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; 



