A Day No Pigs Would Die Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Summary

From the very moment that Robert arrives back at the Peck farm, he talks about Rutland nonstop. The first words out of his mouth are, "Pinky won a blue ribbon Papa," and Haven reminds him about his manners, in case he has forgotten to thank the Tanners altogether. After thanks are extensively exchanged, father and son head inside, where Mrs. Peck is waiting with apple pie. From then until Mrs. Peck chases him to go to bed, Robert talks about Rutland nonstop. Now the expert on the place, he comments, "It's not so big. What sets you back is the noise," and even goes so far as to demonstrate how he handled Bib and Bob in the ring by walking around the kitchen three times.

In the night, Robert hears the hens in the henhouse outside start cackling and sees a light go on in his parent's room, but he is too exhausted by the day's excitement to wake up and find out what had happened. In the morning while milking daisy, Haven walks into the house with a dead chicken and explains that a weasel has been in the coup last night. He then takes Robert to the tackroom and shows Robert the scoundrel imprisoned in a burlap sack. Robert remembers that Ira Long, Mrs. Bascom's hired man, has a young terrier, and they decide to call on him to see if he wants to have his dog "weaseled."

Later that afternoon, Ira rides up to the Peck farm in his wagon and hands Robert his terrier, whose name is Hussy. Ira introduces himself to Haven and tells him that he has not yet tried his young dog on a weasel. Robert then asks if weaseling dogs is merely done for sport or if there is a purpose to it. Haven explains that weaseling is a good thing because, once a dog has had a fight with a weasel, it will hunt down and kill any weasel that ever comes near its territory.

Satisfied, Robert and the others head for the tackroom, and ,as soon as Hussy gets inside, she starts to shiver and the bag with the weasel inside starts to convulse. "I've got an idea she'll make a good weasel dog," Ira tells them, and Robert volunteers to go and get a barrel from the basement. When everything is ready, Ira puts Hussy into the barrel, and Haven instructs Robert to slam the lid on and hold it tight after he dumps the weasel in on top. Robert does exactly as he is told, and as soon as the lid goes on, the barrel starts shaking so hard that Ira long has to come over and help hold it upright.

After a lot of screaming, thumping, and biting sounds, the barrel starts shaking, and Robert opens the lid. As soon as he does so, the dog lets out a cry that Robert will remember to his dying day. It was, "the kind of sound you hear and never want to hear again," as Robert describes it. The dog is alive, but just barely, and the weasel is torn to bits. Ira reaches in to take Hussy out, but she bares her teeth and bites him hard, tearing open his hand. Her front paw is almost completely gone, with only bits of bone still showing.

"Kill her," Robert says, and when Ira responds in disbelief, he tells Ira that Hussy is dying and that the merciful thing to do would be to kill her. Ira remains, unsure of what to do, and Haven replies that he will kill Hussy to put her out of her misery.

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