This charming half-whitewashed cottage is the home of a truffleman. As everyone knows, truffles and pigs go together, so our cottager is also a pigkeeper. Two of his charges are surveying the world over the half-doors of their sty, which is an integral part of the cottage. Before you express concern at the close proximity of the pigs to the living quarters, rid your mind of notions about pigs being dirty, smelly and stupid, for they are none of these.
   According to the truffleman, they are the cleanest of animals and as intelligent -- if not more so -- than dogs. Their sense of smell has made them invaluable for sniffing out truffles, and it is this ability for which our truffleman prizes them. For over the past twenty years, he has trained many pigs as truffle hunters.
   As a young man, he travelled to France, and it was there that a kindly truffleman initiated him into the mysteries of his craft and, moreover, gave him a parting gift of two piglets who were to become the foundation of his very lucrative living.