Oh Lillee

This rustling caused a neighbour to peer out of his window.

He stared in disbelief …

A PIG?

A WILD PIG? 

REALLY?

Wild pigs lived deep in the forest, way outside the village and were rarely ever seen. 

The villagers were far too scared to venture into the forest at night. 

But this pig was no ordinary pig.

This was Lillee. 

She was special. 

Lillee’s father was a handsome wild boar and her mother, a domesticated lady.

Her parents met when Lillee’s mother escaped from Farmer George’s farm and ran away into the forest.

They enjoyed a brief romantic moment in the moonlight.

But the next morning, the wild female pigs, smelling she was different, chased Lillee’s mother out of the forest.  

She was ‘not one of them!’  

She did not belong.

Farmer George soon caught up with Lillee’s mother and took her back to the farm.

A few months later Lillee was born - with thick dark hair like her Dad, and a pale belly like her Mum. 

A sweet mixed piglet.

Unfortunately, George’s pink pigs turned up their snooty snouts at Lillee with her dark hair and skin. Lillee didn’t understand why they were being so mean to her until one day she overheard two big sows grunting as they wallowed in the mud.

‘Her father’s a wild one, she doesn’t belong here!’ snorted one, looking down her pink snout.  

‘I know that awful dark hair, ugh, SO ugly.’ grunted the other.

Lillee crept away, usually a cheerful piglet, she suddenly felt ashamed as she caught sight of her reflection in the water butt.  Was there something wrong with her?

Her mother had gone to market, and her brothers and sisters had disappeared too.

Lillee was the only one left, so there was no-one to tell her that she was perfect just the way she was.  

That it’s good to be different.  We are all different… and all equally important.

Lillee didn’t understand that unhappiness is caused by those who believe they are better than others and use any differences to punish them.

Lillee wondered… 

Was she the only one who felt so ashamed of her appearance?

Or were others made to feel this way too?

What do you think, dear reader?

Farmer George didn’t care, he just continued to fatten Lillee up to sell at the Christmas Market. 

Now this might have been the end of our story… if it hadn’t been for Snapper, the Farmer’s grumpy old terrier.

Snapper was always picking on Lillee, nipping at her legs, for he too smelt that she was different, worth less than the other pink pigs.

It was getting close to Christmas, Lillee, who was clever, sensed her impending doom, so one morning when Snapper bit her leg so deeply it bled, she kicked out in anger ramming the fence so hard, she made a hole in the wire big enough to escape through.

Like her mother, Lillee was making her own bid for freedom. 

This is how she ended up in the forest, where she too met a handsome young boar.

Like mother, like daughter… 

After a brief night of romance, Lillee too was chased out of the forest at dawn by the wild sows who smelt her mother’s blood.

Poor Lillee, shamed by her mother’s family and now shunned by her forest relatives, where could she go?

If she returned to the farm, it meant certain death, while in the forest, she would be attacked for being different.  

So where did she belong?   

Nowhere it seemed. 

Alone in this hostile world, Lillee suddenly felt scared.  

She could not help wondering… 

Was she the only one who felt so alone? With nowhere to go?

What do you think, dear Reader… 

Farmer George came looking for Lillee, but she hid in the bushes. He wasn’t worried, he had plenty of other pigs and being pure bred, they were easier to sell.

A very weary Lillee, wandered alone through the rough scrubland, her leg was still sore, and she hadn’t eaten for several days now.  

Lillee wasn’t used to feeding herself, for the farmer gave her daily slops to fatten her up. 

As there had been no rain, the ground was too hard to dig up bugs and grubs, which is how wild pigs feed themselves, but Lillee hadn’t learnt that yet.

It was dusk as she fell asleep in the undergrowth with a loud rumbling tummy. 

She woke suddenly from a nasty nightmare, where she was being chased by a mean looking pig, a snarling dog and an angry man with a stick.

It was still night, when Lillee caught sight of lights twinkling in the distance…

Feeling safer in the dark, she decided to follow them and finally came to a village perched on top of a hill.

As she wandered down the deserted street, tired and hungry, she passed a few houses.

Soon she found herself on a wasteland and here on that misty November night, among the long rough grass, good fortune finally smiled on her.

She found some fruit peelings.  

Oh Joy!

Lillee was very partial to fruit, it was her favourite dish, and a villager had left a few apple skins in the rough grass.

Lillee was quickly snaffling them up…

When the shocked neighbour who’d seen her through the window, ran out and threw a stone at her.

“Wild pigs aren’t welcome here”. he shouted. “Go away!  Go back to the forest!”

“I can’t’ squealed Lillee,”I am not a wild pig, I’m a friendly one!”

But the neighbour didn’t understand her squeals and just threw another stone at her, which hit her on the nose this time.

