Gray Goat in a Thorny Situation
Gray Goat in a Thorny Situation
1997
...He wasn't much of a goat as goats went. He had short, little, stubby legs. And short, little, stubby horns that weren't much good except to scare the kids from up the street. His fur was mottled brown and white and gray, but mostly gray. It was matted and dirty, and little red and yellow leaves stuck to him from Big Tree where he sat when he was tired or when the sun was too hot.
...One day he was wandering near the brambles far away from Red Barn. Sometimes the clover there would grow red flowers. Goat (he didn't have much of a name for himself) liked to eat the red clover whenever he found it.
...He wandered farther from Red Barn eating clovers. As he wandered he looked around. As he looked around, he looked through the brambles. As he looked through the brambles, he saw a beautiful field of little yellow flowers.
...Goat tried to walk through the brambles, but the thorns caught in his fur and hurt.
...He walked far up and down the brambles, but couldn't find a way around.
...Not being able to walk through the brambles or walk around the brambles, Goat tried to eat his way through the brambles. But the thorny bushes tasted bad.
...Getting more and more frustrated. Goat yelled at the bramble bush. "Naaayyyy!!!" he yelled. But the bush just sat there ignoring him.
...Goat pawed at the ground with his little hooves. Little patches of grass and dirt went all over, but all that was left was a little hole hardly big enough to sit in.
...He stuck his head back into the brambles and tried to push his way through. But the more he pushed, the more the thorns hurt him. And the more the thorns hurt him, the less he liked the idea of pushing his way through.
...Finally, he gave up trying to get to the little yellow flowers and pulled his head back out. But his little stubby horns got caught on some branches and he couldn't pull himself back out. He pulled and pulled and the branches got more and more twisted in his horns and the thorns hurt more and more.
..."Naaayyy!!!" he cried, hoping the bush would give up and let him go. "NAAYYY!!!". But the bush wound its branches more around him and scratched his fur.
...Goat planted he back feet in the ground and put his front feet up against the branches. He pulled and pulled.
...With a big "Thud!" he pulled his head out and fell to the ground. Twisted thorny branches still stuck to his head and his horns and his neck and his back.
...Goat shook his head and little branches went flying around all over his red clover. But the little thorns still hurt him.
...Later that day, he went to Blue Stream to wash his hurts.
...That night, he slept under Big Tree and dreamed of red clover. And in the morning, he didn't look through the brambles at the yellow flowers.