The Little Crooked Old Woman and the Pig.
A little crooked woman had a little crooked broom,
She found a crooked sixpence when sweeping her little crooked room.
She set her off to market, which was a crooked mile,
Along a crooked pathway with a little crooked style;
With her little crooked sixpence a little pig she bought,
And with a band tied to its crooked leg, her homeward way she sought[76].
All went well until she came to the bridge quite near to her own little cottage, but this the pig refused to cross. At that moment a stick came by, and the little old woman called out, ‘Stick, stick, beat the pig; for the pig won’t go over the bridge, and I shall never get home to get my old man his supper ready.’ The stick declined to help her, leaning itself against the bridge end. Then came by a dog. To it she cried, ‘Dog, dog, bite the stick; for the stick won’t beat the pig, the pig won’t go over the bridge, and I shall never get home to get my old man his supper ready.’ But the dog refused to do any such thing, sitting down near by the stick. Just then a bull came along. ‘Bull, bull,’ she shouted, ’toss the dog; for the dog won’t bite the stick, and the stick won’t beat the pig, and the pig won’t go over the bridge, and I shall never get home to get my old man his supper ready.’ But the bull refused to give her any help, placing himself near to the dog. From a butcher’s boy passing at the moment, she begged assistance, urging him to kill the bull, telling him how the bull, dog, and stick had all refused to help her to induce the pig to cross the bridge, winding up with the sad assurance, that ’she would never get home to get her old man his supper ready’; but the lad only laughed at her, he taking his stand by the side of the bull, waiting to see how she would manage. Next came along a horse, which she besought to kick the boy, as the boy would not kill the bull, and the bull would not toss the dog, &c.; but still she fared no better, the horse standing by the side of the boy. Next a fire sprang up in the hedge bottom; this she implored to burn the horse, as the horse would not kick the boy, and the boy would not kill the bull, &c. The fire, like the rest, refused all help, quietly burning where it was. Then she begged of the stream to sleck the fire, as the fire would not burn the horse, &c.; but the water ran peacefully on, heeding not her prayers. Then she heard in the distance the sound of a mighty wind; to this she prayed, ‘O wind, dry up the brook; the brook won’t sleck the fire, the fire won’t burn the horse, the horse won’t kick the boy, the boy won’t kill the bull, the bull won’t toss the dog, the dog won’t bite the stick, the stick won’t beat the pig, the pig won’t go over the bridge, and I shall never get home to get my old man his supper ready.’ Then came a voice amongst the trembling leaves as the coming wind sighed through them, ‘I will dry up the brook.’ Then said the brook, ‘Before I’ll be dried up I’ll quench the fire.’ The fire at once cried out, ‘Before I’ll be quenched I’ll burn the horse.’ The horse neighed, ‘I’ll kick the boy before I’ll be burnt.’ The boy declared, ‘Before I’ll be kicked I’ll kill the bull.’ The bull said, ‘Before I’ll be killed I’ll toss the dog.’ The dog declared, before it would be tossed it would bite the stick. The stick at once offered to beat the pig, at which resolution on the stick’s part the pig said, ‘Before I’ll be beaten I’ll go over the bridge’; and so it did, and the old woman got home and made her old man his supper.
It was not until the old lady besought the aid of Woden, that her petition was granted. Little doubt can exist that, as told in the north, the approaching storm-wind represents that god[77].
The next story, under various garbs, is told to the little folks in nearly every corner of the earth. The connexions between the various forms and alterations (which different local peculiarities have demanded) are not difficult to trace, as the connecting links are all there. Possibly its root originated in the far East. Though our version comes from the Scandinavian race, they learnt it from some other nation, probably Germany.