So, the frightened, and still hungry pig slipped away through the long grass, and found refuge under an old pine tree.

The next morning Lillee woke at dawn to find a lady with the kindest face smiling down at her.

“Oh my dear, what are you doing here?” She cooed with a gentle laugh.

Lillee was too tired to run away, when to her great surprise, the Kind Lady took out an apple and a pear from her blue check apron pocket and offered them to her.

The Kind Lady then gently scratched Lillee’s back as she hungrily gobbled them up.

Lillee couldn’t believe it.

What was THIS?

It felt SO different - but a good difference.

It was KINDNESS!

Lillee had never felt kindness before. 

It felt so warm and cosy. 

And what was this feeling? 

It was LOVE. 

For kindness is how people show their Love.

Lillee was feeling Love for the very first time. 

‘Come along, my dear,” Kind Lady smiled as she walked down her rocky garden path with Lillee following close behind.

Halfway down stood an old shed, with a rusty corrugated roof and a rickety wire door.

One of Kind Lady’s rescue cats was asleep inside, but awoke with a start as soon as he saw Lillee.

Kind Lady took some old straw from her vegetable patch and laid it on the floor inside the shed for Lillee to sleep on.

“Here you are, dear Lillee,” cooed Kind Lady, “Here’s a nice soft bed for you.”

Yes, it was Kind Lady who named this lonely, displaced pig, Lillee.

So Lillee finally found sanctuary in Kind Lady’s garden. 

Days passed and Kind Lady would cook up a delicious daily mash of potatoes, rice and carrots in a big pail followed by fruit for pudding. Lillee’s cheeks soon grew plumper.

News spread fast around the village that Kind Lady was keeping a wild pig.

Kind Lady’s mother who was still alive and had reared pigs, could see that Lillee was a mixed pig, half wild, half domesticated.  But the villagers liked to say she was wild, as it sounded more exciting.

Curiosity led them to venture into Kind Lady’s garden to see her unusual visitor, some bringing scraps of food.  But not all the neighbours approved!  

Being kind doesn’t always make you popular with everyone.

Lillee would waddle down the earthen steps from the shed to the bench where Kind Lady would obligingly scratch her back as Lillee graciously accepted the villagers’ offerings of fruit or vegetable peelings.

As days passed, Lillee and Kind Lady grew ever fonder of each other, but life wasn’t easy.   

For though Kind Lady fed Lillee a big pail of food every day to stop her from roaming, Lillee’s wild nature of foraging for bugs, insects, and roots was emerging. 

Happy now with her newfound freedom, Lillee began to really enjoy digging up food with her snout. 

She started off in Kind Lady’s garden, fortunately the village had recently experienced some much needed rain, so it wasn’t long before Lillee had dug up the entire garden and was having a wonderful time wallowing in a glorious mud bath. 

Kind Lady didn’t mind, she loved seeing Lillee enjoy herself but unfortunately, her garden had no fences so Lillee now began to wander off looking for new turf to dig up, often ending up on the road.  Dangerous for both Lillee and the car.

As Lillee became more adventurous the villagers who lived in the posh houses at the top of the hill, began to complain loudly when Lillee started digging up their beautifully manicured lawns in search of bugs. 

They angrily pointed out that pigs were not allowed in the village, which was true.

(Lillee might argue it was environmentally helpful to aerate the soil so new plants could grow but the posh people didn’t agree!)

The local hunters soon caught wind of Lillee and late one night they drove into the village in their pick-up truck with their guns, in search of her.  But Kind Lady heard them and turned on all her lights, which frightened them away, as guns were also not allowed in the village.

It was all becoming a big worry for Kind Lady… How could she protect Lillee?

She knew Lillee could not stay in the village, as it wasn’t safe or legal.

So she went to the local council for help. There was an animal sanctuary, but it was far away, and Lillee would need to be transported there. 

“Sorry Madam, our transporter’s broken and with Christmas coming, who knows when it’ll be fixed.” Was their not very helpful reply.

Next Kind Lady called the local animal shelters, but they were all full, there was space for the odd cat or dog, but certainly not for a pig.  Especially a wild looking one.

“Sorry dear, no pigs!” was their answer.

Kind Lady did find a couple of farms that might take Lillee but only if they could eat her, and there was absolutely no way she was going to allow that.  Kind Lady knew how clever Lillee was, much cleverer than some of the humans who wanted to munch on her bacon.

What to do? Poor Lillee, she didn’t belong in the village, she didn’t belong in the forest. 

She was too wild for the village and too tame for the forest. 

She just didn’t belong anywhere.  Except on a Christmas Dinner plate!

And Lillee was not alone, for there were many other homeless outsiders who were constantly being moved on, wherever they went.

