Paz Finds Freedom

One Piglet's Story

Neuroart by author: This little pig does not go to market!

---

Paz, the piglet, was born on a free-range farm to a loving mother sow who sang to Paz and her siblings while they suckled. Childhood provided many pleasures to the litter of piglets. Paz’s mother sometimes gave her long belly rubs with the soft part of her snout. Paz felt love through her mother’s sensitive snout, with its muscles flexible and strong, kneading Paz’s belly and back until she felt completely relaxed and pleased with life. Mother taught the piglets how to use their snouts to dig for roots, worms, and other tasty items buried underground. Paz wiggled her snout, smelling all the things in the nearby environment: the grass, the food in the trays, the water trough, the lovely flowers, the smelly dog on the other side of the fence, and the wily cat sleeping on top of the food bin, among many other things nearby. Her sensitive snout twitched with pleasure when Paz found a grub just under the leaves on the far side of the pen.

🐷

When the sun rose to noontime, the piglets rolled in the water, getting happily muddied with all their jumping, rolling, and playing in the fun pool. The mud cooled the skin, protected against the sun's burning rays, and repelled bugs from biting. The piglets loved the romps in the muddy water. Tired from play, they huddled with their sensitive snouts snuggling each other’s snouts and slept.

🌞

After the nap, the piglets waddled to the far side of the field to move their bowels and urinate. They tried to hold their breath in this toilet area, finding the odor unpleasant. Following this, they scurried to the feed area to see what the humans had left for them to eat. The sow mothers lay nearby as the piglets picked on the dried corn and soybeans, sprinkled with dried whey, vitamins, and minerals. Occasionally, a sweet fruit or vegetable appeared. Paz loved watermelon and spinach. However, nothing the humans gave them was anywhere near as good as Mama’s sweet milk. The piglets returned to suckle as their mother sang them songs of days gone by and times to come, preparing them for the inevitable when the humans would send her away in the truck of no return. Paz cried when she sang this song, unable to bear the thought of life without Mama.

💚

Paz trotted to the far side of the field to be alone with her thoughts. She had an excellent memory, as do most pigs, so she reflected on the various experiences of her life. She stared through the wire fence at the house where the humans lived. Sometimes, a little human would come to pet her nose. Paz tried to dig under the wall to explore the world on the other side, but the fence was deeply buried in the ground. She sat to listen to the music the human mother made, sounding like a waterfall with her voice singing along. Paz hummed in tune, wondering why she was born a pig, and not a human or bird. The dog wandered over and sat nearby, bringing her unpleasant odor. The dog’s long tongue lolled out of her mouth, cooling its body and revealing its yellow teeth. Such a dirty creature, Paz thought while making a few grunts and squeals that the dog understood as a “hello.” The dog whined and barked back. The cat meandered past Paz, rubbing her body against Paz’s leg to join in the conversation.

🐶😸

Paz grew tired of the view from the fence and sauntered back to the pen, where she saw her brothers and mother being herded away, led outside of the wall, to a truck. Mama looked back and grunted her final words of love, then squealed in dismay as she was stuck from behind with a stick, prodding her to enter the truck.

🚚

That night, only Paz’s sisters remained to huddle and sleep with their snouts together in an attempt to calm themselves from the trauma of losing their beloved mother and brothers. Paz dreamt that she was suckling from her mother, then walking alongside her and all her siblings in the pasture. Mama approached her in the dream, telling her to be kind, to follow the path of wisdom, and to enjoy life whenever possible. Paz awoke with a high-pitched squeal as tears rolled down her bristly face.

🐽

The next day, Paz lay by the far end of the pasture, wondering how she might escape the fenced area to go and find her mother. She dug until her snout was sore, failing to find a way out to freedom. She was so sad that even when the little human scratched her belly later that day, it didn’t feel as good as usual. The human mother sang from their home, and Paz was reminded of her Mama singing to them. Though Paz wasn’t hungry, she rooted in the ground and ate grubs, worms, and fungi at the far end of the fence. She went to the toilet and saw several unusual mushrooms growing there, along the border of the soiled area. They were clean and had capped, almost peaked tops, and smelled sweet and edible, so Paz gobbled these up. Yummy, so lovely!

🍄

In a short while, Paz’s skin began to tingle. She felt her snout extend to impossible lengths and smelled scents never known before. She could taste flowers without first eating them. The world stretched and pulsated in new ways and brighter colors. The usually quiet old maple tree spoke to her. “Paz, I enjoy your company. You bring me joy when you rub up against my bark.”

🌳

Paz responded, “I enjoy your bark scratching my skin. Why haven’t you spoken to me before?”

The maple’s leaves whispered in the wind, “I have, but you didn’t seem to hear me.”

Paz queried, “Do you know where my mother went?”

“No, I do not, but maybe the wise mycelial network knows. Let us ask them.” The maple sent the question through her roots, into the mycelial network, and a beautiful red mushroom grew up through the grass, alongside one of the maple’s large roots that extended gracefully out of the ground.

