a story

stories, parables & verse

Braffolo the pig went round every day, cussing the other pigs in the muddy wallow for being so filthy. "You are, all of you, Filthy Pigs!" He would shout many times a day. Every day. On rainy days. On sunny days. On cloudy days, and even on snowy days.

If another pig ever touched him, he would go into a long tirade about how stinky, dirty and filthy they all were. If another pig ever spoke to him, he would shriek at the top of his voice and run all around, trying to shout down the other's voice. Braffolo complained that the very sound of a pig’s voice was itself just awful.

Braffolo continued this way for a long time. Day after day, he cursed the others for being pigs, for being dirty, for being so odious and vile. It was almost bad enough, he said, to make him lose his appetite completely.

But then one day the farmer’s little girl, Katie, dropped her small mirror while carrying all her dolls and other toys back to the farmhouse. The mirror fell on the soft grass just outside the pen and the pigs’ wallow. Braffolo noticed the pretty shining thing in the grass and went over to take a closer look.

Stretching his neck, he stuck his head through the boards and looked down at the pretty little mirror. He was astonished to see the blue sky and the clouds moving overhead reflected in the small glass. Then he also saw a large blue jay reflected in the glass as it flew over. And stepping closer, he finally saw his own face. Yuck!

Jumping back, he wondered how such an ugly, fat pig could get so close to him there, between him and the shiny mirror on the ground. He went over and looked again. And there again he was shocked to see the filthy pig nearly bumping noses with him. Oh! How awful!

Just then, Katie ran back outside and along the way she had gone before. Suddenly she stopped and grabbed the little mirror. Looking into it, she scolded herself for being so silly, almost losing her mirror. And then she noticed Braffolo watching her. So she giggled and stuck the mirror down close to him, so he could see himself. The pig jumped back but stared at the reflection.

"Look, Piggy!" She said, laughing. "See your muddy piggy face?" Then she snatched it back and ran back into the house, holding the mirror very close, so as not to drop it ever again.

Braffolo didn’t move for a long time. He was stunned as a new understanding slowly dawned on his piggish little mind.

"I too am a pig, and as filthy as all the rest,” he said to himself. And from that day on, Braffolo never said another cross word to any of the other pigs.

			short story