Have you heard of any dear Reader?  

But despite all these difficulties, Kind Lady had now fallen in love with Lillee and Lillee had fallen in love with Kind Lady.  So Lillee was safe for the time being.

Lillee was getting fatter and fatter but was still always hungry, Kind Lady was kept very busy mashing up food for her, hoping to keep her from straying too far.

After her meal Lillee would nibble gently at Kind Lady’s shoes until Kind Lady scratched Lillee’s belly with a broom stick.  “Ooh, Lillee’…” she would coo.

They were such a happy pair!   But for how long?

Sometimes Lillee fancied a night out and would go off adventuring. The posh people were getting really cross now as Lillee continued to blissfully bury her snout into their lawns, while their dogs would only give nervous little yelps, too intimidated by Lillee’s increasing size.

Kind Lady did her best to keep Lillee from getting into trouble, but it was only a matter of time before the trigger happy hunters or angry posh people caught up with her and she ended up as someone’s Christmas meal.

Poor Kind Lady was hardly sleeping because of the worry.  

Being kind isn’t always easy, sometimes it takes courage to stand up for what you feel is right.

Then Kind Lady received news of a family who lived on a small holding in a nearby village, who had lost their pet pig. Lillee certainly didn’t sound like their pretty white piglet who had disappeared six months earlier. Nevertheless, the family came to have a look, just in case. 

The father arrived in Kind Lady’s garden in his old estate car, with his children.

And even though Lillee clearly wasn’t their pig, the family kindly offered to take her home.

So here was another act of kindness that might help to make a positive difference to our story.

But how?  The only transporter was in pieces and as it was Christmas Eve, there was no chance of getting it mended now.

So it was agreed that the father would return on Christmas morning and pick up Lillee in his car. He duly returned with a plan to transport Lillee in the boot.

They put a plank for Lillee to walk up but when she put her hoof on it, it tipped over.  

She was having none of that!

Kind Lady climbed into the boot, her pockets full of apples and tried to entice 

Lillee to join her.  “Come along Lillee, my dear” she cooed.

As much as Lillee loved Kind Lady and her apples, there was no way she was getting into that car.

After several frustrating hours of encouraging, cajoling and pushing Lillee, it was all useless, and now also fruitless since Kind Lady had run out of apples.

So, the family reluctantly returned home pig less.

Lillee sulked for the rest of the evening, little knowing how very lucky she was to enjoy. Kind Lady’s love and protection, and how narrowly she had escaped becoming someone’s Christmas dinner that night.

Lillee didn’t understand that her precious newfound freedom would only be curbed briefly by a car ride and after that she’d be free again.

Kind Lady seeing Lillee so upset decided to ask the vet to come and give Lillee an injection to make her sleepy, so next time they would be able to lift her into the family’s car.

The family continued to show Lillee kindness, for Lillee certainly wasn’t their beloved white piglet, she was quite different. But they were very happy to enjoy her difference and take her home with them.  

The vet arrived the following week, he was used to putting cats and dogs to sleep for operations, but this chunky half wild pig was quite another matter.

The vet managed to get close enough to give Lillee one jab, while Kind Lady, and the family held their breaths.

Nothing. 

Lillee didn’t even stumble, let alone fall.  She just got cross, and taking a great dislike to the family car, with its red blankets inviting her in, she stuck her nose in the air and turned her back on it.

The vet, seizing this opportunity snuck up behind her, managing another quick jab.

Again nothing… just another cross snort.

Lillee had had quite enough now and trotted off up to the top of Kind Lady’s garden to escape.

A procession followed.  The Vet, Kind Lady, friends and family all trotted up the road behind this now very cross pig, who passing a posh lawn on the way, dallied briefly.

The Dad ran back and getting his car followed them up to a patch of grass by the edge of the village.

The vet had managed one more jab on the way, up, but again Lillee just shook it off like she would some annoying but persistent fly.

The children tried to round her up, while their Dad flung the red blanket over her head.

But Lillee like an enraged Bull, tossed that off too, and headed towards the bushes.

Four injections later she was still on her feet, though now a little wobbly.

As Kind Lady, the Vet and the Dad chased after Lillee, she ran across the road In front of a shocked cyclist who tried to swerve and fell off his bike.

The vet had nothing more to jab, as an upset Kind Lady cried, “that’s enough now!”

So the vet left, the disappointed family went home, and Kind Lady sat with Lillee in the bushes for the next five hours, while Lillee grumpily refused to fall asleep.

As the sun set, Lillee and Kind Lady slowly made their way back to the village. 

“Come along, my dear,” Kind Lady cooed encouragingly to the wobbly pig.

Lillee refused to go home with Kind Lady, since her garden was the scene of the attempted abduction and ended up sleeping in the abandoned garden across the road. 

