The Mean Shepherd
by Rachel F.
Once there was a shepherd who didn't like sheep. In fact, he hated them. He hated to feed them, he hated cleaning up after them, but mostly he hated the smell of them. The only reason he agreed to become a shepherd was because his mother, Mary, always wanted him to be the leader of a flock.
He didn't get a lot of money for being a shepherd. Sometimes he was jealous of his friends who had more money. The shepherd had always wanted lots of gold, myrrh, and even scented candles. He daydreamed about having a kingdom of his own - one without sheep.
The sheep he hated the most was a black sheep named Bob. Bob was always making the shepherds' job hard. He always played tricks on the shepherd, especially at night when the shepherd wanted to sleep. Bob would also get into trouble because he would never stay with the flock.
Bob and the other sheep did not like the shepherd anymore than he liked them. They thought he was too mean and did not feed them enough. They really hated when he tried to make them eat lamb chops. Sometimes the mean shepherd would hit them and make them walk on a leash so he wouldn't have to herd them.
At bedtime the sheep would not go to sleep. They jumped and played all night and this made the shepherd so angry that he could not sleep either. Night after night the shepherd could not sleep and that made him even meaner to the sheep. The shepherd got very nervous and grumpy.
One night Bob and the other sheep were misbehaving so the shepherd thought of a punishment for Bob. The shepherd snatched Bob from the flock. He took him into the barn to shave his wool and got three bags full. The shepherd thought that now Bob would be too embarrassed to lead the other sheep into mischief.
From each bag of wool the shepherd made a coat. He sold the three coats to a friend that lived down the lane and had always wanted black wool coats. For one coat his friend traded him some scented candles. The other coat he traded for one pound of gold, and last, he traded the third coat for a myrrh tree. Finally the shepherd had all the things he had been jealous of his friends for having.
At night he would light his scented candles hoping they would help him sleep, but he still wasn't happy. He would rest against his myrrh tree and stare at his shiny gold, but he still wasn't happy. The sheep were still misbehaving, even the one that didn't have any wool.
One night the shepherds' mother, Mary, came to talk to him. She told him that he could not buy happiness.
"Be nice to your flock," she said, "and your flock will be nice to you. That is how you will find peace and happiness".
The shepherd realized that his mother was right. His mother was always right. He began being nice to his flock. He no longer made them eat lamb chops or walk on a leash. The sheep, even Bob, started being nice to him. At night instead of playing and jumping they would quietly go to sleep. Now the shepherd was able to count his sheep and then he could lay down and go to sleep himself.
After a while Bobs' wool grew back, black and pretty. The shepherd and all his sheep lived happily ever after in a glorious kingdom of their own.