🍃

“Hello, Paz,” the mushroom crooned. I see you enjoyed a brethren, who opened your heart and eyes to the infinite. Paz grunted “hello” in response, then asked, “Where did my mother go?”

Wind blew, leaves fell, clouds passed overhead, and a few raindrops trickled, while the mushroom chanted a little song: 

🎶Breathe in, 
breathe out,
enjoy your snout. 
Humans will shorten 
your brief life, 
ending it quickly 
with a knife. 🎵

Paz gasped, “Are you saying the humans killed my mother?”

The wind whooshed, “yeeeesssss.”

“And my young brothers, too?”

The leaves whispered, “them tooooooo.”

“Oh me, oh my,” said Paz, “how horrible. We’re destined to be slaughtered by humans.“

🐓

A rooster crowed. Chickens cackled. A flock of crows cawed overhead. Cows mooed. The dog barked. Paz lay listening to all the sounds, so many sounds, and now the plants spoke as well.

🍄

The red mushroom warbled, “Be peaceful, a plan’s been made to extend your life. Earth needs your lovingkindness energy.”

Paz listened, excited to learn of a plan to escape the savage knife.

“Follow the purple leaf that will blow by you. Where it lands, the fence is shallow, and you can dig through underneath in that area. Then, follow along beneath the crows, who will show you which way to go. You will arrive at a fair, where a basket with a large balloon attached is waiting for you. Enter the basket. The balloon will take you to a forest where pigs live free.”

💜

Paz understood. When the purple leaf flew past, she quickly said goodbye to her new friends, the maple and red mushroom, and galloped off in pursuit of the guiding leaf. The purple leaf dropped alongside the fence. Paz dug under the wall at this spot, then pushed through to the other side. All her life, she had hoped to be free from the yard, to go and see the human house and listen to the human sing, and see what caused the beautiful musical sounds of water. But now she knew better than to approach the humans. Paz looked up at the crows and trotted along the ground underneath them. She crossed roads, avoiding a few cars that honked at her, and scrambled back into the protective brush until arriving at a large cleared area. Humans gathered on one side, where the odors of delectable foods reached Paz’s nose, which twitched in yearning to go there and taste those foods. She knew better and obeyed the red mushroom. Paz could hear the twittering of the mycelial network in her heart. She hurried toward the large balloon with the attached basket, climbed up the ladder alongside, and slid into the basket. She was able to see over the side if she stood on her hind legs and stretched herself. A squirrel arrived to chew through the ropes holding the basket to the ground. The basket shuddered, then lifted off, floating away with Paz watching from within. Humans ran toward the balloon, but they were too late. Paz floated steadily away.

🎈

The crows followed briefly, then left, but the mushroom spirit reappeared, telling Paz not to worry, to enjoy the flight, as with each moment of life. The mushroom asked the wind to blow Paz toward freedom. The gentle breezes blew steadily for several hours. Paz watched, listening to the wind caroling, the clouds chortling, and the raindrops dancing to the earth’s rhythms. Alternating scents of rose, lavender, lilac, gardenia, and jasmine perfused the air, tantalizing Paz’s snout and intoxicating her senses. A few Aquamarine Fairies waved their spritely wing hellos and made wind chime sounds as the balloon flew over by the taller trees. Paz passed over several blue bodies of water that warbled tidings of wisdom on how to live in the wild. Rainbows glistened with peaceful melodies. Large patches of corn yodeled messages of how to find scarce water when it only flowed underground. A majestic mountain dispatched the essence of life’s meaning into Paz’s open heart. She sighed, feeling grateful for the opportunities life had provided her.

🏔️🌳🧚🏽‍♂️

The breeze slowly abated, and the balloon began to drift gently downward. Paz saw a glorious, verdant forest. Trees chorused joyfully as Paz landed and exited the basket. Squirrels, mice, possums, and raccoons were the first to arrive and titter their hellos. Birds sang overhead. The deer gracefully passed by to see the newcomer and warn of the cougar who stalked at night. “You’ll be safe when you find your own kind,“ the largest deer with awesome antlers grunted with a burping sound at the newly arrived pig. Paz wandered into the forest, following the deer, as the balloon lifted off on the breezes that carried it away.

🦌🐖

A rustling noise emerged from the nearby scrub. The deer leapt away. Paz snorted the pleasant scent of pigs, but felt unsure of what to do in the new environment. She sat quietly, waiting, hiding in a hollow trunk. Several pink and brown snouts poked out, followed by round faces and leaf-shaped ears. Pigs! Yippee! Paz jumped out, scurried over, and rubbed snouts with her new family. They sniffed, caressed snouts, massaged up against one another, and then scuttled off into the brush, living happily ever after in the fabulous forest, feasting on the abundance of natural food available. No humans came into these woods, and the cougar knew better than to mess with a drove of pigs! Trees danced in the breeze, and the mycelial networks sang praise to the ever-present infinite pulsation of life, love, and wisdom.

💚

---

🌈💦

💚🎶🎵