree? Although Jolly Robin
+thought and thought, he could think of no one whom he might ask. To be
+sure, there was Tommy Fox, who was known to be an able digger. But Jolly
+Robin didn't trust him. Tommy Fox was tricky. And there was Billy
+Woodchuck, who came from a famous family of burrowers. But everybody
+knew that old dog Spot had chased him into his hole that very afternoon,
+and was watching Billy's front door.
+
+While Jolly Robin sat there in the garden he happened to look down at
+the ground. And right before his eyes a long snout suddenly rose out of
+the dirt, followed by the squat form of Grandfather Mole.
+
+Jolly Robin gave a cheerful chirp. Everybody knew that Grandfather Mole
+was the champion digger of Pleasant Valley. And if he couldn't answer
+Mrs. Robin's question, then no one could.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+A PUZZLE SOLVED
+
+
+"Good morning, Grandfather Mole!" Jolly Robin called.
+
+"What!" cried Grandfather Mole. "Have I made the mistake again of coming
+up on top of Farmer Green's garden?"
+
+"You certainly have," Jolly told him.
+
+"I must be getting old," said Grandfather Mole. "I'm growing more
+careless every day. I didn't mean to dig my way above ground." And then,
+thrusting his long nose right into the dirt, he began to burrow out of
+sight.
+
+"Stop! Please stop!" Jolly Robin besought him. "I want to ask you a
+question about digging."
+
+Grandfather Mole pulled his nose out of the ground.
+
+"What's your question?" he inquired.
+
+"It's about Grunty Pig," Jolly Robin began.
+
+"I thought you said it was about digging," Grandfather Mole grumbled.
+And he started to burrow once more.
+
+"So it is!" Jolly exclaimed. "I want to know how long it will take
+Grunty Pig to dig up the apple tree where I live."
+
+Again Grandfather Mole paused.
+
+"It all depends," he muttered. "It all depends on how much of his time
+he spends at digging."
+
+"He works every day," said Jolly Robin. "A good, long while every day!"
+
+Grandfather Mole appeared to be thinking deeply.
+
+"He boasts--" Jolly Robin explained--"he boasts that he will have the
+tree uprooted before fall."
+
+"Nonsense!" Grandfather Mole snorted. "If Grunty Pig says that, he
+doesn't know much about apple trees. He may be a fair digger; but he
+must be stupid."
+
+"That's what I've always thought!" Jolly Robin exclaimed.
+
+"He can't go very deep into things, or he'd never have made such a
+boast," Grandfather Mole declared. "When Grunty Pig digs, does he dig
+right down out of sight?"
+
+"Oh, no! Never!" said Jolly Robin.
+
+"Ah! He merely scratches the surface!" Grandfather Mole remarked with a
+wise nod of his head. "Well, it's no wonder that he made such a
+mistake."
+
+"Mistake!" Jolly Robin echoed. "Do you mean that Grunty Pig won't have
+our apple tree down by fall?"
+
+"I do," Grandfather Mole answered. "The roots of a big, old apple tree
+spread out a good rod 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 given his tail a thought. So long as it
+followed him wherever he went he had been satisfied with it.
+
+[Illustration: Grunty Pig Stuck Fast in the Fence.
+
+(_Page 86_)]
+
+From that moment Grunty began to think a great deal about his tail. He
+was always turning his head to look at it, to make sure it hadn't lost
+any of its kink. Now and then he was even late for a meal, because he
+was feasting his eyes on his tail when Farmer Green came to the pen with
+food for Mrs. Pig's family.
+
+It must be confessed that Grunty sometimes boasted before his brothers
+and sisters about his beautiful curly tail. And just before meal time
+his brother Blackie was known, upon occasion, to mention the subject of
+tails. He did that in the hope that Grunty would be late at the feeding
+trough.
+
+Sad to say, Grunty Pig was fast becoming vain. He even talked about
+tails with the neighbors, taking pains to explain that his own was the
+handsomest one on the farm.
+
+Old dog Spot sniffed when Grunty boasted about his tail one day.
+
+"Why, your tail is of no use whatsoever," Spot told him. "You can't use
+it to switch a fly off your back. The Muley Cow can do that. And so can
+the old horse, Ebenezer."
+
+"Ah! But my tail is so pretty to look at!" Grunty Pig exclaimed.
+
+"You can't puff it up to show you're angry, as Miss Kitty Cat does,"
+said Spot.
