The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

GREEK LEGEND

FROM ANCIENT TIMES ONWARD, IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN THAT PIGS COULD BE
TRAINED TO BECOME HOUSEHOLD PETS. IT IS SAID ALSO THAT IF PIGS
WERE KEPT LEAN AND STRONG, THEY WOULD BE CAPABLE OF SWIMMING FAIRLY
LONG DISTANCES. HISTORY RECORDS THAT THE PIRATES WHO LIVED ALONG
THE SOUTHERN SHORE OF CILICIA IN ASIA MINOR AND IN PHOENICIA WOULD
RUTHLESSLY PLUNDER THE MANY SMALL ISLANDS IN THE AEGEAN SEA. ODDLY
ENOUGH, THESE PIRATES, ALTHOUGH CONSTANTLY AT SEA, RARELY LEARNED
TO SWIM. FROM THIS GREW A LEGEND IN GREECE ABOUT THREE BOYS WHO
LIVED ON AN ISLAND IN THE AEGEAN SEA.
THEY WERE SWINEHERDS WHO EARNED THEIR DAILY BREAD AND CHEESE BY
TENDING THE PIGS OF A WEALTHY PRINCE OF THE MAINLAND. THE YOUNG
BOYS LEARNED THEIR PIGS WERE VERY CLEVER AND COULD BE TAUGHT
TRICKS. DIFFERENT PIGS LEARNED DIFFERENT TRICKS, BUT ALL THE PIGS
LEARNED ONE PARTICULAR TRICK, TO ANSWER A CALL ON THE BOYS' PIPES.
IN RETURN, THEY RECEIVED A SPECIAL FOOD TREAT.
LIFE ON THE ISLAND WAS PEACEFUL AND HAPPY, UNTIL ONE DAY A WILD
STORM BLEW A STRANGE SHIP CLOSE TO SHORE. IT WAS A PIRATE SHIP.
THE BOYS TRIED TO HIDE THE PIGS, BUT THE PIRATES FOUND THEM ANYWAY.
THE BOYS WRE SAD UNTIL ONE OF THEM REALIZED MAYBE THE PIGS COULD BE
SAVED. THE BOYS TOOK OUT THEIR PIPES AND BLEW THE SAME THREE NOTES
THEY ALWAYS DID FOR THE SPECIAL TREAT. THE PIGS HEARD AND KNEW
JUST WHAT TO DO. THEY RAN TO THE SIDE OF THE SHIP CLOSEST THE
SHORE. THE SUDDEN SHIFT IN WEIGHT MADE THE SHIP TIP TO ONE SIDE,
FIRST, JUST A LITTLE, THEN MORE AND MORE. WATER STARTED TO RUSH
IN OVER THE SIDES. THE SHIP BGAN TO SINK. THE CREW COULDN'T SWIM:
THEY FLOUNDERED IN THE WATER FOR A FEW MINUTES, THEN ALL THAT WAS
LEFT WAS A BIG RING OF BUBBLES IN THE BLUE SEA. THE PIGS SWAM
SWIFTLY TO SHORE AND THE BOYS REWARDED THEM WITH A VERY SPECIAL
TREAT.

Submitter comment: INFORMANT READ THIS IN "PIGS AND PIRATES" BY DAVID WHITE, NEW
YORK, 1969.

Where learned: NEW YORK CITY ; NEW YORK

Date learned: 00-00-1969