Here is Lissie's story as told by her friend Melangell to Lady Edith, guinea pig nurse in charge of the residents at Gertie's Lonely Guinea Pig Rescue in Newcastle.
"Hi, Lady Edith! It's me, Melangell 'Sweet Angel'.
Llelo ('Little Llewelyn', in memory of the legendary Tribe founder according to mummy) and I had been planning for a special carrot cava and dandelion cake party for Brathlys' 4th Gotcha Day (adoption anniversary) in 10 days but Lissie got the call yesterday and snook away to the Rainbow Bridge in the middle of the night, making sure that she carried some hay in her mouth for the journey and had a belly full of fresh grass.
Brathlys has become very, very frail over the last few weeks and has taken full possession of the fleece cave with a regularly exchanged warm snugglesafe underneath (which I took rather personally, to be honest), sticking her head out like a turtle in order to not miss anything. She never did and, oh my, did she complain when I had a taster (or two, or - OK - several) of the little treats mummy left at her doorstep!
Brathlys 'Scarlet Pimpernel', formerly Bingo at Gertie's - as she assured me - has gone totally blind with advanced cataracts in her last year but there was nothing wrong with her internal clock and her strong voice to remind mummy that she was running late again with meals.
Lissie was my honorary auntie when I came to live with her after her losing her Alan 'Coltsfoot', who must have been one handsome hunk specially designed to make her fall in love with him after she managed to fend off the whole boy section single-pawedly with her flying tackles while at Gertie's (that was in Miss Edith's day, though) by what Lissie told me. And biting every hand in the nearly six months she was stuck in Gertie's after her family had moved out - lock, stock and piggy hutch - and had left her to fend for herself for weeks in the winter garden until a neighbour spotted her. I had to plaster myself against her to ease her shudders when she told me of those horrible weeks and the near misses with cats and foxes she had. Anyway, she had me and a bit later our widowed neighbour Llelo, too, as family for the last two years since Llelo is my own idea of a real dreamboat of a boar. She did a lot of screaming at first when we moved in with Llelo, which really confused him because he is a kind kind of a gentleboar, if you know what I mean. I do have taste and standards, after all.
Anyway, mummy did get Lissie to stop drawing blood when being handled within two weeks of her arrival with a spot of piggy whispering and she won her heart after adopting Alan specially for her and allowing her to be wooed by him in her own time (it was several weeks, whispers mummy). Lissie said that this made her to slowly trust other piggies and even humans again. Piggies, yes, but on the humans I am personally not so sure yet... I mean, yikes!
Lissie also told me that she was originally as bright an orange as the little wildflower mummy renamed her for but that she changed her coat colour in the most dramatic way to look more like her movie star first hubby. Not sure whether I should believe that one. I mean, Lissie had quite a lot of really whopping stories to tell but that sounds like one that has gone a bit too far, don't you think? I mean, going from bright orange to dark brown in the matter of just a few months?
Brathlys between December 2019 and August 2020
Lissie also disclosed to me that she was pignapped and driven all the way from Newcastle to a place in West Midlands by one of the rescue ladies on the way to a holiday in the Southwest after the rescue boys banded together and demanded she be kept away from them for good or they would hold Miss Edith for ransom. I am not quite sure just how much of that is true and just how much ransom was actually paid (Lissie maintains none and that she was just an innocent victim).
Anyway, Llelo, mummy and I have held a little wake with the carrot cava and dandelion cake already on standby for our little old auntie instead. Mummy has made this garden flower bouquet with orange crocosmia, white fragrant rosa rugosa, yellow cinquefoil and buddleia x weyeriana and all bright colours to match Lissie's personality and orange coat for the send off.
Lissie must have been around 6 years old. Not bad for an abandoned survivor in the wilds of the Northeast, eh? I have decided that I want to grow as old as Lissie. Just without the abandonment issues and the beating off the boar hordes bit of course but with the same appetite for life (the appetite is not so much a problem but my figure is; at least according to mummy). Fending off mummy on nail cutting day is enough excitement for me. And why change my coat when I have found the perfect boar match for myself...
Anyway, we are all going to miss Brathlys for a long time to come and will keep retelling her wild stories when we wake up in the middle of night while nibbling on some hay."
