FIVE LITTLE PIGS

Tommy Tucker and Mary had been busy all day helping Grandpa Hall pick apples.

Now the supper dishes were done and the lamp was lighted.

“Tell us a story, Grandma,” they begged.

“What shall I tell you?” said Grandma.  “Shall I tell you about ’The Three Bears,’ or ‘Tom Thumb,’ or ’Red Riding Hood’?”

“Tell us a new story, please,” said Mary.

“Well, I will tell you the story of the ’Five Little Pigs’.”

“What five little pigs?” the children asked at the same moment.

“You know,” said Grandma.

 “This little pig went to market,
  This little pig stayed at home,
  This little pig had bread and butter,
  This little pig had none,
  This little pig cried, ’Wee, wee, wee! 
     ‘I can’t find my way home!’”

“Is there a story about those little pigs?” asked Mary.  “I know I should like that.”

So Grandma Hall told the children this story: 

Once upon a time there was a mother pig and she had five little pigs.

They were the very prettiest little pigs you ever saw.

They were every one white, with pretty pink noses and very curly tails.

Perhaps the mother pig tied each little tail up at night to make it curl more tightly.

Curly and Whitey, Pearly and Twisty, and Baby, were the names of the five little pigs.

One day the mother pig said to Curly:  “You must go to market to-day, my son.  I want a nice big cabbage for my soup.”

So this little pig went to market.

The market was not very far away,—­just down the road and across the field to Grandpa Hall’s cabbage patch.

“Be sure and get a good large one,” said the mother pig, as Curly trotted away.

“Oh, Mother,” said Whitey, “may I go to market with Curly?”

“No, Whitey,” said his mother, “I want you to stay at home and take care of Baby.

“I shall be very busy all the morning.

“You may take Baby out into the yard and play with her.”

So this little pig stayed at home.

Whitey took Baby and went out into the yard.

Pearly and Twisty were out there, but they were not playing.

I am sorry to have to say that they were quarrelling, for one little pig had some bread and butter and the other little pig had none.

After a while the two little pigs stopped quarrelling, and then they all began to play together.

First they played tag, then they played hide and seek.

“Oh, there is Curly!” said Whitey.

“See what a big cabbage he has!”

Sure enough, Curly was coming down the road with a cabbage as big as his own head.

Mother Pig took the cabbage and put it into her soup.

Oh, how good the dinner did smell to the hungry little pigs!

“Come to dinner, children,” called their mother at last; and then what a scampering there was!