And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Mark 5:12-13

This riveting passage of Mark recounts how a pleasantly spoken pack of demons asked Jesus if He would give them permission to set up living quarters in a herd of indolent pigs grazing on a mountain side. (Why pigs were gathered like a convention of goats, the good Lord chooses not to reveal -- and I find it is usually best not to ask.) Perhaps recognizing that pigs on mountainsides would have fabulous views, Jesus quite graciously indulged the demons' wanderlust, allowing them to relocate into the swine. No sooner had the demons unpacked, two thousand pigs, apparently displeased with their new tenants, ran down the hill and jumped into the ocean to drown, instantly transforming the demons' accommodations from ocean-view to less desirable ocean-floor-view rooms. What an odd spectacle! Had Jesus not been a Jew, I imagine He might have given more thought to what His casual decision had, no doubt, just done to the local price of pork.