Among the Farmyard People
Page 5
THE LAMB WITH THE LONGEST TAIL
The Sheep are a simple and kind-hearted family, and of all the people onthe farm there are none who are more loved than they. All summer theywander in the fields, nibbling the fresh, sweet grass, and resting atnoon in the shadow of the trees, but when the cold weather comes theyare brought up to the farmyard and make their home in the long lowSheep-shed.
That is always a happy time. The Horses breathe deeply and toss theirheads for joy, the Cows say to each other, "Glad to have the Sheep comeup," and even the Oxen shift their cuds and look long over theirshoulders at the woolly newcomers. And this is not because the Sheepcan do anything for their neighbors to make them warm or to feed them.It is only because they are a gentle folk and pleasant in all they say;and you know when people are always kind, it makes others happy just tosee them and have them near.
Then, when the cold March winds are blowing, the good farmer brings moreyellow straw into the Sheep-shed, and sees that it is warm and snug. Ifthere are any boards broken and letting the wind in, he mends them andshuts out the cold. At this time, too, the Horses and Cattle stop oftenin their eating to listen. Even the Pigs, who do not think much abouttheir neighbors, root in the corners nearest the Sheep-shed and prick uptheir ears.
Some bleak morning they hear a faint bleating and know that the firstLamb is there. And then from day to day they hear more of the softvoices as the new Lambs come to live with the flock. Such queer littlecreatures as the Lambs are when they first come--so weak and awkward!They can hardly stand alone, and stagger and wobble around the littlerooms or pens where they are with their mothers. You can just imaginehow hard it must be to learn to manage four legs all at once!
There is one thing which they do learn very quickly, and that is, toeat. They are hungry little people, and well they may be, for they havemuch growing to do, and all of the food that is to be made into goodstout bodies and fine long wool has to go into their mouths and downtheir throats to their stomachs. It is very wonderful to think that aCow eats grass and it is turned into hair to keep her warm, a Goose eatsgrass and grows feathers, and a Sheep eats grass and grows wool. Still,it is so, and nobody in the world can tell why. It is just one of thethings that are, and if you should ask "Why?" nobody could tell you thereason. There are many such things which we cannot understand, but thereare many more which we can, so it would be very foolish for us to mindwhen there is no answer to our "Why?"
Yes, Sheep eat grass, and because they have such tiny mouths they haveto take small mouthfuls. The Lambs have different food for awhile,--warm milk from their mothers' bodies. When a mother has a Lambto feed, she eats a great deal, hay, grass, and chopped turnips, andthen part of the food that goes into her stomach is turned into milk andstored in two warm bags for the Lamb to take when he is hungry. And howthe Lambs do like this milk! It tastes so good that they can hardlystand still while they drink it down, and they give funny little jerksand wave their woolly tails in the air.
THE LAMB WITH THE LONGEST TAIL.]
There was one Lamb who had a longer tail than any of the rest, and, sadto say, it made him rather vain. When he first came, he was too busydrinking milk and learning to walk, to think about tails, but as he grewolder and stronger he began to know that he had the longest one. Becausehe was a very young Lamb he was so foolish as to tease the others andcall out, "Baa! your tails are snippy ones!"
Then the others would call back, "Baa! Don't care if they are!"
After a while, his mother, who was a sensible Sheep and had seen much oflife, said to him: "You must not brag about your tail. It is very rudeof you, and very silly too, for you have exactly such a tail as wasgiven to you, and the other Lambs have exactly such tails as were givento them, and when you are older you will know that it did not matter inthe least what kind of tail you wore when you were little." She mighthave told him something else, but she didn't.
The Lamb didn't dare to boast of his tail after this, but when he passedthe others, he would look at his mother, and if he thought she wouldn'tsee, he would wiggle it at them. Of course that was just as bad astalking about it, and the other Lambs knew perfectly well what he meant;still, they pretended not to understand.
One morning, when his mother's back was turned, he was surprised to seethat she had only a short and stumpy tail. He had been thinking so muchof his own that he had not noticed hers. "Mother," he cried, "why didn'tyou have a long tail too?"
"I did have once," she answered with a sheepish smile.
"Did it get broken?" he asked in a faint little voice. He was thinkinghow dreadful it would be if he should break his.
"Not exactly," said his mother. "I will tell you all about it. Alllittle Lambs have long tails----"
"Not so long as mine, though," said he, interrupting.
"No, not so long as yours," she replied, "but so long that if they wereleft that way always they would make a great deal of trouble. As thewool grows on them, they would catch burrs and sharp, prickly things,which would pull the wool and sting the skin. The farmer knows this, sowhen the little Lambs are about as old as you are now, he and his menmake their tails shorter."
"Oh!" cried the Lamb, curling his tail in as far between his legs as hecould, "do you mean that they will shorten my tail, my beautiful longtail?"
"That is just what I mean," said his mother, "and you should be veryglad of it. When that is done, you will be ready to go out into thefield with me. A lot of trouble we should have if the men did not lookafter such things for us; but that is what men are for, they say,--tolook after us Sheep."
"But won't they laugh at me when my tail is shorter?" asked her son.
"They would laugh at you if you wore it long. No Lamb who pretends to beanybody would be seen in the pasture with a dangling tail. Only wildSheep wear them long, poor things!"
Now the little Lamb wished that he had not boasted so much. Now, whenthe others passed him, he did not put on airs. Now he wondered why theycouldn't have short tails in the beginning. He asked his uncle, an oldWether Sheep, why this was and his uncle laughed. "Why, what would youhave done all these days if things happened in that way? What would youhave had to think about? What could you have talked about?" The littleLamb hung his head and asked no more questions.
"What do you think?" he called to a group of Lambs near by. "I'm goingto have one of the men shorten my tail. It is such a bother unless onedoes have it done, and mine is so very long!"