The Pig Fairy
THE PIG FAIRY
by Pinkerton
It was a day like any other on an everyday farm. The little pig was in his sty; the great bull in his pen. The chickens were in their coop and the cows in the pasture. It was a day like any other, but something was wrong. The animals were restless. Cooped up and fenced in all around, they wanted to be free.
Of all the animals, Little Pig was most restless. His sty was very small. He longed to be free, and when darkness came, he tunneled under the sty wall and escaped.
So dark was the night that Little Pig could not see, but he was not afraid. Love’s magic ruled this wondrous night, and free he was to be.
Soon came on a pond. There still water mirrored a thousand silvery specks of light. Drawn magically in, Little Pig slid down the bank and into the cool clear water. Fish fins sprouted on Little Pig’s back and glistened like silver in the water’s depth.
Then up shot Little Pig, and at the surface, faced the sky. Vast it was … starlit, silent, deep, and endless. Right there, and just then, Little Pig was free!
Quick to the bank he paddled, scurried out and sat, gazing upward, restful at last. “Look up, Look up,” said he to himself. “The sky is there always. Look up and you are free!” And free he was; as free as he was born.
Then he remembered his friends. He had to return and set them free, but turning to go, it was too dark to see. “Oh no!” squealed the pig, but he need not have worried. A sudden flutter turned fish fins to fairy wings and Little Pig himself became a pig fairy!
“At your foot is a twig,” spoke a gentle voice. “Pick up the twig and light your way home.” Just then a thousand silvery specs of light swirled up from the pond and flew to the end of the twig he held. This glistening magical fairy-wand lighted his way back home.
In the barnyard Little Pig tiptoed to the pen where the great bull slept. “Look up,” whispered the pig, waving his sparkling wand. “The sky is always there. Look up great bull. Look up and you are free.” The bull’s eyes opened to the vast expanse, and like his little friend, he was free.
Then Little Pig tiptoed to the pasture, waved his sparkling wand above the cows and whispered: “Look up my friends! The sky is always there and you are free.” The cows’ eyes opened to the wondrous sight, and like the little pig they were free.
Then to the coop in silence he went. “Look up my friends! The sky is always there and you are free.” The chicks’ eyes opened wide. They too were free.
Now Little Pig was happy, his work complete. He tiptoed to the sty, tossed his wand over the wall and tunneled back in. The wand landed upright in the mud, and Little Pig lay and slept in the glow of its glistening light.
Next morning when the farmer came, everything looked the same as always. The little pig was in his sty. The great bull was in his pen; the cows in the pasture; the chickens in their coop. Everything looked the same that day, yet something was different. No longer were the animals restless. The pig had set them free.
Tired from his busy night, Little Pig slept into the morning. “Strange to be sleeping so late,” thought the farmer passing the sty. Looking closer he saw the twig. “Strange to see a twig standing upright in a sty,” he thought. Then under the mud that coated Little Pig he saw something stranger still. “Mother, come quick,” he shouted! “The pig has wings!”
After that day people came from all around to see the amazing sight. They wondered about the remarkable pig, but no one ever guessed he was a pig fairy. Who could imagine such a thing? Little Pig’s wings were never explained.
“If only they knew,” mused Little Pig, smiling sweetly. “If only they knew.”
o - o - o