"Hi, Lady Edith! It's me, Melangell 'Sweet Angel'.
Llelo ('Little Llewelyn', in memory of the legendary Tribe founder according to mummy) and I had been planning for a special carrot cava and dandelion cake party for Brathlys' 4th Gotcha Day (adoption anniversary) in 10 days but Lissie got the call yesterday and snook away to the Rainbow Bridge in the middle of the night, making sure that she carried some hay in her mouth for the journey and had a belly full of fresh grass.
Brathlys has become very, very frail over the last few weeks and has taken full possession of the fleece cave with a regularly exchanged warm snugglesafe underneath (which I took rather personally, to be honest), sticking her head out like a turtle in order to not miss anything. She never did and, oh my, did she complain when I had a taster (or two, or - OK - several) of the little treats mummy left at her doorstep!
Brathlys 'Scarlet Pimpernel', formerly Bingo at Gertie's - as she assured me - has gone totally blind with advanced cataracts in her last year but there was nothing wrong with her internal clock and her strong voice to remind mummy that she was running late again with meals.
Lissie was my honorary auntie when I came to live with her after her losing her Alan 'Coltsfoot', who must have been one handsome hunk specially designed to make her fall in love with him after she managed to fend off the whole boy section single-pawedly with her flying tackles while at Gertie's (that was in Miss Edith's day, though) by what Lissie told me. And biting every hand in the nearly six months she was stuck in Gertie's after her family had moved out - lock, stock and piggy hutch - and had left her to fend for herself for weeks in the winter garden until a neighbour spotted her. I had to plaster myself against her to ease her shudders when she told me of those horrible weeks and the near misses with cats and foxes she had. Anyway, she had me and a bit later our widowed neighbour Llelo, too, as family for the last two years since Llelo is my own idea of a real dreamboat of a boar. She did a lot of screaming at first when we moved in with Llelo, which really confused him because he is a kind kind of a gentleboar, if you know what I mean. I do have taste and standards, after all.
Anyway, mummy did get Lissie to stop drawing blood when being handled within two weeks of her arrival with a spot of piggy whispering and she won her heart after adopting Alan specially for her and allowing her to be wooed by him in her own time (it was several weeks, whispers mummy). Lissie said that this made her to slowly trust other piggies and even humans again. Piggies, yes, but on the humans I am personally not so sure yet... I mean, yikes!
Lissie also told me that she was originally as bright an orange as the little wildflower mummy renamed her for but that she changed her coat colour in the most dramatic way to look more like her movie star first hubby. Not sure whether I should believe that one. I mean, Lissie had quite a lot of really whopping stories to tell but that sounds like one that has gone a bit too far, don't you think? I mean, going from bright orange to dark brown in the matter of just a few months?
Brathlys between December 2019 and August 2020
Lissie also disclosed to me that she was pignapped and driven all the way from Newcastle to a place in West Midlands by one of the rescue ladies on the way to a holiday in the Southwest after the rescue boys banded together and demanded she be kept away from them for good or they would hold Miss Edith for ransom. I am not quite sure just how much of that is true and just how much ransom was actually paid (Lissie maintains none and that she was just an innocent victim).
Anyway, Llelo, mummy and I have held a little wake with the carrot cava and dandelion cake already on standby for our little old auntie instead. Mummy has made this garden flower bouquet with orange crocosmia, white fragrant rosa rugosa, yellow cinquefoil and buddleia x weyeriana and all bright colours to match Lissie's personality and orange coat for the send off.
Lissie must have been around 6 years old. Not bad for an abandoned survivor in the wilds of the Northeast, eh? I have decided that I want to grow as old as Lissie. Just without the abandonment issues and the beating off the boar hordes bit of course but with the same appetite for life (the appetite is not so much a problem but my figure is; at least according to mummy). Fending off mummy on nail cutting day is enough excitement for me. And why change my coat when I have found the perfect boar match for myself...
Anyway, we are all going to miss Brathlys for a long time to come and will keep retelling her wild stories when we wake up in the middle of night while nibbling on some hay."
Little Brathlys lived quite the life but it was one full of love and she has lived a long and happy life with you. Massive (((hugs))) Wiebke. She was beautiful 
How incredible that she changed colour! Amazing piggy! Xx
