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29Aesop's Fables¹  

Goatherd and the Wild Goats

By Jan Payne

Wild goats live in wild, rocky places where it is hot during the day and cold during the night. They eat dry leaves and thistles and bits of twig³. 

Sometimes they go hungry.

Sherpa, the leader of the wild goats was a magnificent creature. 

He had a noble head, a long beard and two extraordinary horns. The horns were so unusual they curled upwards⁴ and then downwards⁵ and ended up pointing in different directions from each other.

Sherpa wasn’t only magnificent, he was also wise.

‘I’ve had a brilliant idea,’ he said to the rest of the herd² one day. 

He pointed⁶ to some other goats, in a field further down the valley, eat-ing a big pile of fragrant⁷ hay.

‘They are tame goats,’ said Sherpa, 

‘and they are looked after by a man called a Goatherd. They have plenty to eat and a warm place to sleep. Not like us! We are often hungry and cold.’

The wild goats stopped clambering over rocks to listen.

‘My idea,’ Sherpa went on, ‘is to hop⁸ over the fence and join them. 

Then we would be looked after too!’

The other goats liked the sound of this. 

So, later that day, when the goat-herd was changing his socks, the wild goats hopped⁹ into the field with the tame goats and pretended they had been there all the time.

That night it started to snow.  

The goatherd rounded up his goats and counted them.  

‘That’s funny,’ he said. ‘There are twice as many now, than there were before.’  

He was pleased. More goats meant more milk and cheese to sell in the market.

The goatherd looked after his new goats well.

He gave them the best food and the warmest beds.

He brushed their coats and pol-ished their hooves and combed their beards.

He spoiled them.

‘If they are happy they’ll stay with me,’ he said to himself.

But the goatherd didn’t look after his own goats.

He turned them out in the snow and gave them less to eat.

He no longer brushed and polished and combed them.

He treated them unfairly.

But, the wild goats couldn’t believe their luck.

‘This is the life,’ they said to each other.

Their leader, Sherpa, wasn’t so sure. He was beginning to have doubts.

‘I’m not happy about this,’ he said. 

‘Why is the goatherd treating his own goats so badly?’

‘Who cares about them,’ said one goat, unkindly.

‘As long as we are all right,’ said another.

Sherpa told them off.

‘Think carefully,’ he said. ‘What happens if some newer goats come along. Will the goatherd start treat-ing us badly?’

The more Sherpa thought about it, the more certain he was he was right. 

‘We have to leave at the first opportunity,’ he told his herd.

Spring came and the snow disap-peared. The wild goats went back into the field. But Sherpa hadn’t forgotten what he had said.

One afternoon, when the goatherd was dozing¹⁰ in the sun, Sherpa ordered the wild goats to play leapfrog.

They made a lot of noise, running and jumping and getting in each others way. And by the time the goatherd could work out what was happening,  the wild goats had not only leapfrogged over each other they also leapfrogged over the fence.

The goatherd was furious.

‘Rascals!’ he yelled. ‘Is this how you repay my kindness?’

Sherpas answer came from half way down the valley:

‘You should have treated all your goats the same,’ he called back.

‘That would have been real kind-ness.’

The tame goats, left behind in the field, nodded their heads sadly.

They had to agree.

1 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

2 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

3 twig   

n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解

参考例句：

• He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
• The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。

4 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

5 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 fragrant   

adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的

参考例句：

• The Fragrant Hills are exceptionally beautiful in late autumn.深秋的香山格外美丽。
• The air was fragrant with lavender.空气中弥漫薰衣草香。

8 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

9 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

10 dozing   

v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。