Times were incredibly tough on the farm, so a struggling farmer decided he had to take his five prize female pigs to the county fair to see if he could turn a profit.
While at the fair, he struck up a conversation with another farmer who happened to own five healthy male pigs. After a bit of negotiating over a few drinks, they struck a brilliant deal: they would mate the pigs and split all the future piglet profits exactly 50/50.
There was only one major obstacle: the two farmers lived a whopping 60 miles apart.
To make it fair, they agreed to meet exactly halfway—driving 30 miles each morning to let the pigs spend time together in a secluded country field.
The very next morning, the first farmer woke up at 5:00 a.m. sharp. He painstakingly loaded all five of his heavy female pigs into the back of the family station wagon—which, unfortunately, was the only vehicle he owned—and drove the 30 miles to the meeting spot.
While the pigs were out in the field doing their business, the first farmer turned to the owner of the male pigs and asked, “Hey, tell me… how on earth am I going to know if this experiment actually worked and they are pregnant?”
The second farmer smiled and replied, “Oh, it’s easy. Just look out your window tomorrow morning. If they’re happily lying in the green grass, they’re pregnant. But if they’re just wallowing around in the mud, they’re not.”
The next morning, the farmer woke up, looked out the window, and groaned. Sure enough, all five pigs were covered in muck, wallowing in the mud. So, he sighed, loaded them all back into the station wagon, and drove another 30 miles to meet the other farmer.
The following morning, he checked again. Once more, they were rolling around in the mud. Frustrated but determined, he loaded them into the station wagon for a third time and made the brutal 30-mile trek.
On the fourth morning, the exhausted farmer just couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed. He nudged his wife and whispered, “Honey, do me a huge favor. Look out the bedroom window and tell me… are the pigs lying in the grass, or are they lying in the mud?”
The wife looked out the window, blinked in total disbelief, and said:
“Well, darling… they aren’t in the grass, and they aren’t in the mud. Four of them are already sitting perfectly in the back of the station wagon, and the fifth one is honking the horn!”
