there was a lamb, a bright, frisky young fellow, who had a twin sister. their mother loved them both and was as kind to one as to the other, but the brother wanted to have the best of everything, and sometimes he even bunted his sister with his hard little forehead. his mother had to speak to him many times about this, for he was one of those trying children who will not mind when first spoken to.
he did not really mean to be naughty—he was only strong and frisky and thoughtless. sometimes he was even rude to his mother. she felt very sad when this was so, yet she loved him dearly and found many excuses for him in her own heart.
there were three other pairs of twins in the flock that year, and as their mothers were not strong enough to care for two lambs apiece, the farmer had taken one twin from each pair to a little pen near the house. here they stayed, playing happily together, and drinking milk from a bottle which the farmer's wife brought to them. they were hungry very often, like all young children, and when their stomachs began to feel empty, or even to feel as if they might feel empty, they crowded against the side of the pen, pushed their pinkish-white noses through the openings between the boards, and bleated and bleated and bleated to the farmer's wife.
soon she would come from the kitchen door and in her hand would bring the big bottle full of milk for them. there was a soft rubber top to this bottle, through which the lambs could draw the milk into their mouths. of course they all wanted to drink at once, though there was only a chance for one, and the others always became impatient while they were waiting. the farmer's wife was patient, even when the lambs, in their hurry to get the milk, took her fingers into their mouths and bit them instead of the top of the bottle.
our twin lamb wanted to have his sister taken into the pen with the other three, and he spoke about it to his mother. "i know how you can manage," said he. "whenever she comes near you, just walk away from her, and then the farmer will take her up to the pen."
"you selfish fellow!" answered his mother. "do you want your dear little twin sister to leave us?"
he hung his head for a minute, but replied, "she'd have just as good a time. they have all they can eat up there, and they have lots of fun."
"if you think it is so pleasant in the pen," said his mother, "suppose i begin to walk away from you, and let the farmer take you away. i think your sister would rather stay with me."
"oh, no!" cried her son. "i don't want to leave my own dear woolly mother! i want to cuddle up to you every night and have you tell me stories about the stars."
"do you think you love me very much?" said she. "you don't know how to really love yet, for you are selfish, and there is not room in a selfish heart for the best kind of love."
that made the lamb feel very badly. "i do love her dearly," he cried, as he stood alone. "i believe i love her ever so much more than my sister does."
that was where the little fellow was mistaken, for although his sister did not talk so much about it, she showed her love in many other ways. if she had been taken from her mother for even a few days, they could never again have had such sweet and happy days together. sheep look much alike, and they cannot remember each other's faces very long. if a lamb is taken away from his mother for even a short time, they do not know each other when they meet afterward. perhaps this is one reason why they keep together so much, for it would be sad indeed not to know one's mother or one's child.
his sister never knew that he had wanted her taken away. she thought he acted queerly sometimes, but she was so loving and unselfish herself that she did not dream of his selfishness. instead of putting the idea out of his woolly little head, as he could have done by thinking more of other things, the brother let himself think of it more and more. that made him impatient with even his mother, and he often answered her quite crossly. sometimes, when she spoke to him, he did not answer at all, and that was just as bad.
his mother would sigh and say to herself, "my child is not a comfort to me after all, yet when i looked for the first time into his dear little face, i thought that as long as i had him beside me i should always be happy."
one night, when the weather was fair and warm, the farmer drove all the sheep and lambs into the sheep-shed. they had been lying out under the beautiful blue sky at night, and they did not like this nearly so well. they did not understand it either, so they were frightened and bewildered, and bleated often to each other, "what is this for? what is this for?"
the lambs did not mind it so much, for they were not warmly dressed, but the sheep, whose wool had been growing for a year and was long and heavy, found it very close and uncomfortable. they did not know that the farmer had a reason for keeping them dry that night while the heavy dew was falling outside. the same thing was done every year, but they could not remember so long as that, and having a poor memory is always hard.
"stay close to me, children," said the mother of the twins. "i may forget how you look if you are away long."
