Basic Information
Pig-in-a-poke originated in the late Middle Ages. This confidence game entails a sale of a (suckling) "pig" in a "poke" (bag). The bag ostensibly contains a live healthy little pig, but actually contains a cat (not particularly prized as a source of meat, and at any rate, quite unlikely to grow to be a large hog). If one buys a "pig in a poke" without looking in the bag (a colloquial expression in the English language, meaning "to be a sucker"), the person has bought something of less value than was assumed, and has learned firsthand the lesson caveat emptor. Dutch, German, Scandinavian and Polish speakers employ the expression "buying a cat-in-the-bag" when someone buys something without examining it beforehand. In Sweden and Finland, the "cat" in the phrase is replaced by "pig", referring to the bag's supposed content, but the saying is otherwise identical. This is also said to be where the phrase "letting the cat out of the bag" comes from, although there may be other explanations.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- In many gaming settings, this con game could be pulled with something more interesting than cats and pigs, and which may be harder to check on.
- That's a blink dog, I tell you. It's just not blinking yet 'cause it's a pup. Give 'em a few more weeks to grow into his blinkin', and he'll surprise you.
- Dangerous creatures could be hard to verify safely. Cockatrice in a poke?
- A simple mystic aura spell could make any old stick pass as a wand, especially in the hands of a unscrupulous multiclassed wizard/thief.
