he see come trotting down the garden path toward him but a little sniffing, squealing pig, poking his snout into everything and gobbling it up!
Now, how he came to know it the little Pumpkin Seed never could tell, but all of a sudden he sang out:
"I'm for your betters,
Not you, piggy wig,
When juicy I've grown
And round and big;
Then I'll change into something
Which winks and blinks
And with boys and girls
Plays high jinks;
But when I'm out,
Snip, snap, snout,
You may have me,
It's your turn to shout."
The little pig was so astonished that he stood straight up on his hind legs and curled his tail in a tight knot, for all the world as if he were a performing pig in a circus. When he was firm on his legs again, he was just going to open his mouth, when he saw the farmer coming down the path, so he ran squealing from the garden. Some Dwarf Roots who tell the story say he was going to gobble up the little Pumpkin, and others say he was going to answer in pig's rhyme:
