AMERICAN STORIES - Pigs Is Pigs

AMERICAN STORIES - Pigs Is Pigs
By Ellis Parker Butler

Broadcast: Saturday, October 02, 2004

Our story today is called "Pigs Is Pigs". It was written by Ellis Parker Butler. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.

Mike Flannery, the agent of the Interurban Express Company leaned over the desk in the company's office in Westcote and shook his fist. Mister Morehouse, angry and red, stood on the other side of the desk, shaking with fury¹. The argument had been long and hot. At last, Mister Morehouse had become speechless. The cause of the trouble lay on the desk between the two men. It was a box with two Guinea pigs inside.

"Do as you like them." shouted Flannery, "Pay for them and take them. Or don't pay for them and leave them here. Rules are rules, Mister Morehouse. And Mike Flannery is not going to break them." "But you stupid idiot²!" shouted Mister Morehouse, madly shaking a thin book beneath the agent's nose. "Can't you read it here in your own book of transportation rates? Pets, domestic³, Franklin to Westcote, if correctly boxed, twenty-five cents each." He threw the book on the desk. "What more do you want? Aren't they Pets, Aren't they domestic? Aren't they correctly boxed? What?"

He turned and walked back and forth⁴ rapidly with a furious⁵ look on his face. "Pets, " he said,"P-E-T-S, twenty-five cents each, two times twenty-five is fifty. Can you understand that? I offer you fifty cents." Flannery reached for the book. He ran his hand through the pages and stopped at page sixty-four. "I don't take fifty cents." he whispered in a non-pleasant voice. "Here's the rule for it.' When the agent be any doubt about which two rates should be charged on a shipment⁶, he shall charge the larger. The person receiving the shipment may put in a claim for the overcharge. ' In this case, Mister Morehouse, I be in doubt. Pets them animals may be. And domestic they may be. But pigs, I am sure they do be. And my rule says plain as the nose on your face, pigs, Franklin to Westcote, thirty cents each."

Mister Morehouse shook his head savagely⁷. "Nonsense," he shouted,"confounded nonsense! I tell you. That rule means common pigs, not Guinea pigs." "Pigs is pigs." Flannery said firmly. Mister Morehouse bit his lip and then flung⁸ his arms out wildly. "Very well," he shouted " You shall hear of this. Your president shall hear of this. It is an outrage⁹. I have offered you fifty cents. You refuse it. Keep the pigs until you are ready to take the fifty cents. But, by Gorge¹⁰, Sir, if one hair of those pigs' heads is harmed, I will have the law on you." He turned and walked out, slamming the door.

Flannery carefully lifted the box from the desk and put it in a corner. Mister Morehouse quickly wrote a letter to the president of the transportation express company. The president answered, informing Mister Morehouse that all claims for overcharge should be sent to the Claims Department. Mister Morehouse wrote to the Claims Department. One week later, he received the answer. The Claims Department said it had discussed the matter with the agent at Westcote. The agent said Mister Morehouse had refused to accept the two Guinea pigs shipped to him, therefore the department said Mister Morehouse had no claim against the company and should write to its Tariff¹¹ Department. Mister Morehouse wrote to the Tariff Department. He stated his case clearly. The head of the Tariff Department read Mister Morehouse's letter. "Ah,Guinea pigs," he said,"probably starved to death by this time." He wrote to the agent, asking why the shipment was held up. He also wanted to know if the Guinea pigs were still in good health.

Before answering, agent Flannery wanted to make sure his report was up-to-date, so he went to the back of the office and looked into the cage. Good lord, they were now eight of them. All well,and eating like hippopotamuses¹². He went back to the office and explained to the head of the Tariff Department what the rules said about pigs. And as for the condition of the Guinea pigs, said Flannery, they were all well, but there were eight of them now,all good eaters.

The head of the Tarfif Department laughed when he read Flannery's letter. He read it again and became serious. "By George, "he said, "Flannery is right, pigs is pigs. I'll have to get something official on this." He spoke¹³ to the president of the company. The president treated the matter lightly. "What is the rate on pigs and on pets?" he asked. "Pigs thirty cents,pets twenty-five." the head of the Tariff Department answered. "Then of course, Guinea pigs are pigs." the president said. "Yes," the head of the Tariff Department agreed, "I look at it that way too. A thing that can come under two rates is naturally to be charged at the higher one. But are Guinea pigs pigs, aren't they rabbits?" "Come to think of it."the president said,"I believe they are more like rabbits, sort of half way between pig and rabbit. I think the question is this: are Guinea pigs of the domestic pig family? I'll ask professor Gorden, he is an expert about such things."

