"Can we pay for the bread?" said the pig.
"Oh, that you can do," said the Little Red Hen.
And Pig had bread and cheese that evening.
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"Can we pay for the bread?" said the pig.
"I do not understand what those strange metal discs in your hands are," said the Little Red Hen.
"They're coins," said the goat. "You can trade them for things."
"What if I give you the bread," said the Little Red Hen, "and then try to trade the coins for someone else's stuff and they say no? So I'm saying no to the coins."
And Pig and Goat went hungry that evening.
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"Can we pay for the bread?" said the Pig.
"With what?" said the Little Red Hen.
"Credit," said the Goat. "We promise we will make something nice and give it to you if you let us eat the bread."
"And I am to believe," said the Little Red Hen, "that you would be any less lazy than you have been all through the growing season? Ha! Not a chance."
And Pig and Goat went hungry that evening.
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"Can we pay for the bread?" said the Pig.
"No we can't," said the Goat. "We've got nothing."
"We're going to go awful hungry this evening," said the Pig.
"Tell you what," said the Little Red Hen. "I give you some of the bread, you help me sow the winter wheat, we'll call it even."
"Deal," said Pig and Goat.
And Pig and Goat and Hen had bread and cheese that evening.
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"Can we pay for the bread?" said the Pig.
"No we can't," said Goat. "We have neither coin nor reputation."
"Tell you what," said the Little Red Hen. "I give you the bread, and you work for me in whatever capacity I see fit, for as long as I like."
Pig and Goat looked at each other skeptically. But then their stomachs both growled.
And Pig and Goat and Hen had bread that evening, though Pig and Goat ate a bit less of it, because they were eyeing the Little Red Hen, wary of what she would make them do.
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"Can we pay for the bread?" said the Pig.
"You two must be newcomers to this Kibbutz," said the Little Red Hen. "You work for your bread, you don't pay for it. If you're new I don't mind going easy on you. Just get your ass in gear from now on, alright?"
And Pig and Goat had bread and cheese that evening.
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"Can we have some of that bread?" said the Pig.
"I get to pick the toppings," said the Little Red Hen.
"Never mind," said Goat.