"it seems to me," said the brother, "that we always have to stay close to you. i never have a bit of fun!"
when they had cuddled down for the night, the twin lambs slept soundly. their mother lay awake for a long, long time in the dark, and she was not happy. a few careless words from a selfish little lamb had made her heart ache. they were not true words either, for during the daytime her children ran with their playmates and had fine frolics. still, we know that when people are out of patience they often say things that are not really so.
in the morning, men came into the barn, which opened off the sheep-shed. they had on coarse, old clothing, and carried queer-looking shears in their hands. the sheep could see them now and then when the door was open. once the farmer stood in the doorway and seemed to be counting them. this made them huddle together more closely than ever. they could see the men carrying clean yellow straw into the barn and spreading it on the floor. on top of this was stretched a great sheet of clean cloth.
then the men began to come into the shed and catch the sheep and carry them into the barn. they were frightened and bleated a good deal, but when one was caught and carried away, although he might struggle hard to free himself, he did not open his mouth. the old wether sheep was the first to be taken, and then the young ones who had been lambs the year before. for a long time not one of the mothers was chosen. still, nobody knew what would happen next, and so, the fewer sheep there were left, the more closely they huddled together.
at last, when the young sheep had all been taken, one of the men caught the mother of the twins and carried her away. she turned her face toward her children, but the door swung shut after her, and they were left with the other lambs and their mothers. from the barn came the sound of snip-snip-snipping and the murmur of men's voices. once the twins thought they saw their mother lying on the floor and a man kneeling beside her, holding her head and forelegs under his arm, yet they were not sure of this.
the brother ran to the corner of the shed and put his head against the boards. he suddenly felt very young and helpless. "my dear woolly mother!" he said to himself, over and over, and he wondered if he would ever see her again. he remembered what he had said to her the night before. it seemed to him that he could even now hear his own voice saying crossly, "seems to me we always have to stay close to you. i never have a bit of fun!" he wished he had not said it. he knew she was a dear mother, and he would have given anything in the world for a chance to stay close to her again.
his sister felt as lonely and frightened as he, but she did not act in the same way. she stood close to a younger lamb whose mother had just been taken away, and tried to comfort her. one by one the mothers were taken until only the lambs remained. they were very hungry now, and bleated pitifully. still the twin brother stood with his head in the corner. he had closed his eyes, but now he opened them, and through a crack in the wall of the shed, he saw some very slender and white-looking sheep turned into the meadow. at first they acted dizzy, and staggered instead of walking straight; then they stopped staggering and began to frisk. "can it be?" said he. "it surely is!" for, although he had never in his short life seen a newly shorn sheep, he began to understand what had happened.
he knew that the men had only been clipping the long wool from the sheep, and that they were now ready for warm weather. no wonder they frisked when their heavy burdens of wool were carefully taken off.
now the farmer opened the door into the barn again, and let the lambs walk through it to the gate of the meadow. they had never before been inside this barn, and the twin brother looked quickly around as he scampered across the floor. he saw some great ragged bundles of wool, and a man was just rolling up the last fleece. he wondered if that had been taken from his mother and was the very one against which he had cuddled when he was cold or frightened.
when they first reached the pasture, the lambs could not tell which were their mothers. shearing off their long and dingy fleeces had made such a difference in their looks! the twin brother knew his mother by her way of walking and by her voice, but he could see that his sister did not know her at all. he saw his mother wandering around as though she did not know where to find her children, and a naughty plan came into his head. if he could keep his sister from finding their mother for even a short time, he knew that the farmer would take her up to the pen. he thought he knew just how to do it, and he started to run to her. then he stopped and remembered how sad and lonely he had been without his mother only a little while before, and he began to pity the lambs in the pen.
now his selfishness and his goodness were fighting hard in him. one said, "send your sister away," and the other, "take her to your mother." at last he ran as fast as he could toward his sister. "i am good now," he said to himself, "but it may not last long. i will tell her before i am naughty again."
"oh sister!" cried he. "come with me to our mother. she doesn't know where to find us."
he saw a happy look on his sister's sad little face, and he was glad that he had done the right thing. they skipped away together, kicking up their heels as they went, and it seemed to the brother that he had never been so happy in his life. he was soon to be happier, though, for when they reached his "new, white mother," as he called her, and his sister told her how he had shown her the way, his mother said, "now you are a comfort to me. you will be a happier lamb, too, for you know that a mother's heart is large enough for all her children, and that the more one loves, the better he loves."
"why, of course," said the twin sister. "what do you mean?"
but the mother never told her, and the brother never told her, and it is hoped that you will keep the secret.
