I lived in DC when I was young, and dad used¹ to take us on weekend trips south into the Carolina, so that we could see what "real life" was like. He’d just drive along the road for a while, and then pull over at some farm and start talking to the people there.

 

Dad was chatting up a farmer’s wife once，when I discovered this pig...

 

It was a nice pig. But it only had three legs. The right back leg was wooden! Well, I was as curious² as could be, so I asked the farmer:"Excuse me, sir. Why does your pig have a wooden leg?"

 

"Well, boy. That is a courageous³ pig. The wife and me were asleep in the house one night, when that pig came running in and woke us up. The whole place was ablaze⁴. We just got out alive."

 

"And the pig got its leg burned up in the fire?"

 

"Nope. Pig got out just fine. Matter of fact, he even went back in and saved the kids."

 

"Then why does the pig have a wooden leg?"

 

"I told you, boy. That is a BRAVE pig! A heroic⁵ pig! That pig saved our lives!"

 

"Yes, sir. But why does he have a wooden leg!"

 

"Boy, a pig like that, you don’t eat all in one sitting!"

 

我小的时候生活在华盛顿。到了周末，爸爸常常带我们到南部的卡罗莱纳州去玩。正是在那里我们看到了什么是“真正的生活”。爸爸会沿路开一会儿车，然后把车停在路边，找农场里的人聊聊天。

 

正当爸爸和一个农妇聊天时，我发现了这只猪……

 

那只猪很漂亮，可只有三条腿，右后腿还是用木头做的！我对这点很好奇。于是就问那个农民：“先生，为什么你的猪有一只木头腿啊？”

 

“是这样的，孩子。这是一只勇敢的猪。有天晚上，我和妻子正在房里睡觉时，这只猪跑进来叫醒了我们，我们才知道房子着火了。我们立刻跑了出去，才保住了性命。”

 

“这只猪的腿是在那场火灾中烧坏的吗？”

 

“不是的，它完好无损地跑了出去。实际上，它甚至还跑了回去，把我们的孩子也救了出来。”

 

“那为何这只猪会有一只木头腿呢？”

 

“我已经告诉你了，孩子。那是只勇敢的猪！一只英勇的猪！它救了我们全家人的性命！”

 

“是的，先生。可是为何它有只木头腿呢？”

 

“孩子，像这样的猪，我们是不舍得一次就把它吃光的！”

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