Once upon a time there was a very poor harvest and Tortoise and his wife had no food and no money to buy food. No one would lend them any money because they knew that Tortoise never paid anything back. One day, however, Tortoise went to see Pig. 'Pig', he said, 'perhaps you do not recognize me. I am so thin that you probably think I am a ghost or a shadow. Indeed, if I do not eat soon I shall become a ghost. And my wife is even weaker than I am. We have not eaten for four days and we are both dying. Please, Pig, please lend me some money to bury my wife because she will certainly die soon.'
Pig felt sorry for Tortoise and lend him some money. Time passed and Tortoise made no effort to repay it. Every day Pig went to Tortoise's house but Tortoise made one excuse after another. Each day he promised to repay the money soon but he always found some means of avoiding payment. Eventually, Pig lost patience and threatened to take Tortoise to court if the money was not repaid by the following day.
Tortoise was terrified. He had no money. He knew that he could not borrow any more, yet he did not want to go to jail. Throughout the night he thought and thought. When morning came he called his wife and told her that he needed her help. 'Today, when you are grinding corn, I want you to use me instead of your 'ngaw' (grinding stone). You will use me like a grinding stone. If Pig comes in you must not say a word. If he asks a question, don't answer him. No matter what he says you must be silent. Say absolutely nothing but continue to grind your corn using me as your 'ngaw'.
Mammy Tortoise agreed to follow her husband's instructions. She picked him up and began to use him like an 'ngaw.' She sang merrily as she ground her corn with her husband's back. At the appointed time Pig arrived. He knocked at the door, walked in and asked, 'where is your husband?'
Mammy Tortoise merely turned her head, looked at him and continued grinning. Pig spoke to her again, but this time she did not even look at him. This behavior infuriated pig. No matter what he said she continued to grind. 'Stop grinding corn, 'he shouted.
Mammy Tortoise paid no attention to him. In desperation he grabbed her 'ngaw', threw it outside and said, 'now you'll have to stop grinding!'
Mammy Tortoise began to shout. She shouted and cried and made a great deal of noise.
In the meantime her husband had fallen outside. He was unhurt and simply shook the dust off his back before walking in to the house.
'What's going on? He demanded. ' What's the matter, my dear?' He asked his wife.
Mammy Tortoise replied that she had been alone in the house grinding corn. She had been minding her own business. Pig had come in and, although she had not quarreled with him, he had flung her 'ngaw outside.
'I don't know what to do,' she lamented, 'because I had only one 'ngaw' and I don't know where to get another.' And she continued to cry.
Tortoise looked at pig very sternly. 'Pig,' he said coldly, 'go outside and find my wife's 'ngaw' and don't come back without it. I shall only return your money when you return my wife's grinding stone.'
Pig went outside and looked everywhere but he could not find the grinding stone. He put his mouth close to the ground and called out,' Ngaw, ngaw', where are you ngaw?'
But he never found it, and that is the reason why, even today, pigs walked about with their snouts close to the ground grunting, 'Ngaw, ngaw, ngaw, ngaw, ngaw. . . . .
Loreto Todd