Kind Lady didn’t sleep a wink that night, but as the sun rose, she looked out of her window only to see Lillee standing by her bench, looking up at her as if to say, ‘Where’s my breakfast?’

In the end the family very reluctantly decided not to take Lillee as their land was not well fenced. They could see how much she loved her freedom and was not a ‘homey’ pig so there was every chance she would just escape again.

They had done their best to be kind, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Kind Lady SO wanted to keep Lillee, she loved her SO much, but she feared for her safety. The hunters were circling, and some posh people had threatened to call the police. 

Was it all over for Lillee?

Just as things were looking very bleak, an angel in the shape of builder Fred appeared.

Fred chanced upon a tearful Kind Lady that afternoon and she told him Lillee’s story.

She knew she could get into trouble for keeping Lillee in the village and trying to stop the hunters and posh people getting rid of her, but nevertheless she was determined to protect her, whatever the cost to herself.  

Kind Lady wasn’t giving up. Kindness had no expiration date for her.

Builder Fred was kind too, he liked to help, so he wasted no time. 

He was working at a house in the next village and as luck would have it, the owners had a small farm with 2 dogs, 4 cats, 3 mini spotted pigs, 2 goats and a donkey… So, Fred asked if Lillee might join them. The owner kindly agreed.

But the transporter was still in pieces and given Lillee dislike of cars, how would they get her there?

Fred being a ‘Can Do’ guy, picked up the transporter pieces, putting them all back together in no time so it was soon ready to take Lillee to her new home. 

Yes, kindness can make the world of difference... and help good things to happen!

The day now came that Kind Lady had both hoped for and dreaded.

It was time for Lillee to leave the village. 

Kind Lady loaded Lillee up with bags of fruit and a pail of cooked mash. 

This time Lillee seemed to understand that Kind Lady was doing this to help her, and after a last affectionate nibble at her shoes, Lillee walked up the ramp into the transporter without a snort or squeal.

A sad Kind Lady waved Lillee goodbye as the transporter drove away up the hill.

She bravely tried to hide her tears until her dear friend had gone.

A few days later one of Fred’s painters came back with a video to show Kind Lady.

It was so funny it even made her smile a little.

There was Lillee trotting across the field with a procession of animal suitors. The mini spotted male pig, her most ardent admirer, then the dog, with the donkey trotting along behind.  

Each one of them competing for her attention, while Lillee stuck her snout in the air and enjoyed pretending to ignore them all.

Lillee was definitely the alpha female of the farm, but with her need for freedom and adventure she soon found holes in the fence, until she finally had to be kept in one large securely fastened field, so she could do less mischief.

Then one day quite out of the blue, a still tearful Kind Lady received the most wonderful news… 

Lillee had given birth to 12 piglets all fat and well, not a runt among the litter, thanks to Kind Lady’s constant care and excellent feeding. 

So that was why Lillee was always so hungry!

When Kind Lady visited the farm, a very trim Lillee greeted her, surrounded by her squealing piglets.

Of course, Kind Lady had brought with her bags of fruit and mash.

Lillee fondly nuzzled Kind Lady’s shoes before enjoying her meal. She hadn’t forgotten. Kind Lady and Kind Lady would never forget dear Lillee.

When your heart is touched by kindness, you don’t forget.

Slowly life in the village returned to almost normal.

A friend gave Kind Lady a cushion with smiling pigs embroidered on it, which Kind Lady hugged and used as a pillow.

But life was never quite the same for Kind Lady, a tear would always come to her eye whenever she spoke of her recently departed friend. 

Lillee did however leave Kind Lady one wonderful gift!  

A huge mound of pig poo!

And Kind Lady grew the most magnificent sunflower from Lillee’s manure!

Other flowers like daisies and lavender bloomed in her garden too, thanks to Lillee.

Kind Lady even made a little shrine with a china pig for her never to be forgotten friend.

Oh Lillee! 

Thanks to Kind Lady’s kindness Lillee was finally safe, and even though she really missed her, Kind Lady knew Lillee was in the best place.

Sometimes when you love someone you choose to do what’s best for them, even though it’s not always best for you.  So even though it was hard to let Lillee go and Kind Lady could no longer see her every day, Lillee was always in her heart.

So dear Reader, if you would like to make a difference…

BE KIND! 

Show LOVE

To others 

As well as yourself.

And when you meet difference, don’t criticise it… Celebrate it!

For Kindness can turn this World of Difference into a Planet of Oneness.

For if we all come together kindly and celebrate our differences, then nothing can separate us and we can all be joined together by Love.

Finally, if your own life has been touched by acts of human or animal kindness, perhaps you would like to share some of those precious moments below…