A Pig Called Harriet
by
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One sunny morning she was nowhere to be seen. I think the stable staff were pleased about this, because things were always more peaceful when she wasn't around, but because she was usually up to some sort of mischief whenever she was out of sight, I went in search of her. As I went through the field gate and looked across the paddocks, I saw her standing in one of the horses' drinking troughs with our mare Bounty and her foal, staring down at her, probably wondering how she came to be in there. I grabbed a lead rope and hurried to try and pull her out, but in spite of her seeing me coming, and probably realizing she would be in trouble, she made no effort to climb out of it. When I reached her, I found that she couldn't have moved even if she had wanted to, because she had become firmly wedged in it. I clipped the rope onto her collar and tried to pull her out but couldn’t move her at all. All that happened was that it made Harriet squeal so loudly, that Anthea heard this and came over to find out what all the noise was about, followed by Tiggy Tugwell, who never wanted to miss out on anything that looked as if it might be exciting. Now we had to decide how to get Harriet out of the trough. ‘We can't lift her out of the trough because she is too big and heavy.’ Anthea decided. ‘You're right.’ I replied. ‘But what do you suggest that we should do?’ ‘If I pull her forward with the rope while you push her from behind, hopefully she can get to her feet and climb out of the trough by herself.’ she suggested. So we tried that, but all that happened was that Harriet refused to budge and started complaining even more bitterly. Meanwhile, Tiggy Tugwell, who had been watching what was going on and was barking excitedly, decided to try and help, so went around to the back of Harriet and gave her a sharp nip on her fat rump. As she did this, Harriet jerked forward and upwards, and as Anthea pulled on the rope with a big heave, she was able to jump out and land on her feet. Relieved to be free again, she pulled the rope out of Anthea’s hands and raced back towards the stables with Tiggy Tugwell in hot pursuit, barking furiously. Worried, because we had no idea where she was heading for, we hurried after her. Fortunately she had rushed through the open door into her stable, where we found her snorting and grunting angrily as she faced Tiggy Tugwell who was still barking at her. We hoped that this unpleasant experience might have taught her a lesson and that she would keep out of the horse’s water troughs in future.
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About the Book
As I peered over the stable door, it let out a shrill squeal. I was horrified at what I saw.
The morning had started peacefully down at the stables. The horses were quietly munching hay, the staff were busy about their stable duties. As everything was running smoothly, I went to the shops. On my return, strange sounds were coming from the stables. I hurried to investigate. Horses were snorting and whinneying, our dogs were barking outside a stable door, excited by the horrendous squeals coming from within.
I couldn't believe my eyes! Lying on the straw bed was a green box labelled "K Shoes" and sprawling by it was the tiniest pink piglet, squealling loudly. However did it get there? No one had seen a stranger enter the stable yard, neither did we know any local farmers who might have done such a strange thing. This was a riding centre, so whatever could we do with a piglet? How could we rear it with the horses who had never seen one before?
Faced with this dilemma, read this true story to find out what happened next.
Illustrated by 20 gorgeous colour plates created by artist Sian Rosamund.
About the Author
Justine Dowley-Wise was born in
It was in
Sadly, because of the tumultuous upheaval caused during the partition of
Now in her 80s, she lives in