Young Writers Society

"Professor Harinstair," said little eight-year old Timmy one lovely afternoon in the park, "I've heard some of the big kids say something about pigging out. What does that mean?"

The old man in his classy suit cleared his throat. "Well, Timmy, the art of pigging out is actually very fascinating to know."

"How so, Professor?" The boy's blue eyes widened and gleamed.

"Let me see," said Professor Harinstair. "It all began in the year 876. There was this one young man named Heritonius. He owned a farm and he had to work a lot. He had to milk the cows every morning, he had to feed the chickens and horses. He had to make sure that the other animals that he owned were all right, because they could get bitten by ticks and all sorts of nasty insects. He had to chop up wood, he had to clean his animals, he even sometimes had to repair his house, as it had seen some wear and tear. Heritonius had done all the work for the past five years or so.

"But one day, while resting in his bed, he said to himself, 'I really need a nice break, just for once. Then I can go back to working.' But how would he spend his break? Well, Heritonius looked at the pigs in his farm and saw them rolling around in mud, while eating their food voraciously like a little child. He had inspired to spend his break 'acting like a pig, but in a more civilized manner', he said

"Heritonius waited before he could do his vacation, because he still had lots of work to do. But, it seemed as if luck had befallen him. On a cloudy Thursday morning, he had no work to do. So, he went to his pantry, brought out most of his food, the food being bread, dried meat, pastries, fruits, and wine. He sat on his feather couch 'like a slob', as most people nowadays would say. He began to eat, sleep, eat, and sleep again. He greatly enjoyed it. Oh! he was filled with so much happiness. Then, in the evening, he cleaned his couch and jars of food and went back to his own bed and in the morning, he resumed to his daily life. He actually never pigged out again. One pigging out was all he needed.

"Timmy, sometimes after working hard, you have to do something like this. Your body need to relax. So, that was how the art of pigging out originated."

"Wow, Professor," said Timmy, "that was an amazing story. I should tell that to Daddy, since he always works. I bet he would like to sit on his couch 'like a slob', have a box of popcorn at his side, and just watch a movie. He would be like Heritonius. Do a lot of people do that? Pigging out?"

"Some people do. It's their way of relaxing."

"How did the name of 'pigging out' first started?"

"In the 1800's, a man, whose name is unknown, was studying about Heritonius and his act. He said that 'his act should be a verb. Pigging out officially means: sitting down like an uncivilized person and eating voraciously, but not so much as being gluttonous'."