Now lazy Peter, as he was called, went one day to feed the pig. The animal was very fat, and even when he heard the corn rattle into his trough, he only uttered a kind of affected grunt, pricked up his ears, wagged his tail, and kept his place. Peter looked into the stye, and beheld with unaffected admiration, the luxurious beast, imbedded in straw, and too happy in the enjoyment of his digestion and repose, even to get up and eat. “This is the perfection of comfort,”――said Peter to himself. “How pleasant it must be to have nothing to do, but to eat and sleep; no chores to do; no boots and shoes to put on; no jackets and trowsers to button up; no musty books to learn; no Emerson’s Arithmetic to make one’s head muzzy; no awful looking schoolmaster, whose very countenance makes one’s stomach ache, to watch over him; no sharp voice to call him at 5 o’clock in the morning! No, no――he eats and sleeps and sleeps and eats――gets up and goes to bed just as he pleases. Really, I half wish I was a pig!” Thus mused lazy Peter――while he rested his chin upon the edge of the pig-stye, and gazed with dreamy eyes upon the lord of the manor. At length, urged by a sense of imperious necessity――for the idea of duty, had not yet taken possession of his head――he tore himself away from these agreeable contemplations. At night Peter went to bed as usual, but the scene of the pig-stye had made such an impression upon his mind, that it stole in among the visions of his sleep. He dreamed that he was sauntering along upon a highway, and bound upon some long journey. Weary at length, he sat down and began to grumble at the necessity of travelling such a distance, and over such a tiresome road. While he was thus occupied, a Fairy came to him, and said――“Peter, I have heard your complaints, and have come to relieve them! You think it hard to travel this road, though its borders are decorated with flowers; though it leads through delightful regions, and finally terminates in a happy home, where friends gather around to minister to every want and gratify every desire. Your difficulty is, that you must take the trouble to pick the flowers, to visit these happy regions, to travel to this final home of peace. Well, you shall have your way: you want idleness, and deem that this is bliss. I have a stye, in which is the fattest pig you ever saw: you shall be his companion, share his bed and board, and thus find the fulfilment of your wishes!” Strange as it may seem, Peter accepted the offer, and was soon domesticated in the stye. For a time, he enjoyed himself to the utmost: to be sure the perfume of the place offended him a little at first――but the luxury of having nothing to do but to eat and sleep, prevailed over every other feeling, and he deemed himself perfectly happy.