WHY THE SHEEP RAN AWAY
It was during the hottest summer weather that the wind-storm came. Thefarmyard people always spoke of it as "the" wind-storm, because not eventhe Blind Horse, who had lived on the farm longer than any of hisneighbors, could remember anything like it. "I recall one time," hesaid, "when a sweet-apple tree was blown down in the fall. The Hogsfound it and ate all the fruit before the farmer knew that it was down.You should have heard them grunt over it. They were afraid the farmerwould drive them away before they had eaten it all. Eh, well! They ateall they wanted, but one of the Pigs told me afterward that it made themsick, and that he never wanted to see another sweet apple as long as helived. That was a hard storm, but not like this, not like this."
It had come in the night when the farmyard people were asleep, and therewas much scampering to shelter. The fowls, who were roosting in the oldapple-tree, did not have time to oil their feathers and make themwater-proof. They just flew off their perches as fast as they could andran for the open door of the Hen-house. When they were once inside, theyruffled up their feathers and shook themselves to get rid of therain-drops. Fowls do not like wet weather, and it vexes them very muchto be in the rain. Their neighbors know this so well that it has becometheir custom to say of an angry person that he is "as mad as a wet Hen."
The Cows were in their part of the barn with their necks between thestanchions, so there was nothing for them to do but to keep still andthink of those who were out of doors. The Horses were in theircomfortable stalls. They had been working hard all day and the farmerhad gotten a good supper of oats ready for them in their mangers, sothat they could eat quickly and go to sleep, instead of staying awakeand walking around to get their own suppers in the pasture.
Out in the meadow the Sheep huddled close together under a low-branchingtree, and stood still until the storm passed. They had been so warm thatthe cool rain made them comfortable, but the wind pushed them and swayedthe branches of the trees. The loud thunder made the Lambs jump. Theyliked the lightning and made a game out of it, each one telling what hehad seen by the last flash. The clouds, too, were beautiful, and flewacross the sky like great dark birds with downy breasts, dropping nowand then shining worms from their beaks.
At last the air became cool and clear, and the clouds flew far awaytoward the east. Next, the stars peeped out, first one, then two, thensix, then twenty, and then so many that you could not have countedthem,--more than the leaves on a maple-tree, more than the grass-bladesof the meadow. The Sheep ran around a little to shake off the rain-dropsand warm themselves, then they huddled down again to sleep.
When the sun arose in the eastern sky, his warm beams fell upon theSheep and awakened them. "How cool and beautiful a day," they said."What a morning for a run!"
"I can beat you to the tall grass!" called one little Lamb to the rest,and they all scampered around the field, throwing up their heels forjoy. They had been away from their mothers for awhile, and had learnedto eat grass instead of milk. They were quite proud of the way in whichthey broke it off, with quick upward jerks of their heads, and theirteeth were growing finely. They did not expect any upper front teeth,for in place of them the Sheep have only a hard pad of flesh.
Soon they came running back to the flock. "There is a Dog over there,"they cried, "a strange Dog. He doesn't look like Collie. He is comingthis way, and we are afraid."
Their uncle, the Bell-Wether, looked over to where the strange Dog was,then turned quickly and began to run. The bell around his neck clinkedat every step. When the other Sheep heard the bell they raised theirheads and ran after him, and the Lambs ran after them. The strange Dogdid not follow or even bark at them, yet on they went, shaking theshining rain-drops from the grass as they trod upon it. Not one of themwas thinking for himself what he really ought to do. The Bell-Wetherthought, "I feel like running away from the Dog, and so I will run."
The other Sheep said to themselves, "The Bell-Wether is running and sowe will run."
And the Lambs said, "If they are all running we will run."
Along the fence they went, the bell clinking, their hoofs pattering, andnot one of them thinking for himself, until they reached a place wherethe fence was blown over. It was not blown 'way down, but leaned so thatit could be jumped. If a single one of the flock, even the youngestLamb, had said, "Don't jump!" they would have stayed in the pasture; butnobody said it. The Bell-Wether felt like jumping over, so he jumped.Then the Sheep did as the Bell-Wether had done, and the Lambs did as theSheep had done.