+
+"Ah! But my tail has a beautiful curl!" said Grunty Pig.
+
+"You can't wag it, to let folks know you're friendly, as I can," said
+Spot.
+
+"Ah! But my tail is _so_ handsome!" Grunty Pig exclaimed.
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+DOG SPOT'S PLAN
+
+
+When Grunty Pig insisted that his own tightly curled tail was the most
+beautiful one in the neighborhood, old dog Spot yawned.
+
+"If that's the case," he remarked, "I should think you'd want your tail
+where you could see it more easily. Don't you find it a nuisance to have
+to turn your head around every time you want to look at your tail?"
+
+Grunty Pig admitted that his tail wasn't in the most convenient place in
+the world.
+
+"If Farmer Green should cut off your tail and nail it up on the outside
+of the barn," old Spot suggested, "you could look at it easily enough.
+And it would give others a better chance to see it, too. Even the people
+that drive along the road could enjoy it. Everybody spoke about the tall
+corn that we nailed to the barn last fall. And I'm sure that folks would
+admire your tail."
+
+When Spot spoke of Farmer Green's cutting off his tail, Grunty Pig
+winced. But as the old dog talked on and on Grunty forgot the painful
+part of the plan.
+
+"There's no doubt," he agreed, "that my tail would be a fine sight,
+fastened up on the barn where everybody could gaze at it. But don't you
+think, Mr. Spot, that I'd look very queer without any tail?"
+
+"N--no!" Spot told him. "N--no! I've seen plenty of pigs without tails.
+They didn't look queer at all. Really, they looked better without tails
+than they would have looked with them."
+
+Grunty Pig had listened carefully to what Spot said. Yet somehow he
+couldn't quite make up his mind to part with his beautiful tail, even if
+it would delight many more people when nailed to the outside of the
+barn.
+
+"I'd like to see one of those pigs," he said to Spot. "I'd like to see
+how they look."
+
+"That's easily arranged," old Spot told him. "I can show you a dozen of
+them--all as pink and white and happy as they can be. And not a single
+one of them with a tail!"
+
+"I'd certainly like to see them," Grunty Pig murmured.
+
+"They're a pretty sight," Spot assured him. "Don't you think you'd feel
+uncomfortable if you appeared before them with a tail? Don't you want
+to have yours cut off _before_ you go to see these tailless little
+fellows? It seems to me you'd be more at your ease. It would certainly
+be _polite_ of you."
+
+Grunty Pig, however, cared little for politeness. He said that nobody
+was polite to him. His brothers--and even his sisters--were always
+knocking him down and trampling on him.
+
+"Very well!" said Spot. "Squirm through that fence and follow me."
+
+It was a tight squeeze. When Grunty Pig was half through the hole in the
+fence he found himself stuck fast. He could move neither forward nor
+back. "Oh, dear!" he wailed. "What shall I do?"
+
+"Keep perfectly still!" old dog Spot cautioned him--as if Grunty Pig
+could do anything else. "I'll jump the fence and help you."
+
+Now, Grunty Pig thought that old Spot intended to give him a push.
+Instead, Spot nipped him smartly.
+
+It was exactly the sort of help that Grunty needed. He gave a frantic
+plunge forward and fell, sprawling, on the ground outside the yard,
+where Spot soon joined him.
+
+"It takes old Spot to hurry 'em along," said the old dog gleefully.
+
+Grunty Pig said "Umph! Umph!"
+
+Old dog Spot was not quite sure what he meant.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+A NEW KIND OF PIG
+
+
+"Stop grunting and squealing and follow me!" old dog Spot growled. And
+Grunty Pig, who had just tumbled through a hole in the fence, scrambled
+to his feet and trotted after his guide.
+
+Old Spot had promised to show Grunty a dozen pink and white pigs, all
+without tails. He wanted Grunty to see how handsome they looked.
+
+"You'll like them," Spot told Grunty over his shoulder as they jogged
+across the farmyard. "You'll ask Farmer Green this very day to cut off
+your tail and nail it up on the barn. I tell you, these pigs look
+_neat_. There's _style_ about them."
+
+"Umph! Umph!" said Grunty Pig as he shuffled along behind.
+
+"Now, I wonder what he meant by that!" Spot mused. It was sometimes hard
+to tell whether Grunty's _umphs_ stood for _yes_ or _no_.
