Honk and the Mysterious Oink
Honk the pig had a problem. It wasn't a big problem. It wasn't a serious problem. But it was a very confusing problem. Every morning, somebody kept saying “Oink!” and Honk could never find out who it was.
Now, this might not sound strange. After all, Honk was a pig.
Pigs said, “Oink.”
But Honk didn't. Honk said, “Honk.”
Nobody knew why. His mother oinked, his father oinked, and his cousins oinked. But Honk said, “HONK!” every single time.
So, one sunny morning, he heard a mysterious “Oink!” behind him. He spun around immediately. Nobody. Just a wheelbarrow.
Honk narrowed his eyes. “Interesting.”
A few minutes later, “Oink!” Honk jumped. There it was again. He looked behind the fence. Nothing. He looked under the bush. Nothing. He even looked inside a watering can. Nothing. “Hmm.”
The next day, Honk came prepared. He hid behind a hay bale. And waited. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Then, “Oink!” Honk leapt out dramatically. “Aha!” Unfortunately, he had forgotten he was standing on top of the hay bale. His hooves slipped. The hay shifted. And WHOOMPH! The entire bale rolled down the hill with Honk clinging to the top like a very surprised passenger.
At the bottom, he landed in a pile of soft straw. “Oof.” Then he heard giggling. Tiny giggling. Honk looked up. Three sparrows were sitting on a fence. The middle sparrow puffed out its chest. “Oink!” it chirped perfectly. The other two burst out laughing.
Honk stared. “You?”
“Oink!” said the sparrow again. Honk couldn't believe it. For days he had been searching; he had been puzzled. And it had been a tiny bird all along. The sparrow looked very proud of itself.
Honk thought for a moment. Then he smiled. And gave the loudest,
“HONK!” the farm had ever heard.
The sparrows nearly fell off the fence. The chickens flapped in alarm. A nearby sheep sneezed. And Honk laughed so hard he rolled into the straw again.
From then on, the sparrow would chirp “Oink!” And Honk would answer, “HONK!” Neither knew why. But both thought it was hilarious.