ONCE upon a time there was a big pasture in which were kept many horses and cattle and pigs. The pigs were very greedy, and the horses and cattle were not on good terms with them. At last one of the horses said: “Let us have a peace meeting and invite to it all the animals that feed in this pasture. Perhaps it will enable us to settle our quarrels with the pigs, and establish more friendly relations with them.”
“Yes,” said a cow, “I wish we might have peace with those pigs. They are always taking our food, drinking our water, and rooting up our nice, green grass. But it is also true that our own calves and colts have hurt many of the young pigs. This trouble and fighting are not right, and we know that our master wishes us to dwell peaceably together.”
So it was agreed that there should be a peace meeting, and a small and gentle cow was sent to invite the pigs to attend. As she approached the pigs’ yard, the young pigs jumped up and grunted: “What are you coming here for? Do you want to fight?”
“No, I don’t want to fight,” responded the cow. “I was sent here to invite you to a peace meeting. Will you come?”
The pigs talked the matter over, and one of the old pigs said: “Maybe they will have some good things for us to eat at this meeting. I think we should go.”
That decided them, and they told the cow they would be present at the meeting.
The day for the gathering came, and the pigs were among the first at the appointed place. Presently, when all was ready, the leader of the cows addressed the pigs, saying: “We think there should be no more quarrels in this pasture. Will you agree not to spoil our grass or eat our food? If so, we will promise that none of the horses and cows, old or young, shall hurt your children, and all the former enmity shall henceforth be forgotten.”
Then a young pig stood up to reply. “This big pasture,” said he, “belongs to our master, and not to you. We pigs cannot go outside of the fence to other places for food. Every day our master sends servants to feed us and to clean our pen. In the summer they fill a pond with fresh water for us to bathe in. We take your food only after you have finished. It would spoil on the ground if we did not. Do our people ever hurt your people? No, and yet each year some of our children are killed by bad horses and cows.
“Is it your belief that our master regards you more highly than us? Consider a moment how he treats our people, and how he treats you. He never makes us work as he does the horses and oxen. No, he gives us plenty of food and lets us play and take our ease day in and day out the whole year through. Surely that is because he likes us best. The horses and oxen are at work constantly. Some pull wagons, others plough the land, and they rarely are given any time to rest except at night.
“But our life is one of comfort and leisure. Observe how fat we are. You never see our bones. Look at the old horses and the old oxen, and notice how lean they are, and how their ribs show! And is it any wonder after twenty years of work and no rest? I tell you our master does not honor the horses and oxen as he does the pigs. That is all I have to say. Have I not spoken the truth?”
The leader of the cows shook her head sadly, and said, “Moo, moo!”
The tired old horses groaned, “Huh, huh!” but could think of no reply to the pig’s argument.
Then the cow leader said: “Why should we discuss things about which we know nothing? We do not seem to understand our master. The meeting is ended.”
On their way home the little pigs made a big noise, and each said gleefully, “Wee, wee! We won, we won!”
The old horses and oxen discussed the subject among themselves, but they arrived at no conclusion. “Certainly we are stronger, wiser, and more useful than the pigs,” they said. “Why does our master treat us so?”
