One cool bright day in early October, Dame Pig, who lived in a nice roomy pen in Farmer Allen's back yard, called her children about her, saying she had something pleasant to tell them.
They came rushing and scrambling, pushing each other this way and that, for they were very happy, active children, full of fun. There were five in all; Speckle, Tiny, Blacky, Whitey, and Trot. At length they became quiet, and drew close up to their mother, where she sat in one corner of her roomy home.
"What very dirty children," said Dame Pig. "You must all wash yourselves clean, do up your tails in curl-papers, and be sure to go to sleep on the clean straw. Then tomorrow morning, if you are very good, and your tails are nicely curled, I will take you all for a ramble in the forest, which you have often seen in the distance, when you have peeped through the boards of your home. I will give you a feast of acorns, which blew off the trees during the storm yesterday."