+
+Around the corner of the farmhouse, near the woodshed door, old dog Spot
+came to a halt before a two-storied cage, the front of which was covered
+with fine-meshed wire netting.
+
+Stopping beside Spot, Grunty Pig peered inside the cage. He saw a number
+of odd little creatures running about upon the sawdust-strewn floor of
+the tiny house, one or another of them giving a faint squeak now and
+then as if ordering the two unasked callers to move on.
+
+Whoever they were, they were a bright-eyed little family. But Grunty
+Pig thought, as he stared at them, that they had a most peculiar look.
+There seemed to be something missing about them. Yet he couldn't tell
+just what it was.
+
+Together Grunty and Spot stood there, silent, for a time; until at last
+Grunty said, "Come along! Let's not stay here any longer. I want to see
+those twelve pigs without tails."
+
+Old dog Spot snorted.
+
+"You _want_ to see them!" he cried. "Well, nobody's stopping you.
+They're right here in front of you!"
+
+Grunty Pig's mouth fell open--he was so astonished. He knew, now, what
+made the little, pudgy, white strangers look so queer. There wasn't one
+of them that had even a hint of a tail!
+
+Then all at once Grunty turned angrily upon old dog Spot.
+
+"These aren't pigs!" he squealed. "You needn't think you can fool me.
+They're not pigs at all."
+
+"Oh, yes--they are!" Spot insisted. "You didn't suppose that all the
+pigs in the world were exactly like your family--did you?"
+
+Grunty didn't know what to say. He looked at the odd little creatures
+again. And then he looked at Spot once more.
+
+"If these really are pigs," he faltered, "they must be very, very young.
+They're certainly smaller than any day-old pigs I ever saw.... Maybe
+their tails haven't sprouted yet."
+
+Old dog Spot seemed to choke over something. He turned his head away for
+a moment or two before he spoke.
+
+"These pigs," he said, "won't ever have tails. Not one of them would
+know what to do with a tail if you gave him one. They don't want tails.
+They have no use for them. And now that you see for yourself how happy
+they are without tails, you ought not to delay any longer about having
+yours cut off. I hope," Spot added, "I'll see your tail nailed up on the
+barn to-morrow, where everybody can admire it."
+
+Then Grunty Pig said something that surprised him.
+
+"Why don't you have your own tail cut off?" he asked old Spot.
+
+And before old Spot could think of an answer, Johnnie Green came running
+out of the woodshed.
+
+"Get away from my guinea pigs!" he shouted.
+
+Grunty and Spot both turned and ran in opposite directions. Grunty
+didn't see Spot again for more than a week. When they did at last meet,
+old Spot never mentioned tails at all. To tell the truth, he seemed to
+feel somewhat ashamed of himself for having tried to play a trick on
+Grunty Pig.
+
+Or maybe he felt ashamed because he was caught at it.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+BEECHNUTS
+
+
+Down the hill, a little way from Farmer Green's house, a great beech
+tree stood beside the road. In the fall, when the nuts were ripe,
+Johnnie Green often visited the tree. And so did Frisky Squirrel. And
+so, likewise, did that noisy rascal, Jasper Jay. They liked
+beechnuts--all three. And somehow they got the notion that the beech
+tree belonged to them--and to nobody else.
+
+One fine, crisp fall day when Johnnie Green was in school, a fourth
+nut-lover wandered down the road, stopped right between the wheel
+tracks, and sniffed. It was Grunty Pig. "I smell beechnuts!" he cried
+with a joyful squeal. And crashing into the light underbrush along the
+roadside, he began to search among the fallen leaves with his long nose.
+
+Soon Grunty came upon a cluster of the three-sided nuts, clinging inside
+a bur that the frost had split open. He ate the sweet nuts, shells and
+all. And with many a grunt of delight he grubbed beneath the tree from
+which the nuts had fallen. His keen nose led him to burs that Johnnie
+Green had trampled over that very morning, and missed.
+
+"I wonder--" said Grunty Pig aloud--"I wonder why nobody ever told me
+about this beech tree."
+
+"Perhaps it was because you are a pig," said a voice right over his
+head.
+
+He looked up. And there on a low branch sat Frisky Squirrel. Grunty
+knew him; he had sometimes seen him around Farmer Green's corncrib.
+
+"Of course I'm a Pig," Grunty retorted. "I'm Mrs. Pig's son."
