MY FRIEND THE PIG 299 
that was a long time back, when English and 
Danes were practically one people, seeing that 
Canute was king of both countries. We have since 
then adopted a different system; we now believe, 
and the results prove that we are in the right way, 
that it is best to consider the animal’s nature and 
habits and wants, and to make the artificial con- 
ditions imposed on him as little oppressive as may 
be. It is true that in a state of nature the hog 
loves to go into pools and wallow in the mire, just 
as stags, buffaloes, and many other beasts do, 
especially in the dog-days when the flies are most 
troublesome. But the swine, like the stag, is a 
forest animal, and does not love filth for its own 
sake, nor to be left in a miry pen, and though not 
as fastidious as a cat about his coat, he is naturally 
as clean as any other forest creature.” 
Here I may add that in scores of cases when I 
have asked a cottager why he didn’t keep a pig, 
his answer has been that he would gladly do so, but 
for the sanitary inspectors, who would soon order 
him to get rid of it, or remove it to a distance on 
account of the offensive smell. It is probable that 
if it could be got out of the cottager’s mind that 
there must need be an offensive smell, the number 
of pigs fattened in the villages would be trebled. 
I hope now after all these digressions I shall be 
able to go on with the history of my friend the 
pig. One morning as I passed the pen he grunted 
—spoke, I may say—in such a pleasant friendly 
way that I had to stop and return his greeting; 
