The Tale of Grunty Pig Read online

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  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

  Grunty Pig is Scolded by Henrietta Hen.

  _Frontispiece_ (_Page 17_)]

  SLUMBER-TOWN TALES(Trademark Registered)

  THE TALE OFGRUNTY PIG

  BYARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

  Author of"SLEEPY-TIME TALES"(Trademark Registered)

  AND

  "TUCK-ME-IN TALES"(Trademark Registered)

  ILLUSTRATED BYHARRY L. SMITH

  NEW YORKGROSSET & DUNLAPPUBLISHERS

  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 shewould call him "Runty." But she soon changed her mind about that; forshe discovered that even if he was the runt of the family, he had theloudest grunt of all. So the good lady made haste to slip a G in frontof the name "Runty."

  "There!" she exclaimed. "'Grunty' is a name that you ought to be proudof. It calls attention to your best point. And if you keep on making asmuch noise in the world as you do now, maybe people won't notice thatyou're a bit undersized. You certainly sound as big as any little shoteI 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 thathe would have been willing to change his name a dozen times a day forthe slight bribe of a drink of warm milk.

  His mother sometimes said that he had the biggest appetite--as well asthe loudest grunt--of all her seven children. And she was glad that heate 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 oftentold him. And then he would grunt, as if to say, "You don't need tourge me. Just give me a chance!"

  Grunty Pig soon learned that being the smallest of the family had onesad drawback. His brothers and sisters (all bigger than he!) could crowdhim away from the feeding trough. And they not only _could_; but theyoften _did_. Unless Grunty reached the trough among the first, there wasnever a place left where he could squirm in. If he tried to eat at oneend 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 tookpains to plant himself in the exact middle of the trough. Then therewould be three other youngsters on each side of him, all crowdingtowards him. And though he found it a bit hard to breathe under such asqueezing, at least he got his share of the food.

  Poor Mrs. Pig! Her children had frightful manners. Though she talkedand talked to them about not crowding, and about eating slowly, andabout eating noiselessly, the moment their food was poured into theirtrough 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 sisterstuffed themselves, he couldn't help remembering his mother's remarksabout manners.

  "It's awful to watch them!" he would gurgle. "I don't see how they canbe so boorish." He thought there was no sadder sight than his sixbrothers and sisters jostling one another over their food, while hecouldn't find a place to push in among them.

  II

  A NEW WAY TO EAT

  One thing, especially, distressed Mrs. Pig. Her children _would_ puttheir fore feet right into the trough when they ate their meals out ofit. Nothing she said to them made the slightest difference. Even whenshe 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 bouncingblack youngster who was the most unruly of the litter.

  "You're all greedy," Mrs. Pig retorted. "Do try to restrain yourselveswhen 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 yourshare whenever they can. Farmer Green furnishes enough food for you all.And if you children didn't forget your manners everybody would get hisshare--no more and no less."

  Now, Mrs. Pig was not the only one that noticed how piggish heryoungsters were at the trough. One day Farmer Green himself remarked tohis son Johnnie, as they leaned over the pen, that that litter of pigsdid beat all he had ever seen.

  "They come a-running at meal time as if they were half starved. It's awonder 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'sgetting to be the biggest. He's almost twice the size of the littlerunt."

  "The runt doesn't get his share," said Farmer Green. "We'll have to dosomething to help him, or he'll never be worth his salt."

  Grunty Pig looked up at Farmer Green and gave a plaintive squeal, as ifto say, "Hurry, please! Because I'm always hungry."

  And Blackie, his greedy brother, looked up at Farmer Green too. He saidnothing. But his little eyes twinkled slyly. And afterward he told hisbrothers 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 havemade such a silly
remark. And he soon learned that Farmer Green was morethan a match for him.

  The next day Farmer Green made a long lid that dropped over the feedingtrough and covered it completely. And in the lid he cut seven holes--onefor each of Mrs. Pig's children.

  There was no more jostling at meal time. There was a place foreverybody. And Mrs. Pig was delighted with the improvement. When FarmerGreen filled the trough, each of the children stuck his head through ahole and ate in the most orderly fashion. To be sure, there was somesquealing and grunting, and some snuffling and blowing. But it seemed toMrs. Pig that no youngsters could have behaved more beautifully.

  And Grunty liked the new way of eating, too. But Blackie made a greatfuss. He complained because he couldn't stick his nose through two holesat the same time!

  III

  THE LOOSE BOARD

  After Farmer Green put the lid with the holes in it over the top of thefeeding trough, Grunty Pig began to grow. At last he was getting as muchto eat as his brothers and sisters. And the bigger he grew, the morefood he wanted. He was always on the watch for some extra tidbit--alwaysrooting about to find some dainty that others had overlooked. Many adelicious piece of carrot, or turnip, or potato-paring rewarded him forhis eager searching.

