Once upon a time in time, near the horizon of the universe, where the Crimson River flows, lived a Pig. This pig was not an ordinary pig, yet it was ordinary enough. He had four eyes, but he saw nothing. He had large ears, not large like an elephant but large enough. He raised his ear when a gust of wind brushed against him, but he never heard anything. Like every other pig, he was covered in mud and dirt and always had a pouted mouth. Nonetheless, he was the pig who lived on the banks of the Crimson River.
Some people believed he was a pig from the other side of the river. But this pig was the only pig on this side of the river. He was the only being on this side of the river. Nothing had ever crossed the great wild Crimson River. There was no being, and nothing was on this side of the river, just the riverbank where the pig lived. One might think the pig would have been lonely and alone. He might have been if he ever got the time. But this pig was always busy running.
The pig was busy running away from the river. The pig ran and ran all day and slept when he got tired. However, whenever he woke up, he ended up startled. He jumped in fear, squealed, and started running again. And he ran so fast that a cry always followed when he stopped. This cry was the pig’s squeal, which could scare daylight out of anyone. Only that there was no one to get the heebie-jeebies, nor was there any light or, for that matter, day.
Then, tired from all the running, the pig will lay down and fall asleep. But, again, whenever he woke up, the same thing happened. Now, there’s no knowing of when he woke up because there was no day. The pig always thought that the river was following him. As time passed, though it was the same time every time, the pig became more and more afraid. Who won’t be scared if a river starts following them? Then, this was the wild Crimson River.
Now, I will tell you a secret passed on to me by someone who heard it during a journey to where I don’t know. The pig was not running away from the river but parallel to it. So, no matter how much the pig ran, he was always near the river. No one knows whether he’ll reach the sea if there’s any, or the beginning. Some say that no one has ever crossed the Crimson River, not even the four-eyed pig. They say the pig was on a strip of land between the wild waters. Though these are all assumptions, whether or not the pig crossed the river or whether or not the river followed remains unknown today. Legend says the pig still wakes up and runs away from the river, but the river still catches it.