The president wrote to professor Gorden. Unfortunately, the professor was in South America, colleting zoological samples. His wife forwarded the letter to him. The professor was in the high Andes Mountains. The letter took many months to reach him. In time, the president forgot the guinea pigs. The head of the Tariff Department forgot them. Mister Morehouse forgot them. But agent Flannery did not.

The Guinea pigs had increased to thirty-two. He asked the head of the Traffic Department what he should do with them. "Don't sell the pigs."agent Flannery was told,"They are not your property. Take care of them until the case is settled." The Guinea pigs needed more room. Flannery made a large and airy room for them in the back of his office.

Some months later, he discovered he now had one hundred sixty of them. He was going out of his mind. Not long after this, the president of the express company heard from professor Gorden. It was a long and scholarly letter. It pointed¹⁴ out that the Guinea pig was the Cavia aperea, while the common pig was the genus Sus of the family Suidae.

The president then told the head of the Traffic Department that Guinea pigs are not pigs, then it must be charged only twenty-five cents as domestic pets. The Traffic Department informed agent Flannery that he should take the one hundred sixty Guinea pigs to Mister Morehouse and collect twenty-five cents for each of them. Agent Flannery wired back "I've got eight hundred now. Shall I collect for eight hundred or what? How about the sixty-four dollars I paid for cabbages to feed them?" Many letters went back and forth, Flannery was crowded into a few feet at the extreme front of the office. The Guinea pigs had all the rest of the room.

Time kept moving on as the letters continued to go back and forth. Flannery now had four thousand sixty-four Guinea pigs. He was beginning to lose control of himself. Then,he got a telegram from the company that said error in Guinea pig bill collect for two Guinea pigs, fifty cents. Flannery ran all the way to Mister Morehouse's home. But Mister Morehouse had moved. Flannery searched for him in town, but without success. He returned to the express office and found that two hundred six Guinea pigs had entered the world since he left the office.

At last,he got an urgent telegram from the main office."Send the pigs to the main office of the company at Franklin." Flannery did so. Soon came another telegram. "Stop sending pigs. Warehouse¹⁵ full." But he kept sending them.

Agent Flannery finally got free of the Guinea pigs. "Rules may be rules."he said. But so long as Flannery runs this express office, pigs is pets, and cows is pets, and horses is pets, and lions and tigers and Rocky Mountain goats is pets. And the rate on them is twenty five cents. Then he looked around and said cheerfully "Well,anyhow,it is not as bad as it might have been, What if them Guinea pigs had been elephants?"

You have heard the story "Pigs Is Pigs". It was written by Ellis Parker Butler. Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. The story was published by Randomhouse in nineteen forty-five in the best American Humorist short stories. It's copyrighted, all rights reserved for VOA Special English. This is Shirley Griffith.

1 fury   

n.狂怒，激烈，狂怒的人，（希神）复仇女神

参考例句：

• She felt a wave of wild fury overcame her.她顿时觉得怒不可遏。
• He flew into fury when I said I couldn't help him.当我说不能帮助他时，他立刻暴跳如雷。

2 idiot   

n.白痴，傻子，笨蛋

参考例句：

• Only an idiot would make such a thoughtless remark.只有草包才会说出这样没有头脑的话来。
• You are behaving like a perfect idiot.你表现得像个十足的白痴。

3 domestic   

adj.家里的，国内的，本国的；n.家仆，佣人

参考例句：

• This is domestic news.这是国内新闻。
• She does the domestic affairs every day.她每天都忙家务。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 furious   

adj.狂怒的，暴怒的，强烈的，激烈的

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• His wife was furious with him.他妻子对他大发雷霆。

6 shipment   

n.装货，装载的货物

参考例句：

• The goods are done up in bundles for shipment.货物已打包以备装船。
• Please advise the date of shipment as soon as possible.请尽快通知装货日期。

7 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

8 flung   

（尤指生气地）扔( fling的过去式和过去分词 )； 猛动（身体或身体部位）； 粗暴地（向某人）说； 气势汹汹地（对某人）说

参考例句：

• expeditions to the far-flung corners of the world 去世界偏远地方的探险
• Someone had flung a brick through the window. 有人把一块砖扔进了窗户。

9 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

10 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

11 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

12 hippopotamuses   

n.河马（产于非洲）( hippopotamus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hippopotamuses teem in this river. 这条河里有很多河马。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

15 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。