Then, as Tom saw the playing did no good, he thought he would sing
also, and therefore he began bawling, at the top of his voice,
"Over the hills, not a great ways off,
The woodchuck died with the whooping-cough!"
The farmer had stopped sawing to rest, just then; and when he heard
the singing he rushed out of the shed, and chased Tom away with a big
stick of wood. The boy went back to his father, and said, sorrowfully,
for he was more hungry than before,
"The farmer gave me nothing but a scolding; but there was a very nice
pig running around the yard."
"How big was it?" asked Barney.
"Oh, just about big enough to make a nice dinner for you and me."
The piper slowly shook his head;
"'T is long since I on pig have fed,
And though I feel it 's wrong to steal,
Roast pig is very nice," he said.
Tom knew very well what he meant by that, so he laid down the pipes,
and went back to the farmer's house.
When he came near he heard the farmer again sawing wood in the
woodshed, and so he went softly up to the pig-sty and reached over and
grabbed the little pig by the ears. The pig squealed, of course, but
the farmer was making so much noise himself that he did not hear it,
and in a minute Tom had the pig tucked under his arm and was running
back home with it.
The piper was very glad to see the pig, and said to Tom,
"You are a good son, and the pig is very nice and fat.
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