In which we start off the gift of stories with an old tale from Norway

THE RAM AND THE PIG WHO WENT TO LIVE BY THEMSELVES (NORWAY)

THERE was once upon a time a ram, who was being fattened up for killing. He had plenty to eat, and warm straw for his bed, and he soon became round and fat with all the good things he got.

One day the dairymaid said to him, "You must eat, Ram, you will not be long here now, for tomorrow we are going to kill you so that we may eat you." 

The Ram was well-fed, but he was not stupid. He went on eating till he was full of food, and when he was quite satisfied he ran his horns against the door, burst it open, and set off to the neighboring farm.

There he made straight for the pigsty, to look for a pig who was a particular friend.

"Good day, and thanks for your kindness last time we met," said the Ram to the Pig 

And then he said, "Do you know why they make you so comfortable, and why they feed you and look after you so well?"

"No," said the Pig. 

"There are many mouths to feed on this farm, you must know," said the Ram; "they are going to kill you and eat you."

“Oho,” said the Pig, “and whatever shall I do about that? 

"If you are of the same mind as I, we will go into the woods and build a house and live there together,” said the Ram. 

The Pig was quite willing and off they started.

When they had got a bit on the way they met a goose.

"Good day and thanks for your kindness last time we met," said the Goose. “Where are you off to?" 

"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram. "We learned that our good life was so that we might be eaten, so we are off to the woods to live by ourselves.”

"Well, I'm very comfortable where I am," said the Goose; "but perhaps I am also meant to be eaten? Let me come along with you!”

“Good company makes the day shorter," said the Ram. "But neither hut nor house can be built by gabbling and quacking.  What do you think you can do?" 

"Good counsel and skill may do as much as a giant's will," said the Goose. "I can pluck moss and stuff it into the crevices, so that the house will be warm and comfortable." 

Well, she might come with them, thought the Ram and the Pig, for they liked the place to be warm and cozy.

When they had gone a bit on the way, they met a hare who came scampering out of the wood.

"Good day, my good people, and thanks for your kindness the last time we met," said the Hare. 

"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram; ""We learned that our good life was so that we might be eaten, so we are off to the woods to live by ourselves.”

"Well, I have, of course, a home in every bush," said the Hare; "but I have often said to myself in the winter that if I lived till the summer I would build a house, so I have a good mind to go with you and build one after all," said he. 

"Well, if the worst comes to the worst, we might take you with us to frighten the dogs away," said the Pig, "for you couldn't help us build the house." 

"There is always something for willing hands to do in this world," said the Hare. "I have teeth to gnaw pegs with, and I have paws to knock them into the walls, so I'll do very well for a carpenter; for 'good tools make good work.' 

Well, she might come along with them and help to build the house; there could be no harm in that.

When they had got a bit farther on the way they met a Rooster.

"Good day, my good people, and thanks for your kindness last time we met," said the Rooster. "Where are you all going?"

"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram. "We learned that our good life was so that we might be eaten, so we are off to the woods to live by ourselves.” 

"Well I am comfortable enough where I am," said the Rooster, "but it's better to have your own roost than to sit on a stranger's perch and crow. If I could join such fine company as yours, I, too, would like to go to the woods and build a house." 

"Flapping and crowing is all very well for noise, but it won't cut the joists," said the Pig. "You can't help us build a house," he said. 

"It is not well to live in a house where there is neither dog nor rooster, " said the Rooster.  "I am early to rise and early to crow." 

"Yes, sleep is a big thief, and steals half one's life, so let him come with us!" said the Pig. (She was always the heaviest sleeper.) 

So they all set off to the woods and built the house.

The Pig felled the trees and the Ram dragged them home. 

The Hare was the carpenter, and gnawed pegs and hammered them into walls and roof; the Goose plucked moss and stuffed it into the crevices between the logs; the Rooster crew and took care that they did not oversleep themselves in the mornings. 

When the house was ready and the roof covered with birch bark and thatched with turf, they were all happy and contented.

A bit further into the wood two wolves had their lair, and when they saw that a new house had been built, they wanted to know what sort of folks they had got for neighbors 

And they may have wanted to see if they might eat any of the newcomers.

So one of them made it his business to call there and ask for a light for his pipe.

The moment he came inside the door the Ram rushed at him and gave him such a butt with his horns that the wolf fell on his head into the hearth. 

The Pig snapped and bit at the Wolf, the Goose nipped and pecked, the Rooster flew up on a rafter and began to crow and cackle, and the Hare became so frightened that she scampered and jumped around, both high and low, and knocked and scrambled about from one corner of the room to the other.

At last the Wolf managed to get out of the house.

"Well, to know one's neighbors is to add to one's wisdom," said the other Wolf, who was waiting outside. “I don't see either pipe or smoke." 

"Such treatment I never met with before," said his friend.

"No sooner was I inside the door than the shoemaker threw his last at me, and I fell on my head in the middle of the forge; there sat two smiths, blowing bellows and pinching and snipping bits of flesh off me with red-hot tongs and pincers; the hunter rushed about the room looking for his gun, but, as luck would have it, he couldn't find it.

And up on the rafters sat someone beating his arms about and shouting: 'Let's hook him! Let's hook him! Sling him up! Sling him up!' and if he had only got hold of me I should never have come out alive."

So it was that those Wolves went back to their own lair and left those neighbors alone. 

And if the Ram and the Pig and the Goose and the Hare and the Rooster haven’t all died, why, they are living there still.