STORY I

CURLY TWISTYTAIL IS NAMED


Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, in the days when there
were fairies and giants and all things like that, there lived in a
little house, on the edge of a wood, a family of pigs. Now these
pigs weren't like the pigs, which perhaps you children have seen on
most farms. No, indeed! They were just the nicest cleanest, sweetest
pigs you ever dreamed of--not that pigs on a farm can't be clean, if
they want to, but, somehow or other, no one seems to have time to
see that they are clean. I guess it would take some one like Jennie
Chipmunk to sweep and dust their pen for them.

Anyhow the pigs I am going to tell you about were very different
from most pigs, and they had some very funny adventures.

First, there was the papa pig, and his name was Mr. Archibald
Twistytail though no one ever called him anything but Mr. Twistytail
except maybe his wife, when he forgot to bring up a scuttle of coal
so she could do the washing. And then, of course there was Mrs.
Twistytail--she was the mamma pig. And there were two little boy
pigs, and for a time they didn't have any names, as their papa and
mamma were so busy that they couldn't think what to call them. So
they just said "Here sonny!" or "Hi, Bubby," whenever they wanted
them to come in, or eat their dinner.

One of these little boy pigs always wore short trousers with stripes
painted on them, and the other little piggie chap's trousers were