Open Writing

Beryl was a pig, a very ugly pig.

She was extremely fat with warts all over her face, tiny lop sided eyes, ears much bigger than was normal for a pig and her body was covered with lots and lots of red bristles.

She often looked in the mirror and sighed despairingly as she saw her reflection, then wished she was a prettier specimen of pig.

But Beryl had some redeeming features.

No one could accuse her of being dirty, for she kept a tidy, well managed sty, keeping it very separate from the toilet, and made sure that all the other pigs she lived with did the same. The other sows and boars thought the world of her.

If one of them was feeling unwell, Beryl would be there to lend a helping trotter.

If one of them had a problem, Beryl would keep them company for an evening, listen to their problems and leave them with a solution.

if one of them was hungry she would go without food herself, and if one of the sows was having trouble with a piglet, the first pig they’d go to for help and advice would be Beryl.

They loved her.

One day, a new delivery of pigs arrived and among them was Charles.

Now Charles was something else! To begin with, he was blond with beautiful blue eyes that looked out from an enchanting face. His snout was perfect and his voice a deep bass. As soon as Beryl saw him, she had eyes for no one else.

But she kept her thoughts closed up within her ugly body.

So, Beryl didn’t approach Charles on the day of his arrival but instead, fussed around the sty making sure that everything was in tip top condition, tidy, clean and smelling sweetly.

However, she couldn’t help but hear what Charles and the other new pigs were saying.

“What a lovely sty” “Who keeps it like this?” “Who is Beryl?” She blushed as the newcomers looked in her direction and pretended not to hear what they said but went about her work.

Later that evening, Charles came over to say hello to Beryl. At first she was shy but before long they were chatting away happily. They learnt where each other was born, how old they were and who had owned them.

They were getting along famously when Beryl was called away. “I’m sorry to shove my snout in’ said Primrose, one of the other sows, ‘but Andrea thinks her piglets are about to be born and she wonders if you could help her?”

“You’ll have to excuse me’ said Beryl to Charles, (while in her mind she was thinking, “Bother!”) ‘but I really must see to Andrea”. So off she trotted.

Later that night Primrose gave birth to six piglets and all of them were delivered by Beryl.

On arriving at the corner of her sty, Beryl fell exhausted onto her bed. She thought, “If only that was me, ugly me, with those six babies, but I can never ever see me being a wife and mother looking the way I look”.

Although she had gone to bed very late, the next morning Beryl was up at her normal time. At breakfast, she found her snout was in the same feeding trough as Charles’s snout, in fact, right next to his, and she almost fainted on the spot.

“Good morning’ said Charles between mouthfuls, ‘I hear you had quite a busy night”.

Beryl told him how she had delivered the six piglets, to which he said, “What a sow you are!”

Throughout the day Charles was looking at Beryl as she went about her jobs. When it came to lunch, she found herself next to him once more. Later on, when she thought she’d have a quiet evening, there he was again! “Room for a little one?” he asked. “The cheek of it!” thought Beryl, until she realised that he wasn’t being at all cheeky, it was just his way of starting a conversation.

Beryl could feel herself falling in love.

All next morning, she could think of nothing but lovely thoughts about Charles, but the more she thought, the more those lovely thought were replaced with thoughts of another kind – her ugliness!

That night while lying alone in the corner of the sty, she heard the now familiar words, “Room for a little one?”

“Oh, come in” she said miserably. Aware that tears were falling down her cheeks, Beryl turned her back on Charles.

But she couldn’t hide the tears. “What’s wrong?” he asked, “Do tell me. What’s wrong?”

So, finding courage from somewhere she started to tell him. “Charles you can’t possibly care about me. You are every sow’s dream but I am just a fat, ugly pig.”

Immediately Charles was next to her with his trotter around her shoulder. “Now you mustn’t say that, Beryl” he began. “Physical beauty is no more than skin deep and I’ve learned to look further than the flesh. Underneath your interesting exterior is the most beautiful character, the most helpful creature, the most caring pig I have ever come across. Beryl, I’ve fallen in love with you”. And he kissed her wet cheek.

Primrose was lying nearby, and having heard what Beryl and Charles were saying, she started to giggle. She tried to stifle it, but didn’t succeed. Primrose wasn’t laughing at Beryl or Charles though. She was just so glad that romance had come to the ugliest (or was that the loveliest?) pig in the sty.

It wasn’t long before there was a wedding and not too much longer before Primrose and Andrea were delivering another six piglets, this time, from Beryl!

Oh bliss!

**

1 Samuel 16: 7