A farmer reads in the almanac that it’s more profitable to raise pigs than corn. He has a good-lookin’ sow out back, and he figures that it’s time that she earn her keep. So he loads her in the wheelbarrow and carts her down the road to another farm where they have a rather large boar that they rent out for stud service. A sign above the boar’s pen advertises a five-dollar service, an ten-dollar service, and a fifteen-dollar service. The farmer, being the frugal man that he is, decides on the five dollar service. So into the pen goes the sow.
A little while later, the farmer is carting the sow back up the road to his farm. The next morning, the farmer, who doesn’t know much about biology, wakes up, looks out the window, and is terribly disappointed not to see piglets running around. So he goes downstairs and once again loads the sow in the wheelbarrow. As he did just the day before, he carts her down the road to farm with the rather large boar and decides to spring for the ten-dollar service. Into the pen goes the sow.
A little while later, the farmer is carting the sow back up the road to his farm. The next morning, the farmer is once again terribly disappointed not to see piglets running around. Not to be denied, he loads the sow in the wheelbarrow and heads back down the road, this time convinced that the fifteen-dollar service will do the trick. Into the pen goes the sow.
A little while later, the farmer is carting the sow back up the road to his farm. The next morning, the farmer is so confident that there will be a litter of piglets running about, he sends his wife to look out the window. He calls out to his wife, "Any piglets?" She hollers back, "No, but the sow’s in the wheelbarrow.