Oh, How Guinea Pigs Multiply: ‘Pigs Is Pigs’

Ellis Parker Butler's story of how dishonesty makes a bigger problem

Guinea pigs cause a big problem for the Interurban Express Company in Ellis Parker Butler's story, "Pigs Is Pigs." Double portrait of Henrietta Ward’s Pet Guinea Pig," 1843, by James Ward. Public Domain

In his poem “Marmion,” Walter Scott says: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave ... when first we practice to deceive.” When dishonesty leads us in all that we do, even in small things, it will eventually overwhelm and consume us.

In his short story “Pigs Is Pigs,” Ellis Parker Butler shows, in following the gradual, growing journey of two guinea pigs, that dishonesty does not bring good results.

Two Pigs

After ordering two guinea pigs for his son, Mr. Morehouse goes to the Interurban Express Company to pick them up. However, the agent, Mike Flannery, tries to charge him the livestock rate of 30 cents rather than the pet rate of 25 cents.