skin that was
as pink, under his white, hairy bristles, as a baby's toes.
Also Squinty had the oddest nose! It was just like a rubber ball,
flattened out, and when Squinty moved his nose up and down, or sideways,
as he did when he smelled the nice sour milk the farmer was bringing for
the pigs' dinner, why, when Squinty did that with his nose, it just made
you want to laugh right out loud.
But the funniest part of Squinty was his eyes, or, rather, one eye. And
that eye squinted just as well as any eye ever squinted. Somehow or
other, I don't just know why exactly, or I would tell you, the lid of
one of Squinty's eyes was heavier than the other. That eye opened only
half way, and when Squinty looked up at you from the pen, where he lived
with his mother and father and little brothers and sisters, why there
was such a comical look on Squinty's face that you wanted to laugh right
out loud again.
In fact, lots of boys and girls, when they came to look at Squinty in
his pen, could not help laughing when he peered up at them, with one eye
widely open, and the other half shut.
"Oh, what a comical pig!" the boys and girls would cry. "What is his
name?"
"Oh, I guess we'll call him Squinty," the farmer said; and so Squinty
was named.
Perhaps if his mother had had her way about it she would have given
Squinty another name, as she did his brothers and sisters. In fact she
did name all of them except Squinty.
One of the little pigs was named Wuff-Wuff, another Curly Tail, another
Squealer, another Wee-Wee, and another Puff-Ball. There were seven pigs
in all, and Squinty was the last one, so you see he came from quite a
large family. When his mother had named six of her little pigs she came
to Squinty.
"Let me see," grunted Mrs. Pig in her own way, for you know animals have
a language of their own which no one else can understand. "Let me see,"
said Mrs. Pig, "what shall I call you?"
She was thinking of naming him Floppy, because the lid of one of his
eyes sort of flopped down. But just then a lot of boys and girls came
running out to the pig pen.
The boys and girls had come on a visit to the farmer who owned the pigs,
and when they looked in, and saw big Mr. and Mrs. Pig, and the little
ones, one boy called out:
"Oh, what a queer little pig, with one eye partly open! And how funny he
looks at you! What is his name?"
"Well, I guess we'll call him Squinty," the farmer had said. And so,
just as I have told
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