Pigs in a farm
Peter stirred himself from bed very early in the morning. After his morning devotion, he came out to the fields to feed the pigs.
He held his coat closer as
It was biting cold. He dropped the food for the pigs, watching them eat while his stomach throbbed.
He carried a pail of water to
the shed and spent the rest of the morning cleaning the pigs shed. He felt tired and hungry.
‘Are you done yet?’ It was the farm owner, Mr Walker
‘Yea’ Peter nodded
He looked over his work slowly. ‘ That sow looks like it would soon give birth’ He said. ‘Watch it carefully’
‘Yes, sir’
Mr Walker handed him a plastic pack of cooked noodles.
‘Go eat’ He said.
Peter waited for the master to leave then he tore the packet open and began to wolf down the spicy tasting noodles. It badly filled his tummy.
After his meal, he lifted a wheel barrow with wood to the wooden fence surrounding the farm to repair a broken part. It was hard work all day.
The day passed pretty much the same.
Everyday was always like this ,he admitted to himself as he let himself into the shed where he lived. His stomach was throbbing again.
He had only been eighteen when his parents died in a fire and he had come to live and work in the farm. He had worked hard all day, hoping things would change, that someone would lend him a helping hand and things would change but everything had remained the same for the last six years.
Now he was twenty-four and he had nothing to show for himself.
He looked at himself in the wall
mirror and signed. He was very thin, with a long oval face and blonde hair.
He felt tears spill from his eyes as it did every night. He felt so alone ever since his parents died. He longed for a better life and a family of his own.
He knelt down on the floor of his tiny shed and prayed. ‘I thank you, Lord for all your love and mercy, please help me have a better life’
He got off feeling a lot better and went to bed.
They next day, he got called to the main house to receive his pay of three pound a month.
‘Thank you very much, sir’ He turned and was making for the pig shed when a thought came to him.
‘Why not save a pound every month for a year and buy a pig of your own’
It was a great idea. But a pound a month

was one third of his tiny salary. And he was poor and often hungry. Could he really save it?
During the next year, he went without as
much as he could. On December, he counted the twelve pounds over and over again.
‘I did it’
Then he went to Mr Walker. ‘Can I buy a pig with the money I have saved?
Mr Walker looked surprised at this. It was something new. ‘Yea, you can buy one’
Peter choose a fat female sow for himself and tied it near his shed. In the afternoon when his meal came, he fed her half of the meal.
Months passed by. Peter paid for her to mate and she fell pregnant.
One day, she fell into labour.
‘You can do it’ He held on to the animal as it bore piglet after piglet.


There were seven piglets born. Peter
wept with joy.
Everyday, he returned from work and the piglets surrounded him. He played with them and fed them.
The piglets were weaned and they grew older quickly.
Three years later, he had twenty young piglets.
He took ten of them to the market on a fine Thursday to trade. A lot of shoppers were around as it was a fine, warm day. ‘Ten young piglets for a hundred pounds and ten’ he called, reducing the price by ten pounds.
There was a rush as shoppers flocked around.
‘I take it, I take it’ came several shoppers.
Peter choose the oldest, a red haired man. ‘Thank you, sir’ he said when he received the money.
Peter went to Mr Walker. ‘I am here to take leave of my job, Sir, thank you for all the help you have given me since my parents died’
The man’s face softened for the first time. ‘Take care, my son’
He spent the rest of the day
searching for a new home. Finally, he bought a tiny hovel for a ninety pounds. He gathered his few belonging , his clothing and the rest of his pigs from Mr Walker farm and moved to his new shack.
Every morning, he woke up early just like in Mr Walker home and fed his pigs. They grew up big and strong.
Soon his piglets grew up and gave birth again. Soon, he had fifty young piglets.
He went to the market and sold half of them. With most of the money, he called a few builders.
‘Build a small shed for my pigs’ he told them. A shed was built just behind his house.
Within another year, he bought a small pig farm.
The former owner had a young daughter, Mercy.
‘It is nice for you to pay such a good price for my father farm’ she told him. They wanted to move to the city as they were destitute.
‘Why don’t you stay on and work on my farm’ He asked them.
The old man,Seth was in tears. ‘Thank you so much’
Every morning, Peter and Mercy went out to take care of the pigs. They fed and cleaned them.
The pigs grew and soon the farm was filled with pigs.
‘I can’t believe you have become so rich’ Mr Walker came by for a visit.
That day, Mercy was sweeping the pigs stall when Peter went to her.
He knelt down. ‘Will you marry me, Mercy’ he asked.
She nodded in tears. ‘ Yes, yes’
They were married a month later. And they lived happily ever after.