Now they were in the road and the Bell-Wether turned away from thefarmhouse and ran on, with the Sheep and the Lambs following. Even now,if anybody had said, "Stop!" they would have stopped, for they knew thatthey were doing wrong; but nobody said it.
After a while a heavy wagon came rumbling down the road behind them, andthe Bell-Wether jumped over a ditch and ran into a hilly field withwoodland beyond. Because he went the Sheep did, and because the Sheepwent the Lambs did, and nobody said "Stop!" You see, by this time theywere very badly frightened, and no wonder. When they saw the strange Dogthey were a little scared, for they thought he might chase them. If theyhad made themselves stay there and act brave they would soon have feltbrave. Even if the Dog had been a cruel one, they could have kept himfrom hurting them, for Sheep have been given very strong, hard foreheadswith which to strike, and the Bell-Wether had also long, curled hornswith three ridges on the side of each. But it is with Sheep as it iswith other people,--if they let themselves be frightened they grow moreand more fearful, even when there is no real danger and now all of theirtrouble came from their not stopping to think what they ought to do.
They hurried up to the highest ground in the field, and when they werethere and could go no farther, they stopped and looked at each other.One Lamb said to his mother, "Why did we come here? It isn't nearly sonice as our own meadow."
"Why, I came because the Bell-Wether did," she answered. Then she turnedto the Bell-Wether and said, "Why did you bring us here?"
"I didn't bring you here," he replied. "I felt like coming, and I came.I didn't make you follow."
"N-no," answered the Sheep; "but you might have known that if you camethe Sheep would come."
"Well," said the Bell-Wether, "you might have known that if you Sheepcame the Lambs would, so you'd better not say anything."
"Baa!" cried the Lambs. "We are hot and thirsty and there isn't anywater here to drink. We want to go back."
Everybody was out of patience with somebody else, and nobody wascomfortable. They did not dare try to go home again, for fear they wouldhave more trouble, so they huddled together on the top of the hill andwere very miserable and unhappy. They hadn't any good reason for coming,and they could not even have told why they ran to the hilltop instead ofstaying in the pleasant hollow below.
There was a reason for their running up, however, althoughthey didn't know it. It was because theirgreat-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and-grandmother werewild Sheep in the mountains, and when frightened ran up among the rockswhere there was nobody to hurt them. They got into the habit of runningup-hill when scared, and their children did the same, and theirchildren's children did the same, and now even the farmyard Sheep do so,although they long ago forgot the reason why.
"Bow-wow-wow!" rang out on the still morning air.
"There's Collie!" cried the Lambs joyfully. "He's coming to take ushome. Let's bleat to help him find us more quickly." All the Lambs said,"Baa! Baaa!" in their high, soft voices, and their mothers said "Baa!Baaa!" more loudly; and the Bell-Wether added his "Baa! Baaa!" which wasso deep and strong that it sounded like a little, very little, clap ofthunder.
Collie came frisking along with his tail waving and his eyes gleaming.He started the flock home, and scolded them and made fun of them all theway, but they were now so happy that they didn't care what he said. Whenthey were safely in the home meadow again and the farmer had mended thefence, Collie left them. As he turned to go, he called back one lastpiece of
advice.
"I'm a Shepherd Dog," he said, "and it's my work to take care of Sheepwhen they can't take care of themselves, but I'd just like to be aBell-Wether for a little while. You wouldn't catch me doing everyfoolish thing I felt like doing and getting all the flock into troubleby following me! Nobody can do anything without somebody else doing ittoo, and I wouldn't lead people into trouble and then say I didn'tthink. Bow-wow-wow-wow!"
COLLIE AND THE BELL-WETHER.]
The Bell-Wether grumbled to himself, "Well, the rest needn't tag alongunless they want to. Pity if I can't jump a fence without everybodyfollowing." But down in his heart he felt mean, for he knew that one wholeads should do right things.