Babe

On a quiet English sheep farm, the talkative Mrs. Hogget hears loud squealing from the valley below and urges her husband to investigate at the Village Fair. Farmer Hogget, a man of very few words, finds the source: a small piglet in a "Guess my weight" pen. Every time someone picks the piglet up, it screams, but when Hogget lifts it, the animal stays perfectly still. He guesses its weight at 31 and a quarter pounds and leaves before the weighing. That evening, the Vicar telephones to say Hogget has won. Mrs. Hogget immediately begins planning how to butcher the pig for Christmas.

At the farm, Fly, Hogget's black-and-white sheepdog, has been training her four puppies to herd ducks. When the puppies ask what a pig is, Fly tells them people eat pigs because pigs are stupid, though she privately admits she has never known one. Hogget places the piglet in a stall in the stables. When Fly and the puppies peer in, the piglet stands his ground with quiet dignity, tells Fly his breed is Large White, and says his mother called all her piglets "Babe." At the mention of his family, Babe grows upset and says he wants his mother. Fly decides to foster him, climbing into the stall and curling around him. When Hogget later calls Fly out, Babe follows so closely that his snout touches her tail. The farmer commands Fly to sit, and Babe sits too, leaving Hogget speechless.

Fly gives Babe a tour of the farm and teaches him the rules she taught her puppies: avoid the turkey cock, do not chase chicks or eat eggs, and never enter the farmhouse. Babe adopts dog-like habits so thoroughly that Hogget half expects the piglet to wag its tail. One by one, Fly's puppies are sold to sheep farmers. Babe, having watched them boast about becoming sheepdogs, asks Fly why he cannot learn to be a "sheep-pig."

Fly teaches Babe basic sheepdog commands and sets him to practice on the ducks, but he struggles. When he suggests asking them politely, Fly dismisses the idea, insisting that dogs must dominate. Soon after, Hogget pens a lame old ewe in the stables for treatment. Babe introduces himself over the straw bales. The ewe, whom Babe calls Ma, initially mistakes him for a "wolf," her word for any dog, but warms to him when she realizes he is a pig. Ma tells Babe that sheep are not stupid; they simply get confused. If a well-mannered creature like him were to ask politely, she says, she would be delighted to cooperate. Babe keeps this secret and plans to visit the flock.

On market day, Babe trots up the hill to see the sheep, but two rustlers with a cattle truck and two strange collies are already driving Hogget's flock toward the vehicle. Swept along with the panicking animals, Babe finds Ma and learns the men are sheep stealers. He jumps onto the tailgate and politely begs the sheep to stop, addressing them as "dear sensible sheep." His unexpected appearance breaks the dogs' hold on the flock. When a rustler's dog attacks him, Babe squeals at the top of his voice, and the chaos ruins the theft. The rustlers flee empty-handed. When Hogget returns, Mrs. Hogget credits Babe with saving every sheep and declares he will never be butchered. Hogget smiles in agreement.

The next morning, Hogget invites Babe on his rounds. When Fly is sent to move the flock, the sheep refuse and chant "We want Babe!" Curious, Hogget commands, "Away to me, Pig," the signal to circle wide to the right around the sheep. Babe executes a perfect outrun, sweeping around the flock to settle behind them, and lies down without further instruction. He greets the sheep politely and asks them to walk to the pen. The flock moves calmly through the gate in perfect order. Hogget tells himself the pig is better than any dog.

Hogget gradually shifts all herding duties to Babe, while Fly, aging and happy to rest, watches proudly. Babe masters every task through polite requests. Hogget begins to envision entering Babe in sheepdog trials, competitions in which a handler directs an animal to guide sheep through a series of gates, separate specific animals in a shedding ring, and pen them, all under time pressure. He takes Babe and Fly to observe a local trial. Babe watches dogs struggle with unfamiliar sheep and concludes they simply were not polite enough. Back at the farm, Hogget builds a practice course. Babe's short legs make him slower than a dog, so Fly puts him on a strict regimen of diet and exercise. He grows lean, muscular, and fast.

One morning, Babe discovers two stray dogs attacking the flock in the far field. The dogs have brought down a ewe. Babe charges, driving both dogs away with his powerful bite, but when he returns to the fallen ewe, he discovers it is Ma. She speaks weakly and dies. Hogget and Fly arrive to find Babe standing over the body with blood on his snout from licking Ma's torn ear. Hogget assumes the worst, sends Babe home, and retrieves his shotgun. He is about to shoot Babe when Mrs. Hogget relays a police warning about two sheep-worrying dogs in the district. Hogget notices dog hairs on Babe's mouth, realizes the truth, and puts the gun away. Meanwhile, Fly forces herself to speak politely to the sheep for the first time in her life to learn what happened. The flock confirms Babe was the hero.

Grateful for Babe's courage, the Hoggets invite him into the farmhouse to sleep by the stove. Hogget secretly enters Babe in the Grand Challenge Sheepdog Trials, the country's most prestigious competition, writing "Pig" as the entry name. Fly, recognizing that unfamiliar sheep may bolt at the sight of a pig, visits the flock and asks for help. The sheep reveal an ancient password all lambs learn from their mothers, a rhyme signaling that the speaker respects their kind: "I may be ewe, I may be ram, / I may be mutton, may be lamb, / But on the hoof or on the hook, / I bain't so stupid as I look" (91). Fly tells Babe to memorize it.

On trial day, Hogget drives 100 miles with Fly and a freshly scrubbed Babe. Conditions are terrible: driving rain, strong wind, and no competitor scores above 85 out of 100. Hogget is last. He walks to the handler's post, the marker where the handler must stand during the run, with Fly at his side, then sends her back. Babe canters out from the Land Rover to stand beside Hogget, stunning the crowd into silence. The judges find nothing in the rules prohibiting a pig. Hogget sends Babe on his outrun, and as Babe runs, he shouts the sheep password so the 10 strange sheep hear it before he reaches them. They hold steady. Babe introduces himself, explains the entire course, and asks the sheep to stay tight and walk through each gate's center.

The sheep march in perfect formation through the Fetch Gates, around the Handler's Post, through the Drive Away Gates and the Cross Drive Gates, and into the Shedding Ring, completing each stage without a single deviation. Hogget stands motionless throughout. Babe gives one deep grunt and the four collared sheep calmly separate. After Hogget opens the final pen, all 10 march in. The scorecards show 100 out of 100, a perfect score never before achieved. The crowd erupts. Mrs. Hogget, watching on television, pours out praise. In the celebration, Hogget bends down, scratches Babe between his great ears, and repeats the traditional words a handler says when the job is done: "That'll do. That'll do" (112).