A _Country-Fellow_ and a _Hog_.
In a Certain Countrey where it was the Custom for any Man that
Kill’d a _Hog_, to invite the Neighborhood to Supper with him; a
_Curmudgeonly-Fellow_ that had a _Hog_ to Kill, advised with One of his
Companions how he might save the Charge of that Supper. Why (says he) do
but give it out to Morrow Morning, that the _Hog_ was Stollen the Night
before; set a good Face on’t, and your Work is done. Away goes this Man
Open-Mouth, next Morning, Bawling it about, that his _Hog_ was Stollen.
_Right, Right_, says his Camarade, _Roar it out as I bad you_. Ay, but
says the _Hog-Merchant_, with Damned Oaths and Imprecations, My _Hog_
is Stoll’n in Good Earnest. _Upon my Life_, says t’other, _thou dost it
Rarely_. So the one _Swore on_, and the other _Fool’d on_, till in the
Conclusion the Churle found he was Banter’d out of his _Hog_; for the
_Hog_ was Stollen indeed.
The MORAL.
_Penny Wise, and Pound Foolish._