+
+"Well, Mrs. Pig's son, I notice that you have helped yourself freely to
+beechnuts."
+
+"I've eaten all I could find," Grunty told Frisky with a grin.
+
+"I don't hear any thanks," Frisky Squirrel remarked. "Don't you know
+that these beechnuts belong to me and Jasper Jay and Johnnie Green?"
+
+"Umph!"
+
+"You did?" Frisky inquired.
+
+"Umph!"
+
+"Oh, you didn't!" Frisky exclaimed. "Then I suppose I shall have to
+pardon you. But Jasper Jay wouldn't, if he caught you taking any of the
+nuts that fall from this tree."
+
+There was truth in what Frisky said. Even as he spoke a patch of blue
+flashed in the top of the beech tree. And a harsh voice sang out,
+"What's going on here?"
+
+Jasper Jay had arrived.
+
+Grunty Pig, however, did not even give Jasper a glance. Instead, he
+began nosing about for another beechnut bur.
+
+For a moment or two Jasper Jay watched him. And then Jasper began to
+squawk.
+
+"Stop that!" he ordered. "Don't you dare to take any of our beechnuts!"
+
+"Umph!" said Grunty Pig. "I can't find any more on the ground. So I
+suppose I shall have to obey him," Grunty muttered half under his
+breath.
+
+"Don't mumble! Speak up!" cried Jasper Jay. "If you have any excuses to
+make, let's hear them!"
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+JASPER JAY OBJECTS
+
+
+While Jasper Jay, in the beech tree, waited for Grunty Pig, on the
+ground, to speak up and make his excuses for taking beechnuts, a bur
+dropped from a twig and landed right in front of Grunty's nose. He fell
+upon it greedily. And, tearing it open, he devoured the nuts with
+relish.
+
+For a few moments his action struck Jasper Jay dumb. That blue-coated
+rascal turned to Frisky Squirrel, who clung to a limb near-by.
+
+"Well, did you ever?" Jasper gasped. And then, having found his voice,
+Jasper began to use it on Grunty Pig.
+
+Now, Jasper Jay was a wild fellow. He often used words that made the
+gentler folk in Pleasant Valley shudder. And he called Grunty Pig names
+that would have made many a person angry.
+
+Grunty Pig, however, never even blinked. And after a while Jasper Jay
+used up all his special words, which he generally employed at such
+times. He gave Frisky Squirrel a helpless look.
+
+"My! My! Isn't this chap thick-skinned?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I am!" cried Grunty Pig. "That's why I like to wallow in
+mud."
+
+"Ha!" Jasper Jay sniffed. And he spoke again to Frisky Squirrel. "This
+chap is thick-headed, too. I see that I'm going to have trouble making
+him understand what I say."
+
+Frisky Squirrel merely grinned at his companion.
+
+"Look here, young Porker!" Jasper called to Grunty Pig. "Doesn't Farmer
+Green feed you?"
+
+The name "Porker" made Grunty Pig look up.
+
+"I'm Mrs. Pig's son," he said. "Don't call me 'Porker'!"
+
+"Well--Pig, then!" Jasper Jay squalled. "Doesn't Farmer Green feed you?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Well, then--don't come here and take our nuts! Didn't your mother ever
+teach you that things that grow on trees--such things as nuts--belong to
+the people that live in the trees?"
+
+"Does Johnnie Green live in this tree?" Grunty Pig inquired.
+
+"He spends half his time here--or a quarter, anyhow," Jasper Jay
+grumbled. "And you may be sure he gets his share of these beechnuts.
+Goodness knows he leaves few enough for me and my friend here.
+
+"Now," Jasper Jay went on, "I want you to promise not to eat any more of
+our nuts."
+
+Grunty Pig shook his head.
+
+"I can't promise that, exactly," he said. "But I'll promise not to eat
+any that I don't find on the ground."
+
+"Huh!" Jasper Jay scoffed. "That means that you won't eat any nuts that
+you can't reach. That's no promise at all. It's nothing but a threat.
+It's the same as saying that you're going to eat every nut that drops
+off this tree."
+
+Grunty Pig made no reply. He would have wandered on, but for a fresh
+breeze that had begun to whip the branches of the beech tree. He decided
+to wait there. More burs might fall. And Grunty wanted to be on hand to
+meet them when they dropped.
+
+"Go home!" Jasper Jay shrieked at him. "Go back to your pigpen where you
+belong. We don't want you here." And he said many more things that were
+still ruder.
