When Pigs Fly
“When pigs
fly” is an adynaton, an absurd figure of speech to describe an action or
event that will never happen. But in literature, there are several examples of
pigs that take action or participate in events, and a few indeed fly.
In
real life in 2020, pigs are flying…on commercial airlines!
A
consequence of less people on flights is that airline companies are repurposing
their planes to take pigs around the globe. That’s right – the cargo bays of
jets are transporting more animals than ever before, especially hogs to China.
In addition to the flight crew, animal handlers are on board to monitor the
pigs’ temperaments and to fill the porcine sipper bottles. The only drawback,
according to handlers, is the distasteful aroma of even the cleanest and most
scrubbed-down porcine.
Returning
to the idea of pigs in literature, most western kids grow up reading or at
least hearing about The Three Little Pigs. In recent years, children may
have read The Three Little Javelinas, where the story is recast with
wild boars of the Southwestern US. They build their home using tumbleweed,
saguaro ribs, and adobe. A coyote huffs and puffs to blow the house down instead
of a wolf. And there’s The Three Ninja Pigs intended to take literary swine
to ninja fans. And in Today I Will Fly, Piggie is determined to fly.
But
the best example of pigs in literature is perhaps Animal Farm.
If George Orwell were writing Animal Farm
today, would he have Napoleon and Snowball argue about taking over the future
of aviation, placing pigs in the cockpit, having flight attendants take
alcoholic drinks to the passengers in first class? Would it be Mr. Jones who
would be in the cargo bay?
Would
Orwell have the common animals in coach peering into first class and the
cockpit, and realize they could no longer differentiate the swine from the
humans?
Leaving
Orwell aside, I can see Noah’s Ark becoming Noah’s Jet. Instead of embarking on
a boat, the giraffes, elephants, chipmunks, bears, antelopes, horses, birds,
and remaining critters could simply board a Boing 777 or an Airbus A330, and fly
off to higher ground until the flood waters recede.
Personally,
I will never get on another jet without wondering if unpleasant odors will rise
from the cargo
bay. For that, I already have my mask ready!
Do you have your mask?
***
The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNF17G
Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.
Book Credits:
The Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs, first published on
June 19, 1890
The Three Little Javelinas by Susan
Lowell/Illustrated by
Jim Harris
The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz/Illustrated by Dan Santat
Today I Will Fly by author/illustrator Mo Willems
Photo Credits:
Flying Pigs by BugMan50 – licensed
under CC BY-NC 2.0
Animal Farm book cover – Public
Domain
Flying Pig Mask – Public Domain
Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye
Marrs