“Baa baa Baksheep have you any wool?”
The pack of dogs exploded into woofs of laughter around a timid Sheem Baksheep. It was Sheem’s first day at the Defence Academy, she was the only sheep in the batch consisting mainly of German Shepherds and Great Pyrenees.
“Really? A Sheep coming to learn Defense against the Dark Wolves?”
“Forget protecting your herd, you will become his feast in a minute!”
“Baa baa Baksheep are you any bold?” They sneered.
The laughter died down as Professor Komondor entered the class.
“Five more sheep have been attacked, things are getting serious. Besides basic training, we have to devise some new strategies.”
“You will have two weeks of field training and after that two of you will be posted daily with the herd of lambs on a roster basis.”
For a fortnight, they learnt about fence traps, danger calls and sounds to drive wolves away. The training also consisted of early morning intense exercise to build their stamina. Sheem had a hard time keeping up with the constant running, she was always the last to reach the buzzing station. Sometimes she would helplessly get trapped in the fence herself. Her clumsinesswould yield derisive laughs from the dogs.
“Talk about the hunter being hunted. Baa baa Baksheep is a black sheep!”
Finally the Field training was complete, Komondor handed them their posting roster.
“Your herd posting will assess both your field skill and decision making.”
Sheem’s posting was with Jerry day 3. The first two days despite constant vigilance,4 sheep went missing
“Hey Baksheep, today is your turn, I hope the whole herd doesn’t disappear.”
“Jerry bro, you are alone on this mission. Let the lady rest.”
Sheem ignored their remarks and went towards the sheep pen.
“Hey Baksheep, it’s still early.”
Sheem continued walking and went to meet the sheep.
The next day, Professor Komondor came and counted the sheep.
“Jerry and Baksheep !”
“Reporting Sir!”
“No sheep went missing yesterday, both of you did a laudable job! How did you go about?”
Sheem went on to explain how the sheep told her that after nightfall they couldn’t distinguish between dogs and wolves. Many a times they had been beguiled by wolves posing as dogs who lured them away from the herd then attacked them.
“So I proposed Jerry wear a neon jacket all the time so the herd would recognise him even at night. And we asked them to steer clear of unguarded borders, especially the ones nearer to the forest.”
“Great job Sheem! We were busy safeguarding peripheries while you tackled the root of the issue.” added Jerry.
“You see students, in Defence intelligent strategies work better than prowess.”, declared Komondor.
“I am proud of you Sheem Baksheep. You are hereby given the position of Captain of your troop.”
“Baa baa Baksheep are you any bold?”
“Yes Sir yes Sir mission successful!”
Moral: Don’t judge anyone based on gender or appearance.
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Your story had the tone of a fable. It was exactly how little kids would like to hear it. And despite that, there was this wisdom that laced the whole story. It was interesting throughout, especially since there was the three arc structure of beginning-middle-end. I wanted to get to the end, wanting to know what happened. Well written!
Thank you @Yashvi for reading and reviewing the story so wonderfully. You are right, I wanted it to be in a tone to be narrated to children. Your words made me geared up to write more.