Mummy sheep had a hard time keeping her flock of lambs
out of mischief. If she turned her back for one moment, one of them would
get into some kind of trouble. She was always telling them, "Do what your
mummy tells you!" But they never listened.
One day Mummy was feeling very tired. She looked at her
lambs. They were all so beautiful, and their wool was as white as the
shimmering sunshine. She was pleased that they seemed to be content,
laying in the shade of a tall oak tree. She walked over to them and said,
"Mummy is tired right now, my little lambs. I’m going to take a short nap.
Stay here and enjoy the shade. Remember, do what your mummy tells you."
She left her little flock and fell asleep in the shade of a huge boulder.
Kane was the oldest of the lambs. He never listened to
what his mummy said. As soon as she fell asleep he wandered over to a
lemon tree that was growing, not far from a stream. "Baa. Baa. Baa," he
went. He reached up and pulled a bright yellow lemon off of the tree with
his mouth. He gobbled it down quickly. It tasted so good that he ate
another, and another, and another.
Acton woke up next. He saw his brother, Kane, over at
the lemon tree gobbling down lemons. This made him hungry. He looked over
and saw his mummy sleeping. Acton never did what she told him to do
either, so he got up and went over to the vegetable garden. He saw some
delicious looking cabbages growing in the rich brown earth. He clomped
through the carrots, beans, and spinach, and began munching on the
cabbages. "Baa. Baa. Baa," he bleated, as he ate one cabbage, then
another, then another.
Noreen was the next to wake up. She saw two of her
brothers eating away. She remembered what her Mummy had said, "Do what
your Mummy tells you," but her two brothers weren’t, so she got up and
went in search of something that she could eat. She spotted some grape
vines growing on wooden trellis not far away. "Baa. Baa. Baa," she said,
and went frolicking over to them. She pulled at the juicy purple grapes
with her teeth, eating them one, after another, after another. She thought
they were delicious.
Soon the other three lambs woke up. Sidney saw her
sister, Noreen, eating some grapes. She was so hungry that she began
nibbling away at the blueberries growing in the berry patch. Aidan saw
Kane eating lemons. He jumped up and bleated merrily as he ran towards the
orange tree. He pulled down an orange, then another, and another.
Sadie, the littlest lamb saw all of her brothers and
sisters. They were not doing what their mummy told them to do. She looked
at her mummy who was sleeping comfortably in the shade of the boulder.
Sadie’s tummy began to growl. She was very, very hungry. So, she got up
and wandered over to the vegetable garden and stood near Acton. She didn’t
like cabbages, but she loved juicy, red, ripe tomatoes. She bent over and
ate one. It was good. "Baa. Baa. Baa," little Sadie cried. She ate another
tomato. It tasted good too, so she another, and another.
After the lambs had eaten all the lemons, cabbages,
grapes, blueberries, oranges, and tomatoes that they wanted, they went
back over to the oak tree and fell back to sleep.
A while later Mummy woke up. She stretched her legs and
yawned. When she looked over at her lambs she loudly bleated, "Baa! Baa!
Baa!" She ran over to her flock.
Kane’s beautiful white wool was now bright lemon
yellow. Acton’s fluffy white wool was now green. Noreen’s white wool was
dark purple. Sidney’s was as blue as the sky. Aidan’s white wool was
orange, and little Sadie’s wool was red. Mummy baa’d loudly. All the lambs
woke up. "Didn’t I tell you to do what your Mummy tells you?" she asked
her lambs. They all shook their heads up and down. "Well, look at
yourselves. I don’t think you did what your Mummy told you!"
The lambs looked at each other. All of them had colored
wool. Only Mummy’s wool was white. "Now, each of you is going to go down
to the river and have a bath, with soap, " Mummy told them. The lambs
hated having baths. She took each of them and washed their wool. Kane’s
yellow wool turned white again. Acton’s green wool did also, as did
Noreen’s purple wool, Sidney’s blue wool, Aidan’s orange wool, and little
Sadie’s red wool.
Mummy told the lambs that from then on they were only
allowed eat the things that she told them to eat. "Do what your Mummy
tells you!" she said, and from then on they did.