The Third Pig

Three young pigs
had grown up
and gone their own ways.

Years passed.

One season,
they returned home,
each bringing food.

The first pig
set down a few fruits.

“I didn’t find much,”
he said.

“It’s good you came back,”
the parents said.

The second pig
set down a little more.

“I found some,” he said,
“but I ate most of it.”

“That’s alright,”
they said.
“You must have been hungry.”

The third pig
set down a full basket.

The fruit was fresh,
carefully chosen—
better than the rest.

“I gathered a lot,”
he said.
“But along the way,
there were others—
hungry,
so I gave much of it away.”

The parents looked into the basket.

Then looked at him.

“You had more,” they said.

The third pig
did not answer.

“That
was not yours to give.”

That night,
they ate what was brought back.

They took from his basket first.

No one spoke to him
for the rest of the night.

The next morning,
the basket sat
by the door.

He stood there for
a while.

Then he turned
and left.