Bobby The Sheepdog.

Bobby the sheepdog had been respected by the sheep in the past. He had, after all,been a great help when a sheep had got away from the flock and had found him and brought him back to the flock.Bobby had also kept predators away, such as some dogs that would try and kill sheep.All in all, Bobby had been respected by the flock;some had never liked him, but they were in the minority. Most sheep had liked to see Bobby around, because he was making sure that they were safe.

But lately, Bobby appeared to be different. His whole attitude had changed. His appearance was the most noticeable change The sheep were a little baffled as to why he had taken to wearing strange clothes and covering his face , so you couldn't see it.

They never asked him why. In the past they would have done, but now he didn't seem at all friendly, and was turning more and more aggressive The sheep, more and more, tended to think of Bobby, who they had once thought of as their friend, as their enemy .

Life was very different for the sheep to what it had been before.In the old days they had always, well, nearly always had enough to eat, but nowadays Bobby made sure , because the shepherd had told him to do this,they were only allowed to graze in fields that had little food.

Slowly a few sheep started complaining about this. Most of them, being sheep though, simply accepted it.

When the few complained, Bobby, instead of, as he would have done in the past, talked to them about this, simply barked and snarled at them.

Day by day the situation got worse. They loved the fields that had a lot of forbs, as this was their favourite food.A forb is a broad-leaf plant that flowers.The few sheep that had started complaining noticed that the shepherds pet dogs, the corgis , would be allowed to play all day in the fields that contained those lovely forbs.

To the sheep this seemed absurd. Why should these corgis just play in these fields, while they, the sheep, could really enjoy them more, by eating those delicious forbs.Bobby always stopped them from going anywhere near those tempting pastures.

Day by day things got worse. Bobby, with the shepherd behind him, kept herding them into fields with less and less food.

The obvious happened. Slowly, very slowly, because they were sheep, more and more started complaining

It got so bad that quite a  number of them started charging the sheepdog. In response he snarled and even started biting some of them.

The shepherd was very pleased with Bobby, but because he lacked wisdom and suffered from terrible greed started giving his sheepdog  food that was not fresh.

No longer was he given left-overs from choice cuts of meat, but was served the cheapest tins of dog food.Bobby did not like this one little bit.He was not at all happy about this, but because he had been trained and brainwashed to obey, he didn't complain.

Eventually, the sheep got our of hand Almost the entire flock started attacking Bobby. They were so hungry, they would have eaten him if they could !

The sheepdog quickly told his sheepdog friends to help him. So the sheepdogs dressed in strange clothes would bite, claw and attack the sheep daily.

One day, one of the more aware sheep noticed that the shepherds pet corgis were eating whole joints of good wholesome meat, and what's more, they were eating this every day.. The sheep's name was Ealhard.He was different to the others. He had a plan.

It was on a cool summer morning when he walked over to Bobby and spoke to him. He had no fear of the sheepdog; in fact, he thought he looked  ridiculous in his fancy dress. He thought Bobby had gone a bit bonkers.

"Bobby, "

Bobby snarled.

" Listen, "Ealhard persisted," look in seven brothers field and there you will see your masters pet dogs, those pampered corgis eating feasts everyday".

He paused."It's nothing like you eat is it ?"

Bobby growled, but he started thinking.

It was a few hours later when Bobby sauntered over to seven brothers field. He watched with amazement and rising anger as he saw the shepherds beloved corgis eating huge great steaks and massive, delicious looking meat pies. They all looked so healthy and happy.

It was just before the sun went down when the shepherd wandered over to the sheep field.
It was the last sunset he was to ever see.
Bobby and the sheep were waiting for him

By Mike Selley.