The Pig

Who Wanted
To Fly

Pendelton was a chubby little piglet with a big dream.

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Clarence and Clarissa, the other piglets who shared the pig
pen with Pendelton, dreamed of winning Blue Ribbons at
the Annual Agricultural Show .

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 Not Pendelton.
His own dream was much more exciting.
Pendelton dreamed that someday, someway, somehow, he
would become a pig who could fly !

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Pendelton's fixation with flying came about one day when
he happened to look up and spied a balloon floating by.

The balloon had drifted lazily through the sky and sailed
over the farmhouse.

Pendelton had never seen a balloon before. The balloon

was round and pink and so was he, so naturally Pendelton
thought it must be a little pink piglet floating through the
air.

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"Wow!" squealed Pendelton, "Just look at that chubby little
piglet fly! I sure wish I could do that."

Bathsheba, the biggest and oldest pig in the pen, lifted her
head up from the trough where she was eating. "That's not a
piglet, that's a balloon." she said with a smile. "Unlike
chubby little piglets, balloons are very lightweight, that's
why they can fly."
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 Awake or asleep Pendelton constantly dreamed about
drifting and looping around on the wind, and floating
through the sky just like the pink balloon.

Pendelton began to spend most of his days sitting in the

middle of the pig pen staring up at the sky, searching for
another balloon.

Clarence and Clarissa thought he was silly, but that didn't

stop Pendelton from dreaming.

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 When no other balloons drifted by, Pendelton began
noticing how little insects jumped up and seemed to catch
the wind to fly.

Unfortunately Pendelton couldn't understand why

whenever he jumped up, he came right back down again
with a great big thump.

He began to watch the birds, trying to learn how they

managed to stay in the air. He saw they had feathers and
wings, things he didn't have, but that didn't stop Pendelton
from dreaming.

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 Every day Bathsheba watched him. She would shake her
head and say, "Pendelton you are a PIG. You are not a bug.
You are not a bird. You are not a balloon.
You can NOT fly!"

She would try to explain to Pendelton the difference

between flying creatures with wings, lightweight balloons
full of air, and chubby little piglets, but that still didn't stop
Pendelton from dreaming.

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Pigs are supposed to snooze on the clean straw instead of
jumping up and down.
Pigs are supposed to grow big and shiny and win blue
ribbons at the Annual Agricultural Show.
Pigs are NOT supposed to fly!", snorted Bathsheba.
But that didn't stop Pendelton from dreaming.

Pendelton knew what pigs were supposed to do of course,

but he just didn't think it was very exciting

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 Not long afterwards Spring arrived, as it does every year,
and with it, came the Annual Agricultural Show. The show,
very similar to a County Fair, is where all the area's farmers
could display samples of prize-winning crops, and show off
their best looking livestock. The Annual Agricultural Show
also had carnival rides, and cotton candy, games to play,
competitions to enter, and good things to eat.

On the day of the show, Bathsheba, Clarissa, Clarence, and

Pendelton were loaded into the back of the farmer's pick-up
truck, and taken to the Show Grounds.

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 Pendelton was thrilled by all the bright colours, strange
noises and new smells.
Suddenly he saw the most wonderful things of all. They
looked like ...Flying Machines

Pendelton saw a huge wheel that reached from the ground,

all the way up into the sky. It turned around and around, but
it didn't go forward. People sat in seats attached to the
wheel and Pendelton heard happy laughter as it turned.
He saw people enter cars that began to whirl and spin,
swoop up and down and loop around. The faster the cars
spun and the higher they looped, the louder the people
screeched with delight.
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He looked up and saw a line of chairs attached to a thick
cable.
People were sitting in the chairs dangling their feet,
pointing and calling as they moved slowly over the Show
Grounds.

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Pendelton thought it was all like a magical, wonderful
dream, and yet he was certainly wide awake.
Then he saw what he was looking for - BALLOONS!

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 The truck stopped at last, and the farmer put Pendelton,
Clarissa, and Clarence into one pen, then led Bathsheba to
another one, further along.
"Be good little piglets now," Bathsheba warned. "Good
luck in your Competitions!"

Pendleton stood by the pens gate and pushed it a little just

so he cold see more of the balloons. He pushed too hard,
and the gate eased open a little bit. He tried pushing a little
harder. Sure enough, the gate could be pushed open just far
enough for a chubby little piglet to squeeze through.
Suddenly, Pendelton was free!

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 He ran towards the balloons. Clarence called out,
"Pendelton! Where are you going? You'll get lost! Come
back!" . Everyone began shouting and chasing Pendelton.

When he saw all the farmers running towards him, the

chubby little pig gave a terrified squeal and took off
running.

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 He barrelled past the cake stall, upsetting the ladies, he
galloped through the apple-pie stall, upsetting the pie trays,
and skidded into the balloon stall, upsetting himself and a
pile of boxes that had been filled with extra balloons and
balls of string.
There lay chubby little Pendelton, flat on his back amidst a
rainbow coloured heap of string and balloons, feet waving
wildly in the air.
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 Before anyone realized what was happening, the balloons
started to rise, taking the chubby little piglet up with them.
Pendelton stopped kicking and his eyes grew big as
saucers. He realised he was being lifted off the ground by
the big bunch of large, brightly coloured, helium-filled
balloons.
"Hooray!" shouted Pendelton happily, "I'm Flying!"

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Pendelton thought flying was great fun when he drifted
over the town. Busses stopped and people got out to look
up and point at him.
When he sailed over the countryside he realized he was
alone, and Pendelton began to get a little nervous.
When he passed over the Farm and saw his empty pig pen,
he became a little bit frightened.
"I think I want to get down now." he thought.
But Pendelton realized he didn't know how to get down.
Then he became really frightened.
"I Want To Get Down! I Want To Go Home! HEEEELP!"
he squealed.
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 The colourful balloons and loud squealing attracted three
curious birds. They glided through the air and circled
around Pendelton. It all seemed very strange to them.
"You're an odd looking bird", cooed one bird. "Where are
your wings?", it inquired.
"Perhaps he's a bug." peeped another bird.

A third bird flew around the balloons, "Pretty thing, isn't

he?. Quite colourful for a bird. Or bug. Or whatever." she
chirped.
"Thank you, but I'm not a bird or a bug" replied Pendelton.
"I'm a piglet, and it's the balloons that are colourful, not me

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"And the reason I don't have wings, is because pigs aren't
supposed to fly," sighed Pendelton, and with that, the
chubby little piglet began to cry.
"Oh, please", he asked the birds,"I want to be back down
on the ground. Can you help me?, he sobbed.

The three birds fluttered around the pig and the balloons
until they came up with a way to help Pendelton make a
soft landing. With their sharp little beaks, the birds began to
pop the balloons - slowly, one by one. Oh! Oh! He got
caught in a branch of a tree!
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The farmer finally came to his rescue and reached for the
pig.
Pendelton was so glad to be home. Oh how good the
trough, the mud and the straw looked to Pendelton,
especially from down here on the ground!
Within moments, the chubby little piglet was happily
nestled in a clean bed of straw, sound sleep.
But the little pig who wanted to fly, finally had.

-End-