Show murple HUNTING an inhere account of the way vy it t Is 1 done in southern france while the author of wanderings by southern waters was in the south of france he engaged an old man to show him how truffles fles were wera gathered at the appointed hour the man appeared with a pig walking by his side an ugly looking beast with an arched back and a long turned up nose it was tour four years old and in the language of the place was quite serious As a mark of bisti distinction nation it wore a leather collar the three hunters the two men and the pig climbed the rocky side of a steep gorge and came out upon a plateau here under the oak trees they were to fund find the truffles fles which grow only near oaks or hazels at a sign from the old man the pig began sniffing about the roots of a little tree and then proceeded to dig with her nose tossing up the larger stones as if they were feathers she had smelt a truffle and the man seized her by the ear for hermannes her manner was sus 1 I pl cloas this was them the arst farst time they had been out oat together since the last season and the pig had forgotten part of her eda education cation she manages to get a truffle into her mouth ile he tugs at her ear with one hand and uses his stick upon her n nose ose with the other the pig screams with an anger ger but will not open her jaws wide enough to let him slip the stick inside an and d hook out the tr truffle bruffie uffie the prize is s shallow ed and the old man fo forgetful of all decorum calls his hib assistant a pig which in france is always an insult the game has opened badly although one of the parties concerned is of a different opinion in a few minutes however a second truffle is found and this time the old man mab delivers a whack on the pigs nose node at the right moment and seizing the mushroom hands it to me then he be takes from his pocket an ear of corn and picking off a few grains gives them to the pig by way of soothing her injured feelings and encouraging her to go on with the hunt we ve move about in the dry open wood keeping always near the trees and truffle after truffle is turned up from the reddish light soil her forgotten training soon comes back to the pig at a were mere twitch of the ear she retires at the right moment and waits for the corn which is invariably given her in exchange for the truffle before we leave the ground indeed she has got so well into the work that on finding a truffle she does not attempt to seize it but points to it and grunts for its equivalent in maize |