leave him vaguely
dissatisfied with his company, so that he would remove the straw from his
mouth and gaze after them, wondering what it would be like to have as
little regard for a swineherd as they. But when they were out of sight,
he would replace the straw in his mouth and fall with great diligence to
the counting of his herd and such other duties as are required of the
expert pigtender, assuring himself that, if a man could not be lively
with one hundred and forty-one companions, he must indeed be a
poor-spirited sort of fellow.

Now there was one little black pig for whom Hi-You had a special
tenderness. Just so, he often used to think, would he have felt towards
a brother if this had been granted to him. It was not the colour of the
little pig nor the curliness of his tail (endearing though this was), nor
even the melting expression in his eyes which warmed the swineherd's
heart, but the feeling that intellectually this pig was as solitary among
the hundred and forty others as Hi-You himself. Frederick (for this was
the name which he had given to it) shared their food, their sleeping
apartments, much indeed as did Hi-You, but he lived, or so it seemed to
the other, an inner life of his own. In short, Frederick was a soulful
pig.

There could be only one reason for this: Frederick was a Prince in
disguise. Some enchanter--it was a common enough happening in those
days--annoyed by Frederick's father, or his uncle, or even by Frederick
himself, had turned him into a small black pig until such time as the
feeling between them had passed away. There was a Prince Frederick of
Milvania who had disappeared suddenly; probably this was he. His
complexion was darker now, his tail more curly, but the royal bearing was
unmistakable.

It was natural then that, having little in common with his other hundred
and forty charges, Hi-You should find himself drawn into ever closer
companionship with Frederick. They would talk together in the intervals
of acorn-hunting, Frederick's share of the conversation limited to
"Humphs," unintelligible at first, but, as the days went on, seeming more
and more charged with an inner meaning to Hi-You, until at last he could
interpret every variation of grunt with which his small black friend
responded. And indeed it was a pretty sight to see them sitting together
on the top of a hill, the world at their feet, discussing at one time the
political situation of Milvania, at another the latest bal