Renaming

By Zeng Ying

The pigsty has become restless recently.There has been a piece of bad news going around that had faintly come in from the outside.It was being said that there exists a horrible place known as the slaughterhouse where pigs’ lives are terminated and then they are turned into meat.

On hearing the story,the pigs felt that life was bleak and hopeless.One by one they started going on hunger strikes,hoping to slow down their growth.They did their best to grow as little of their baneful meat as possible and some even directly started working out doing slimming exercises.

The owner of the pig farm started getting anxious.He racked his brains,pondering how to find a quick simple fix to this problem that was killing their profits.

The owner’s son said,“This is simple.The only thing the pigs are concerned about is what they’ve heard.The most important thing is to change their understanding of what a slaughterhouse is.”

He hired a computer animator to design a model of a theme park to be used in a promotional film for the slaughterhouse.In the film the slaughterhouse was renamed “Piggy Paradise,” electric shocks were called “physiotherapy,” skinning was called “clothes removal,” the blood pit was known as the “Red River Bend,” and the freezer was renamed the “Frozen World.”

Then came a slogan at the end,“All of this is in service of the pigs.”

They set this to a scene of a proud looking,big eyed,attractive female pig,swinging her thick waist,doing a hula dance,coyly saying,“Serve the Pigs! Serve the Pigs!”

The film played twenty-four hours a day in the piggery.The pigs watched it and their blood raced,they yearned for the Piggy Paradise.They wished that they could put on one hundred kilograms over night,that way they could have their wishes fulfilled in three days.

The disturbance had been quelled.The pigs went back to their calm,happy,lovely lives.

Since then,whenever rumors spread around saying bad things about the slaughterhouse,the pigs will retort,calling the one talking an idiot,“Think about it.If that place isn’t a paradise,then how come grandma,grandpa and all your uncles and aunts that have already gone there don’t want to come back?”

(From the Official WeChat Account: The World Through Zeng Ying’s Eyes.Translation: Sam Bowden)