The Clever Peasant

A folktale from Ukraine

It was spring. The forest had shaken off its blanket of snow, its trees stretching tall to the warming rays of the sun. A large mother boar and three striped, squeaking, curly-tailed little piglets rootled for breakfast in the soft earth along a gurgling stream. Upon the branches of a gnarled old oak perched a troop of sparrows watching the wild boar f…