+
+But Grunty Pig never showed the least sign of anger. He didn't even let
+Jasper Jay know that he had heard. When the wind died down he waddled
+off down the road. And Frisky Squirrel followed him through the tree
+tops. When they had travelled out of Jasper Jay's sight and hearing,
+Frisky asked Grunty Pig a question.
+
+"I should like to know," he said, "how you managed to keep still when
+Jasper was abusing you. I know that I should have lost my temper. Can it
+be that you didn't hear what he said?"
+
+"Oh, I heard him clearly enough," said Grunty. "But there was no sense
+in my getting angry with _him_. If he had been standing on the ground
+near me he would never have dared talk to me as he did. Jasper Jay
+called me names because he was safe in the tree. If he hadn't had that
+tree to help him he'd never have dared say what he did.
+
+"To tell the truth, I am a bit out of patience with that beech tree,"
+Grunty confessed. "It played me a mean trick. And I hope there'll be a
+raging wind to-night that will rob it of every bur it has.... I'd uproot
+the beech," he added, "if I didn't like beechnuts so much."
+
+"Well, you _are_ an odd one," said Frisky Squirrel.
+
+"If everybody was as odd as I am there'd be fewer Jasper Jays in the
+world," Grunty Pig declared.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+MOSES MOUSE'S WAY
+
+
+One day when Grunty Pig was at home, in the pigpen, a squeaky voiced
+piped "Good morning!" to him. Looking up, Grunty saw a plump little
+gentleman clinging to the top board on one side of the pen.
+
+"Good morning!" Grunty answered. "May I inquire what your name is?"
+
+"I'm Moses Mouse," his caller replied.
+
+"Do you live in the piggery?--or in the barn?" Grunty asked him.
+
+"Neither!" said Moses Mouse. "I live in the farmhouse. My wife and I
+have a nest in the wall.... The cat's away," he explained. "That's why
+I decided to stroll across the yard and visit you folks out here."
+
+"Some people," said Grunty Pig, "have all the luck. You live in the
+farmhouse. Miss Kitty Cat lives in the farmhouse--when she's at home.
+And old dog Spot spends a good deal of his time there--especially in
+cold weather. It must be pleasant to have your home where there's always
+plenty to eat, whenever you happen to feel hungry."
+
+"Miss Kitty Cat and old dog Spot always fare well," Mr. Mouse admitted.
+"But I've often gone to bed half starved. Maybe you didn't know that
+Mrs. Green is terribly neat. She doesn't leave much food around for us
+Mice."
+
+"Well," Grunty remarked, "it's an honor, anyhow, to live in the
+farmhouse. You ought not to complain about the food, even if it is a
+bit scarce at times. I'd be glad to live there. And I dare say I'd find
+a plenty to eat. The farmhouse is where the sour milk comes from."
+
+"If you feel like that," said Moses Mouse, "why don't you join us? Why
+don't you come to the farmhouse for the winter, anyhow?"
+
+Grunty Pig shook his head.
+
+"No!" he said, half to himself. "No! I can't do it."
+
+"Why not?" Mr. Mouse wanted to know.
+
+"I've never been invited," Grunty told him, with something like a frown.
+
+Moses Mouse surprised him with a merry laugh.
+
+"Ho!" he exclaimed. "Neither have I. If I had waited for an invitation I
+wouldn't be living in the farmhouse. I'd have shivered my days out in
+the barn."
+
+Grunty Pig looked at his caller with growing interest. He would have
+said that so tiny a gentleman would be too timid to crowd in where he
+wasn't asked.
+
+"Don't wait any longer for an invitation," Moses Mouse urged him. "Go to
+the farmhouse and walk right in."
+
+"Oughtn't I to rap?" Grunty inquired.
+
+"Certainly not!" said Moses Mouse. "Make yourself right at home. Act as
+if the farmhouse belonged to you. That's the way I do. And nobody ever
+bothers me, except Miss Kitty Cat--or Miss Snooper, as we Mice call her.
+Even she can't drive me away from the farmhouse. I lived there before
+she ever came to Pleasant Valley."
+
+"She certainly couldn't drive me away," Grunty Pig muttered. "Besides,
+didn't you say she was away herself?"
+
+"Yes!" said Moses Mouse. "And I hope she has gone for good."
