The Hog

Grade Level: 
9, 10, 11, 12
Keywords: 
Generosity of Spirit
Honesty
Trustworthiness
Latin America (Colorado): Selfishness and deceit will come back around to you.

A man hesitates to kill his fattened pig because he does not wish to share the meat with his neighbors. A friend advises him to kill the pig at night and to tell the people that it has been stolen. He does this and hides the meat, but the man who advised him steals it. When the owner tells him the next day that the meat was stolen, he pretends not to believe it, and insists that this is just an excuse to avoid sharing the meat with him.

“The Hog.” Rael, Juan B., Jose, Griego y Maestas, and Rudolfo A. Anaya. Cuentos Espanoles de Colorado y Nuevo Mexico: Spanish Folk Tales from Colorado and New Mexico. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press, ©1980. p. 628, Volume II
Used with the permission of New Mexico Press.