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Skylar was a hungry sheep. She could
never get enough to eat. All the vegetation that once grew around the
worn, standing stones was gone. There were no more grasses, no more
clusters of flowers, no rye, no oats, no barley, and no more clover.
Skylar had eaten it all.
The sheep walked through the meadow
searching for something to nibble on, but there just wasn’t anything left.
As she gazed at the loch on the other side of the glen, Skylar noticed a
patch of green out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see
what it was.
It looked nice and green and she
could tell something was growing. Maybe there were some ripe, juicy
strawberries, or some plump, purple grapes, or even some succulent,
delicious melons. "Yummy," she said and trotted over there. She looked
down to see what plants were growing in the garden. What were they? She
didn’t know. She lowered her head to sniff them. It was the most unusual
smell. It wasn’t a sweet smell, like fruit. It didn’t smell like a
cucumber, a carrot, or a juicy tomato.
She nibbled hesitantly, at the
leaves. "Yummy," she said, smiling. "This tastes good." Skylar ate the
entire stem and all the leaves, and then tugged at the root. A fat, white,
fleshy leek came out of the ground. She nudged the dirt off with her nose,
and then gobbled it down. "Yummy," she gulped. She ate every leek in the
garden.
The garden happened to belong to
Mrs. MacNeep. She wouldn’t be happy if she saw Skylar eating all her
vegetables.
In the rows next to the leeks, were
some similar smelling onions. After she’d eaten the leaves, Skylar again
tugged at the root. She pulled out another white, round and bulbous
vegetable. She gobbled it down. "Yummy. This is good too," she mumbled as
she chomped on the onion. She then ate every onion in the garden.
When she finished eating, she felt
full. Her tummy hung down low, near the ground. It was filled with onions
and leeks. As she walked, it wobbled back and forth. Skylar didn’t feel so
good. She was too full. She wanted a drink of water.
She walked and walked and walked and
soon spotted Sinclair, another sheep, lapping water from the river. Skylar
was happy to see more trees and grasses and water. As she neared, she
lifted his head and sniffed the air. She made a scowl on her face. "What
is that smell? P.U!" she uttered. When she came and stood next to her and
opened her mouth to get a drink of water, her onion breath came rushing
out. Sinclair grunted, tossed her head back and forth and ran away. Skylar
watched as Sinclair darted up the riverbank and off into the desert. She
wondered why she’d left so quickly. She lowered her head and drank some
more of the refreshing water from the deep, blue river.
When she was finished drinking, she
laid down in the reeds that were growing along the muddy bank. She lay
there quietly, listening to the gently flowing water. Sally, the fox, came
down to the river for a drink. After a few laps of water, she lifted her
head and started sniffing the air. "What is that horrible smell? P.U.!"
She looked around and saw Skylar lying in the reeds. Still sniffing, Sally
moved closer to Skylar. Suddenly the sheep yawned. Her horrid onion and
leek breath rushed from her mouth, enveloping the fox. Sally let out a
wild howl, ran around in circles like she was chasing her tail, then
dashed up the riverbank into the woods.
Skylar wondered why Sally had acted
that way. What had made her run away like that? Unable to think of an
answer to her question, she stood up, stretched her legs and waddled over
to an oak tree. She had an itch on her back and leaned towards the huge
trunk. She moved herself up and down. It felt so good as she scratched
herself.
Martin, a lizard, stood watching
Skylar, smiling because she looked so funny. He ran over to just a few
feet away from her. Skylar chose that moment to let out a long sigh.
Martin’s eyes began to water. "What is that horrid smell? P.U.!" Skylar
sighed again and her rotten onion and leek breath came rushing out of her
mouth. Martin rolled onto his back. His tail stood straight up in the air.
His flickering tongue darted in and out of his mouth. He jumped up and ran
down the muddy bank of the river and hid in the tall grass.
Skylar quizzically watched Martin’s
behavior. What was going on? Why were all the animals acting so strange?
She walked around the oak for a few steps and saw a large wooden bowl
lying on a hollow tree stump. She wondered if there was any food in it and
picked it up. It was on her face. She breathed into the bowl and suddenly
realized why all the other animals had run away. "P.U.! My breath is
horrid!" she said, dropping the bowl into the dirt. It all made sense now.
She knew what she had to do. She sauntered over to a bush and nibbled on
some mint. She munched on it for a long time.
When Frederick, the bull, strode by,
Skylar let out a huge yawn. Nuri didn’t react at all. She didn’t sniff the
air, she didn’t shake her head, and she didn’t run around in circles or
fall on her back. Skylar smiled. From then on, whenever she ate onions or
leeks, she would always head to the mint bush to freshen her breath. |