+
+"Then," said Grunty Pig, "it ought to be quite safe for me to go to the
+farmhouse. And as soon as I have a chance to get out of this pen I'll do
+as you suggest."
+
+"Good!" cried Moses Mouse. And he said that he hoped to have many a chat
+with Grunty, at the farmhouse.
+
+"Umph!" said Grunty Pig. And Mr. Mouse was much pleased, for he took
+that to mean "Yes!"
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A PIG IN THE PARLOR
+
+
+Grunty Pig had got out of his pen and out of the piggery, too. Ever
+since his talk with Moses Mouse the day before he had been hoping for a
+chance to escape. And shuffling across the farmyard somewhat
+heavily--for he was growing longer and taller and fatter every
+day--Grunty went straight to the woodshed door. It was open. And he
+walked through it. Then he clattered over the woodshed floor and peered
+into the kitchen. There was no one there.
+
+For a few moments Grunty stood sniffing in the doorway. A delicious
+odor greeted him. He wasn't sure what it was. A pan sat near the edge
+of the table. And Grunty Pig had no trouble upsetting it with his nose.
+
+Doughnuts rolled in every direction--crisp, brown, freshly fried
+doughnuts. And Grunty Pig showed that he was thoughtful. He went to the
+trouble of picking them all up off the floor. But he forgot to drop them
+back into the pan. Instead, he put every one of them into his own mouth.
+
+"That Moses Mouse was all wrong," he murmured. "He complained of the
+food here. When I see him I'll have to tell him that he was mistaken.
+Why, I never ate anything that tasted better than these rings!"
+
+After making sure that there was nothing else for him to devour in the
+kitchen Grunty Pig pushed through a door that stood ajar. He found
+himself in a long, dimly lighted hall. There were doors on both sides of
+it. Grunty nosed around each one in turn. Not till he came to the last
+of all, at the further end of the hall, did he find one that wasn't shut
+tight. This door yielded to a little gentle pushing. And Grunty then
+found himself--though he did not know it--in the parlor of the
+farmhouse.
+
+As he stood still and gazed about him, who should come stealing into the
+room but Moses Mouse.
+
+"Ah!" said Moses in a whisper. "So you've arrived at last?"
+
+"Yes!" said Grunty Pig. "Isn't this a fine pen? Now that I've come to
+the farmhouse to live I believe I'll make this pen my headquarters."
+
+"That's a good idea," Moses Mouse told him. "Farmer Green's family don't
+use it often. They seldom come here unless they have company."
+
+While he listened, Grunty Pig sidled up to a table in the center of the
+room and began, in an absent-minded fashion, to rub his back against it.
+To his surprise, the table tipped over and a lamp that had stood upon it
+crashed into a hundred pieces on the floor. Then a door slammed
+somewhere. And steps sounded in the hall.
+
+Moses Mouse tried not to look startled.
+
+"I must be going now," he said abruptly. "I'll see you later." Then he
+dashed into the fireplace and ran up the chimney.
+
+"The accident was really your fault," Grunty called to him. "If you
+hadn't talked so much I'd have noticed what I was doing."
+
+Moses Mouse, however, did not reply. And a moment later Farmer Green's
+wife appeared in the doorway. When she saw Grunty Pig she gave a scream.
+Mrs. Green couldn't help being surprised at first. But soon she began to
+laugh as if she would never stop.
+
+"A pig in our parlor!" she cried. "Who ever would have thought it?"
+
+Grunty Pig tried to explain that the broken lamp was really Moses
+Mouse's fault. But Mrs. Green wouldn't listen. She ran out of the room
+and came back at once with a broom in her hand. Then, opening the front
+door, she drove Grunty Pig into the yard.
+
+"Now, I wonder why Mrs. Green put me out of the farmhouse," he muttered.
+
+Suddenly an idea popped into his head. "It must be," he cried, "because
+I told tales. I tattled on Moses Mouse; and Mrs. Green didn't like it.
+Next time I'll be careful about what I say to her."
+
+There never was a next time. Perhaps Farmer Green took pains to keep the
+door of Grunty's pen shut. Perhaps Farmer Green made the fence outside
+the piggery "hog tight," as he would say. Or perhaps Grunty Pig grew so
+fat that he couldn't squeeze through any ordinary opening.
+
+Anyhow, Grunty never set foot inside the farmhouse again. After a while
+he didn't care. The bigger he was, the less he liked to roam about. And
+at last Farmer Green began calling him his "prize hog."
