noon
The grunting of the hogs awakened me , a little before dawn . I went to the pen , and as soon as I opened the hatch they rushed out in a crowd , all but upsetting me as they jostled against my legs . Then , after listening for a while after they had vanished into the undergrowth and darkness , I crept back to my couch and slept . That day , though the sun was rising before I awoke again and broke fast , I caught up with it before noon : that is to say , with the work I had promised myself to accomplish . Before sunset I had scraped over and cleaned the entire area of the sty . Also I had fetched fern in handfuls and strewn the floor of the hut , which was now dry and clean to the smell . In the evening I blew my horn for the hogs , and they returned to their pen obediently as the Princess had promised .