English / B1
The Old Woman and Her Pig
An old woman was sweeping her house when she found a small silver coin. She wondered what to do with it and decided to go to the market to buy a little pig.
On their way home, they came to a fence with steps for climbing over it. The pig refused to cross. The old woman went a little farther and met a dog.
“Dog, bite the pig!” she said. “The pig won’t go over the fence, and I won’t get home tonight.” But the dog refused.
Next, she found a stick. She asked it to beat the dog because the dog would not bite the pig. But the stick refused as well.
She kept looking for help. She asked a fire to burn the stick, but it would not. She asked some water to put out the fire, but the water would not. Then she asked a large farm animal to drink the water. Again, the answer was no.
So she went to a butcher, a man who sold meat, and asked him to kill the large farm animal. He refused. She asked a rope to kill the butcher by hanging him, but the rope refused too. She asked a rat to bite through the rope, and the rat would not.
At last, she met a cat. “Cat, kill the rat!” she said, explaining once more that she could not get her pig over the fence and would not get home that night.
This time, she received a different answer. The cat agreed, but only if she brought it a dish of milk from the cow nearby.
The old woman went to the cow. It wanted something in return as well. “Bring me a handful of hay from that pile,” it said. “Then I’ll give you milk.”
She fetched the dry grass. The cow ate it and gave her the milk. She carried it to the cat, which drank it and began to attack the rat.
Now everyone began to act. The rat started biting through the rope. The rope started killing the butcher by hanging him. The butcher started killing the large farm animal, which started drinking the water.
The water began to put out the fire, and the fire began to burn the stick. The stick began to beat the dog, and the dog began to bite the pig.
Frightened, the little pig jumped over the fence. After all that, the old woman finally got home that night.
English summary · includes the ending
An old woman finds a coin while sweeping her house and uses it to buy a pig. On the way home, the pig refuses to climb over the steps in a fence. She asks a dog to bite it, but the dog refuses.
She then asks a stick to beat the dog, fire to burn the stick, water to put out the fire, and an ox to drink the water. Each refuses. A butcher will not kill the ox, a rope will not hang the butcher, and a rat will not bite through the rope.
Finally, a cat agrees to kill the rat in exchange for milk. A cow offers milk in exchange for hay. The woman brings the hay, obtains the milk and gives it to the cat.
This starts the whole chain moving backwards. When the dog begins to bite the pig, it jumps over the fence. The woman gets home that night.
Adapted for Lejrbål from the credited source.
Read the source