Once upon a time, there lived an old woman in the remote country side. She lived all alone without any family members. Her only friends were a dog and a pig. The dog was always very loyal to the old lady. Whenever he heard her footsteps, he ran to his master with a joyous yelp, wagging his tail. He would do cute things, like licking her hands and circling around her. In a word, the dog was the apple of the old lady’s eye. The pig, on the other hand, stayed in a pigpen and just slept all the time. But the old woman was also fond of her pig because she was happy to see the animal growing up quickly and healthily.

One spring day, the old woman went to the hills to gather some wild greens. The dog and the pig were left alone in the house. Loafing around the yard all day, the dog was bored to death. He turned his eyes to the pig. As usual, the pig was sleeping like a log. The dog thought to himself, ‘The pig does nothing but eat and sleep all day long. Little wonder he is fat and lazy!’ The dog didn’t like the pig very much, but he still didn’t want to play alone. So he began to bark loudly to wake up the pig. The pig opened his eyes. But he just gazed at the dog with bleary eyes, not moving at all.

The dog yelled at the pig, “How slow you are! You have an important guest here, but why are you so lazy?” The pig snorted with laughter. “That’s ridiculous! We’re living in the same house. Who in the world is the important guest? Just get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you.” With these blunt words, the pig closed his eyes again. The dog came close to the pigpen, as if he had gotten the chance to relieve his boredom. He said to the pig, “What did you say? We’re one family as we’re living in the same house. You just said that. But why don’t you want to see me? Why do you hate me?” The pig answered, “I hate you because you are free to move around wherever you want, while I’m stuck in this small pen. You eat more delicious things than I do and you sleep in a cleaner place. What’s more, our master likes only you. We’re the same pets, but why should I be treated differently? I’m tired of being pushed around.” Then the dog retorted. “Oh, you are such a silly pig. You don’t know why? Listen carefully. You eat a lot more than I do. You’re a heavy creature but all you do is eat and sleep. What did you do while I was watching the house all night?”

That night, the pig thought hard. He decided not to sleep during the night in order to watch the house, like the dog. So, the pig grunted all night, pacing around the pigsty. Because of the noisy pig, the old lady couldn’t sleep well. She thought the pig was sick. She brought an herb doctor and had him treat the pig with acupuncture. The pig was surprised and panic-stricken. He struggled in vain to avoid the sharp needles. He couldn’t understand why he got acupuncture out of the blue. He believed that his voice was too weak the previous night. So he decided to do better. When night fell, the pig grunted even more loudly and squealed.

The poor old lady didn’t sleep a wink the whole night. She concluded that her pig got a terrible disease. She wondered how to deal with the sick pig. She discussed with her neighbors, who recommended that she sell the pig right away because she would have to bargain away a dead pig. She was sad at the thought of losing her dear animal friend, but she finally made up her mind. She loved her pig because he ate well and stayed healthy after all. An ailing pig that squeals all night was only a nuisance to her.

If the pig had remained the same, just eating and sleeping, he would have enjoyed his lazy life and the old woman’s favor. But he attempted too much to win her affection and only ended up parting with his master.