  Still, Grunty Pig was far from satisfied. He had a great longing to getoutside the pen where he lived with the rest of Mrs. Pig's sevenchildren.

  "Out in the wide world there must be many good things to eat," hethought. "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 evercame to slip out of the pen, he intended to take nobody with him. He hadnot yet caught up with his brothers and sisters in size, even if he hadoutstripped them in the matter of brains. And he feared that any one ofthem would crowd him away from the good things that he meant to findbeyond 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 onceguessed that he could be looking for anything except something to eat.How could she know that Grunty--the littlest of the family--wassearching for a place to escape?

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

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

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

  Day after day Grunty Pig crowded against the loose board. And at lastcame his reward. Two more rusty nails gave way all at once. UnderGrunty's weight the board opened wide. And as he slipped through thespace, 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 andfound 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. Andsince he didn't know how long it would be before Farmer Green found himand took him back home, he decided that he had better make the most ofhis outing while it lasted.

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

  After a while Grunty Pig learned something. He had always supposed thathe could go on eating forever, if he were only lucky enough to have thechance. But to his surprise he found that there was a limit to theamount he could consume with comfort. He began to have a _tight_ feelingabout his waistband. At first he dared hope it would go away. But themore he ate, the worse he felt. And at last he gave a grunt ofdisappointment.

  "I can't eat any more," he whined. "Here's a whole world full of foodjust going to waste. And I can't even hold one half of it!"

  Still, there were other pleasures to be had besides eating. Gruntycrawled through the fence into the lane. And near the barn, where thecows had trampled, he beheld such beautiful, sticky, deep mud as he hadnever dreamed could be found anywhere.

  Grunty Pig gave a deep sigh of happiness as he wallowed in the mire. Helay on his stomach, he turned upon each side. He even squirmed through apuddle 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 withblack. 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 creatureknown as Henrietta Hen. She had been scratching for worms in thefarmyard. And now she came running around a corner of the barn andpeered through the fence at Grunty.

  "You careless child!" she squawked. "Stop playing in that mud! Don't youknow 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 motherknow you're here?"

  Now, Grunty Pig didn't answer a single one of Henrietta's questions. Hemerely stared at her and said nothing. So it was no wonder that shethought him stupid.

  "Poor Mrs. Pig!" thought Henrietta Hen. "It's bad enough to have a childso untidy as this youngster. But it's far worse to have a dull-wittedone."

  Then to Grunty she said sharply, "You'd better get out of that mudholeand go dry yourself in the sun."

  He actually obeyed her. And as soon as Henrietta Hen saw that he wassunning himself she walked out of sight around the barn, stopping nowand then to pick up some tidbit or other.

  "Good!" Grunty Pig grunted. "She's gone. This was the easiest way to getrid of her."

  V

  SIXES AND SEVENS

  Not until feeding time came did anyone discover that Grunty Pig was gonefrom the pen. It may seem strange that neither his mother nor any of hisbrothers and sisters missed him. But when there are seven children in afamily it is no wonder that one of them could slip away without havinghis absence noticed. It is specially easy, in such a large family, tooverlook the littlest.

  If Mrs. Pig had known there was a loose board on the pen she wouldcertainly have counted noses to find out whether her children were allsafe at home. But nobody knew about that loose board except Gruntyhimself.

  It was lucky that Farmer Green had made the lid for Mrs. Pig'schildren's feeding trough--the lid with the seven holes in it. When hepoured the children's supper into the trough and slammed down the lid hestood and watched Mrs. Pig's youngsters as they scrambled to the troughand stuck--each of them--a nose into a hole.

  All at once Farmer Green noticed something queer. "Hullo!" he cried tohis 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 hearwhat 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 ofit she wondered what he was doing. Soon he found the loose board andpushed 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 sonJohnnie. "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 ofsomething or other that she was eating. Grunty was gone! If she hadn'tspent most of the afternoon dozing perhaps she would have missed him.And poor Mrs. Pig began to reproach herself for what wasn't really herfault at all.

  "I hope you'll find him," she told Farmer Green as he drove a nail intothe loose board. "I hope you won't leave my son out to-night. There's noknowing what might happen to a child of his tender years."

  Maybe Farmer Green heard her request. Anyhow, as he handed the hammer toJohnnie he said, "Come and help me, after you put the hammer back. We'llhave to find that pig. If a bear happened to come down from the mountainto-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'sremark. For she gave a loud squeal of alarm.

  "Hurry!" she begged him. "Please, Mr. Green, do find Grunty beforedark!"

  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 andwandered into the cornfield. He had an idea that Henrietta might go andtell his mother that she had seen him wallowing in the mud behind thebarn. And he did not want to be dragged back to the pigpen.