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ne day, in September 2002, when I was working in Auckland, Great Uncle Norman went to fix some fences at the bottom of the farm, two paddocks away from the house. Lily (the Romney), Desmine (her daughter) and Pandora (an Arapawa) were in the first paddock, just below the house, quietly eating grass. The other sheep were nearby, along with Bobby (a ram we had borrowed from Dianne and Gill).
When they saw Great Uncle Norman, the sheep became excited, thinking he was going to feed them some special treats, so all three ran up to him. “Baa! Baa! Baa!” they called. However, Great Uncle Norman was only walking through to the next paddock, so after he scratched their backs and talked to them, he walked down the hill to the next gate. “Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!” he said, so they wouldn’t run through. “Clang! Clang! Rattle! Bang!” went the gate, which he carefully hooked to the fence-post to keep it closed. Lily was very disappointed that Great Uncle Norman had not offered her some tasty multi-nuts, which she absolutely adored! She wandered around, eating grass here and there until deciding that she wanted something special – feeling rather huffy because she hadn’t been given a treat.
She spied my garden alongside the house, which was protected by an electric fence to stop animals (especially sheep!) from damaging the special plants. “If I rush through the fence, very quickly, it probably won’t bite me, because my wool is soooooooo thick and long”, she thought. Lily decided to give it a try, and charged through. The first plants she saw were bright yellow daylilies and they looked very delicious. She ate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 yellow daylily plants and she was right – they were very tasty. “I wonder what I should eat next?” Lily looked around and spied the Queen palms – they were growing very well and looked lush and green. “I’ll try those”. So, she ate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 lush, green Queen palms. They were quite tall – she had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h her short neck as much as possible, hook her tongue around the fronds, and pull down a leaf at a time, grabbing it between her teeth. “Yum, yum”, she said to herself. “What else can I gobble, while Norman is busy in the other paddock? l remember nibbling those feijoa bushes once, from the other side of the fence, and I really loved the taste. Now I am right beside them, I can eat lots more”. Lily ate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 leafy feijoa bushes. Because they had just been planted and were not very tall, hardly any leaves were left! “Aaah, that was really good, but I’m not full yet. While I can, I’m going to eat as much as possible – I’m bored with eating grass all day”.
Further down the garden were 1, 2, 3 expensive, new, jelly palms, with dark green leaves. She ate those as well — down to ground level! Then Lily realised she had forgotten all the juicy leaves and tendrils of 1, 2, 3 passionfruit vines. She hadn’t noticed them until now – they were tied along the wooden fence between the garden and the house and had been hidden by the other plants. They were her next, very favourite things after multi-nuts! Whenever I trimmed the passionfruit vines, I threw pieces into the paddock for the sheep to eat, so she knew how good they tasted. “Look how well they are growing! There are lots and lots of lovely new leaves for me to enjoy”. So, off came the leaves and the tendrils from 1, 2, 3 passionfruit vines – which were at a perfect height. Lily hardly needed to stretch to munch to her heart’s content. She only left the bits on the far side of the fence, because her tongue wasn’t quite long enough to pull them through.
“Clang! Clang!” The gate was being closed – Great Uncle Norman was on his way back. “Oh, no! I’m in trouble!” Lily said to herself. “What am I going to do?” She was so worried about Great Uncle Norman being angry with her, she forgot that if she was able to charge through the electric fence into the garden, she could certainly dash back out again. Instead, she ran backward and forward, trampling what was left of the plants, exclaiming, “Baa, baa, baa!”
By this time, Great Uncle Norman could see Lily and called out, “Lily, you are a very naughty sheep! I have to get you out of there immediately!” He switched the electric fence off, lifted the tapes and chased her through. Lily knew she should not have eaten the plants and looked very guilty.
When I returned home from Auckland, Great Uncle Norman greeted me at the door and said, “Lily got into your garden and ate: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 yellow daylily plants, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 lush green Queen palms, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 leafy feijoa bushes, 1, 2, 3 jelly palms and, finally, 1, 2, 3 passionfruit vines”. “Oh”, I said, “isn’t she a naughty sheep? But it’s really quite amusing and the plants will grow again – I would certainly be bored if I only had grass to eat!” We laughed together, because Lily is a special, pet sheep and we couldn’t be angry with her.
I walked out onto the deck to look at the damage, saw Lily nearby in the paddock and called, “Lily! Lily! You NAUGHTY sheep, look at what you have done to my garden!” Lily, who was quietly nibbling boring grass, lifted her head, looked straight at me, tilted her head to one side and said, “Baaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh”. And, that is the absolute truth!
THERE IS AN AMUSING POSTSCRIPT TO THIS STORY
Every November (or thereabouts) we invite friends and family to a “Lamb Day”. One year everyone was on our deck, eating lunch and enjoying the view with the sheep immediately adjacent in the paddock, along with their new lambs. I was recounting the above story and when I got to the end, saying “….. and Lily lifted her head, looked at me, tilted her head and said ….” at that very moment Lily did exactly the same thing, then gave a very loud “Baaaaaaaaaaa!”. Everyone accused me of having a tape recorder hidden somewhere!
