The Little Sheep in the Forest

This time the Little Sheep was lost in the Forest. The Little Sheep was very afraid.

The Little Sheep seemed to have a habit of getting separated from the Flock (or the Regiment, as Gaffer the Old Ram liked to call it). In fact, The Little Sheep got itself lost so often that the Great Shepherd would often take roll call of the Flock -- starting and ending with The Little Sheep.

Lost in the Forest, The Little Sheep found itself surrounded by Trees and Bushes. Somewhere nearby was the sound of a Stream. The Little Sheep wasn't quite certain where these Trees and Bushes and Water all came from, but from the looks of things, Here they were and Here they were going to stay.

The Little Sheep also knew that mealtimes were better if it found its way back home before the Great Shepherd had to come and find it. So The Little Sheep took a step sideways, to turn around.

Turning Around was something that The Little Sheep had done time and time again, on account of it got lost so often. Turning Around was somthing that, by now, The Little Sheep ought to've been good at. But before it knew what was happening, The Little Sheep found itself up to its middle in the middle of a very cold stream.

Needless to say, The Little Sheep could've been happier about this. To its credit, The Little Sheep didn't stop to wonder which was the wrong step that it had taken. The Little Sheep knew perfectly well that given the chance, it would slip up again and again. The Little Sheep didn't mind. That was just the way The Little Sheep was. But The Little Sheep knew that however it got in the Stream, it was certainly time to get out of the Stream.

Getting out was easy. Getting out on the right side was more difficult. You see, The Little Sheep had, unfortunately, forgotten on which side of the Stream was The Great Shepherd and the rest of the Flock.

The Litle Sheep was known for getting lost, and The Little Sheep was known for being brave, but The Little Sheep was not known for being very bright.

Although The Little Sheep was lost in the middle of the stream in the middle of the forest, it was not so worried that it forgot the advice of Gaffer, the old Ram:

"When yir knickers're soaked from a wetting, stey tae the rocks and haird sairfaces, ye ken, unless yir bein pursued by a Carnivorous Animal. In that case, it's back tae the drink fir ye." This just meant that Gaffer's advice was to stay on the rocks and not leave any footprints. And if something was chasing The Little Sheep, then its best bet was probably back in the water.

Nothing seemed to be chasing The Little Sheep, so it went to the nearest rock to shore (The Little Sheep had forgotten which way led back to the Great Shepherd and the rest of the Flock), and climbed up the nearest rock and started hopping from rock to rock, keeping the soles of its shoes clean and having lots of fun. The Little Sheep was having so much fun bouncing from one place to another that it quite forgot it was lost.

Suddenly, The Little Sheep heard a Noise. Now, The Little Sheep didn't know what sort of Carnivorous Animals lived in the Forest. In fact, it couldn't remember if Gaffer had ever said anything about the Forest. So The Little Sheep stopped right in its tracks. The Little Sheep saw nothing, so The Little Sheep decided to look behind itself.

The Little Sheep had developed (through necessity) a way of looking behind itself without turning around. What it did was it bent only its front legs, and kept its back legs straight. That way, its head could touch the ground and it could look under itself rather than around itself. The Little Sheep looked behind itself this way and saw nothing except its own soggy footprints.

When The Little Sheep looked back up again, it found itself staring a Mountain Lion right in the face.

The Little Sheep stared at the Mountain Lion, petrified with fear. The Little Sheep had often heard Gaffer, the Old Ram, say that sometimes he looked 'scared as a mutton,' and suddenly The Little Sheep knew what Gaffer meant when he said that.

Suddenly, The Little Sheep felt a pinch at the base of its neck and found itself lifted way up in the air. It wanted to shut its eyes tight so it would not feel anything, but The Little Sheep was brave, if not very clever, and so it kept its eyes open. The Little Sheep thought that the Mountain Lion had got The Little Sheep by the neck, but then The Little Sheep saw the Mountain Lion, there on the ground. The Mountain Lion looked very surprised, and The Little Sheep remembered hearing Gaffer say that it was not a very good thing to have a surprised Mountain Lion.

But right away The Little Sheep knew what had happened. The Great Shepherd had found him and caught him, which meant very little supper tonight, but at least The Little Sheep wasn't going to be someone else's supper, so The Little Sheep didn't feel so bad this time.

What The Little Sheep did not know was that the Great Shepherd had finally found the path where The Little Sheep had fallen into the Stream, and followed The Little Sheep's wet hoofprints double-quick time until the Great Shepherd came here, to find a Mountain Lion who was quite startled indeed and almost ready to strike.

The Great Shepherd tucked The Little Sheep under his left arm as though The Little Sheep didn't weigh anything at all, and with the other hand started slowly twirling his giant Oak Staff. The Mountain Lion watched the Staff twirl, momentarily forgetting about the Little Sheep.

Now the Great Shepherd started to Hum. It was a quiet sort of a Hum, but it still seemed to travel right through the air and the water and even through The Little Sheep itself. The Little Sheep thought how nice this sounded, and then it started to feel drowsy.

The Mountain Lion settled down to watch the Great Shepherd and to listen to the Great Shepherd hum. Then, the Mountain Lion yawned.

While the Mountain Lion yawned, the Great Shepherd quietly tucked the Little Sheep, now fast asleep, under his cloak. The Great Shepherd was still humming, and still slowly spinning his Staff. Presently the Mountain Lion fell asleep too, and the Great Shepherd stopped humming and started to quietly walk away from the Mountain Lion. While The Little Sheep was asleep, the Great Shepherd stopped to pick some herbs along the way home. The Great Shepherd needed some of these herbs, and wanted other ones that he picked, so all in all the Great Shepherd was not too upset at The Little Sheep.

The Little Sheep woke up to see Gaffer's face looking over him, with a dour expression indeed. 'And whar ye bin the time, noo, laddie?' asked Gaffer in a very gruff voice. 'Making supper late by almost an hour, it was! And och, jist look a' the state o'ye!' From the expression on Gaffer's face, The Little Sheep knew that he wouldn't get to eat near Gaffer anytime soon. And Gaffer always grazed the best grass.

Just as Gaffer was about to scold The Little Sheep some more, a pleasant smell came over the way from the Hut of the Great Shepherd. It smelled great.

The herbs that the Great Shepherd had picked included a special root found only on that mountain. It was called the Sleepysheep Root, and the Great Shepherd was burning it to help the excited Flock settle down a bit and get some sleep.

And so it was that Gaffer had an extra dose of Rare Mountain Sleepysheep Root, for he was closest to the Great Shepherd's Hut that day. He certainly seemed happier than any other sheep by the time he dropped off to drowse contentedly in the meadow. Gaffer was so happy that he let The Little Sheep graze next to him for the next three days.

And that is the story of how The Little Sheep brought Rare Mountain Sleepysheep Root to The Northern Expansion Joint Company.

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