The Thirteen Little Black Pigs, and Other Stories. Molesworth Mrs.

"promise me that neither of you will look out of the window to-morrow morning before you see me. Then if it is really a fine mild day, the doctor says you may both go a little walk."

      "Oh, how nice!" interrupted the little prisoners. "And I will take you myself," their mother went on. "Immediately after your dinner – about two o'clock will be the best time. And we will see if we can't settle the question of the thir – no, I had better not say how many – of the little black pigs, in a satisfactory way."

      Mamma smiled at the children – her smile was very nice, but there was a little sparkle of mischief in her eyes too. And I may tell you, in confidence, though she had not said so to Max and Dolly, that that afternoon she had passed Farmer Wilder's when she was out walking with their father, and had stood at the gate of the very field which the children saw from the nursery window, where the little black pigs were gambolling about. And Farmer Wilder had happened to come by himself, and he and his landlord – the children's father, you understand – had had a little talk about pigs in general, and these piglings in particular. And so mamma knew more about them than Max and Dolly had any idea of.

      How pleased they were when they woke the next morning to think that they were really going out for a little walk – out into the sweet fresh air again, after all these weary dreary weeks in the house. And it was really a very nice day; there was more sunshine than had been seen for some time, so that at two o'clock the children were all ready – wrapped up and eager to start when their mother peeped into the nursery to call them.

      At first the feeling of being out again was so delicious it almost seemed to take away their breath, and they could not think of anything else. But after a few minutes they quieted down a little, and walked on with their mother, one at each side.

      "We kept our promise, mamma," said Dolly, "we didn't look out of our windows at all this morning. Nurse let us look out of the night nursery one for a little – it's turned the other way, so we couldn't see the pigs."

      "But we'll have to see them in a minute," said Max, "when we come out of this path we're close to the gate of the big field, you know, mamma."

      "I know," said mamma, "but I want to turn the other way – down the little lane, for before we go to the field to look at the pigs, I want to speak to Farmer Wilder a moment."

      A few minutes brought them to the farm, and just as they came in sight of it, Mr. Wilder himself appeared, coming towards them. Max and Dolly started a little when they first saw him; something small and black was trotting behind him – could it be one of the piglings? Their heads were full of little black pigs, you see. No, as he came nearer, they found it was a small black dog – a new one, which they had never seen before.

      "Good morning, Mr. Wilder," said their mother, "that's your new dog – Max and Dolly have not made acquaintance with him yet. 'Nigger,' you call him? He's a clever fellow, isn't he?"

      "A bit too clever," replied the farmer. "He's rather too fond of meddling. Yesterday afternoon he got into the big field where we'd just turned out all the little black pigs, and he was chasing and hunting them all the time."

      "They'll not get fat at that rate," said the children's mother, smiling. "What a lot of them there are – twelve, didn't you say, yesterday?"

      "Yes – a dozen – nice pigs they are too," said the farmer, "perhaps it would amuse the children to see them – black pigs are rare in these parts."

      He turned towards the field, Max, Dolly and their mother following.

      "Mamma," said Max, eagerly, "did you hear? There's only twelve."

      "But I saw thirteen," said Dolly.

      "Yes," said mamma. "You were right as to the number of pigs, Max, but Dolly was right as to the number of black creatures she counted, for Nigger was there. So you were wrong in your counting, Max, and Dolly was wrong in the number of pigs, and so – "