302 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



whole bunch ; then turning round, he went back 

 to his bed with a little grunt to say that I was now 

 at liberty to go on to the cows and horses. 



However, on the following morning he hailed my 

 approach in such a lively manner, with such a note 

 of expectancy in his voice, that I concluded he had 

 been thinking a great deal about elder-berries, and 

 was anxious to have another go at them. Accord- 

 ingly I cut him another bunch, which he quickly 

 consumed, making little exclamations the while 

 " Thank you, thank you, very good very good 

 indeed ! " It was a new sensation in his life, and 

 made him very happy, and was almost as good as 

 a day of liberty in the fields and meadows and on 

 the open green downs. 



From that time I visited him two or three times 

 a day to give him huge clusters of elder-berries. 

 There were plenty for the starlings as well ; the 

 clusters on those trees would have filled a cart. 



Then one morning I heard an indignant scream 

 from the garden, and peeping out saw my friend, the 

 pig, bound hand and foot, being lifted by a dealer 

 into his cart with the assistance of the farmer. 



" Good-bye, old boy ! " said I as the cart drove 

 off ; and I thought that by and by, in a month or 

 two, if several persons discovered a peculiar and 

 fascinating flavour in their morning rasher, it 

 would be due to the elder-berries I had supplied to 

 my friend the pig, which had gladdened his heart 

 for a week or two before receiving his quietus. 