+
+So you can see how very fat he must have been.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Little Jack Rabbit Books
+
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+By DAVID CORY
+
+Author of "Little Journeys to Happyland"
+
+=Colored Wrappers With Text Illustrations.=
+
+A new and unique series about the furred and feathered little people of
+the wood and meadow.
+
+Children will eagerly follow the doings of little Jack Rabbit, and the
+clever way in which he escapes from his three enemies, Danny Fox, Mr.
+Wicked Wolf and Hungry Hawk will delight the youngsters.
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT'S ADVENTURES
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND DANNY FOX
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE SQUIRREL BROTHERS
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND CHIPPY CHIPMUNK
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE BIG BROWN BEAR
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE JOHN HARE
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND PROFESSOR CROW
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND OLD MAN WEASEL
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MR. WICKED WOLF
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND HUNGRY HAWK
+LITTLE-JACK RABBIT AND THE POLICEMAN DOG
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MISS MOUSIE
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE LUCKY
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE YELLOW DOG TRAMP
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES
+
+By DAVID CORY
+
+Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little Journeys to
+Happyland"
+
+=Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. Each Volume Complete in
+Itself.=
+
+To know Puss Junior once is to love him forever. That's the way all the
+little people feel about this young, adventurous cat, son of a very
+famous father.
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
+
+FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. IN FAIRYLAND
+
+TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND TOM THUMB
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE
+
+PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+HAPPY HOME SERIES
+
+By HOWARD R. GARIS
+
+=Individual Colored Wrappers and Colored Illustrations by=
+LANG CAMPBELL
+
+Mr. Garis has written many stories for boys and girls, among them his
+Uncle Wiggly volumes, but these books are something distinctly new,
+surprising and entertaining.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE GALLOPING GAS STOVE
+
+A tale of how Gassy mysteriously disappeared, and how he came riding
+home on the back of an elephant. It is also related how he broke his
+leg, and fed a hungry family in a cottage near a lake.
+
+
+ADVENTURES of the RUNAWAY ROCKING CHAIR
+
+Racky creaked and groaned when fat Grandma sat on him too hard. He felt
+himself ill-treated, so he vanished. He did not intend to take Grandma's
+glasses with him, but he did. And he rocked a bunny to sleep.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVELING TABLE
+
+Tippy, the table, always wanted to travel and see the world, but he did
+not know how to start. Until, all of a sudden, a diamond ring was hidden
+in his leg and a balloon carried him off through the air.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE SLIDING FOOT STOOL
+
+Just because he did not want to be used as a milking stool by the Maiden
+All Forlorn, Skiddy slid away Christmas eve. With him went Jack the
+Jumper, and they had a wonderful time in the top shop.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE SAILING SOFA
+
+Skippy always wanted to be a sailor. When the high water came in the
+spring, the sofa went sailing. He had a Rooster for a crew, while
+Tatter, the rag doll with one shoe button eye, was Captain.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+CAROLYN WELLS BOOKS
+
+=Attractively Bound. Illustrated. Colored Wrappers.=
+
+THE MARJORIE BOOKS
+
+Marjorie is a happy little girl of twelve, up to mischief, but full of
+goodness and sincerity. In her and her friends every girl reader will
+see much of her own love of fun, play and adventure.
+
+MARJORIE'S VACATION
+
+MARJORIE'S BUSY DAYS
+
+MARJORIE'S NEW FRIEND
+
+MARJORIE IN COMMAND
+
+MARJORIE'S MAYTIME
+
+MARJORIE AT SEACOTE
+
+
+THE TWO LITTLE WOMEN SERIES
+
+Introducing Dorinda Fayre--a pretty blonde, sweet, serious, timid and a
+little slow, and Dorothy Rose--a sparkling brunette, quick, elf-like,
+high tempered, full of mischief and always getting into scrapes.
+
+TWO LITTLE WOMEN
+
+TWO LITTLE WOMEN AND TREASURE HOUSE
+
+TWO LITTLE WOMEN ON A HOLIDAY
+
+
+THE DICK AND DOLLY BOOKS
+
+Dick and Dolly are brother and sister, and their games, their pranks,
+their joys and sorrows, are told in a manner which makes the stories
+"really true" to young readers.
+
+DICK AND DOLLY
+
+DICK AND DOLLY'S ADVENTURES
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Grunty Pig, by Arthur Scott Bailey
+
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