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Updated: May 10, 2025
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.
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."
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.
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?
He had bought her from the Minnetarees and how much he paid in trade is not stated, but she was the daughter of a chief and rated a good squaw. Toussaint had another wife; he needed a younger one. Therefore he bought Sacagawea, to mend his moccasins and greet him with a smile for his heart and warm water for his tired feet. His old wife had grown rather cross and grunty.
"This bear " she said "what did he look like?" 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 was a joyful meeting for Grunty Pig. "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!"
He was running towards the hidden game, in the thicket, when that queer grunty growl made him stop short. The next moment, not ten feet in front of him a shaggy form rose up out of the tangle and glared straight at him. It was a bear! When the bear rose out of the bushes and looked at him and said "Woof!" too Johnnie Green did not bellow as the Muley Cow had. But he turned and ran.
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.
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?"
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