The Little Goat by Angela Hurrell
11 January 2021 { Childrens/Middle Grade }
The Little Goat
The little goat tip tapped up the street. Huge walls of white, blue, pink and cream towered each side of him. In some of them there seemed to be little goats looking out at him, but none of them came out to speak to him. He felt very lonely. He came to a narrow path with a thin fence. When he looked through the gaps he could see a big drop into a very big puddle. He hurried on.
A bird was perched on top of one of the fence posts. It called ha ha ha, ha ha ha. The little goat felt silly. What had he done to be laughed at? He was only out exploring the world. After all, he was a good-looking little goat, his Nanny had told him. What set him apart from the other kids was his little black bracelets around his legs, which matched the patch behind his ears. Or so his Nanny said, of course he couldn’t see that. Then there was his very fine tail. He held his head up proudly and tip tapped on.
Soon he couldn’t see any more walls. The road had tall green hedges each side, which meant he couldn’t see very far. He pushed his nose into a particularly lovely smelling bit of the hedge, where there were big succulent leaves with tall stems rising up from them. The flowers were small pink burrs and smelt so sweet.
‘Watch out!’
The little goat looked around. He couldn’t see anyone.
‘I said watch out, you silly little billy’.
‘Who are you. I can’t see you,’ the little goat said.
‘Look down a bit,’ the voice said.
So the little goat looked down and tried to concentrate very hard.
‘Ah, there you are!’
Right in front of him was a handsome fellow in a glossy black and yellow striped coat. He had big black eyes on either side of his head, two antenna, two wings and a white bottom. On his back legs he was carrying two orange parcels.
‘What are you carrying?’ the little goat asked.
‘That’s my pollen. I’m taking it home to feed the family,’ he said.
‘Oh’ said the little goat. ‘May I try a little?’
‘Why don’t you get some of your own from some flowers?’ the bee asked. Because, of course, that’s what the creature was.
The goat grabbed a mouthful of flowers in his mouth and chewed them.
‘Mmm that is quite sweet,’ he said, ‘can you tell me how to get home?’ he asked. ‘I can’t see past these green walls.’
‘Tell me what you are looking for,’ said the bee, ‘and I’ll fly up and look.’
The little goat described the pen at the farm and the bee flew up and back.
‘I think I can see that. You need to go straight on and it will be on your right.’
‘Thank you,’ said the little goat. He wondered how he could have got so lost. He had thought the farm was in an entirely different direction, but he was ever so grateful.
‘Bye,’ he said, ‘say hello to all your family.’ and he tip tapped along the road.
The little goat reached a gate and he turned right as the bee had instructed. He didn’t realise that the farm was further along the road. He squeezed under the gate. He couldn’t see across the field because it was full of very tall stalks and it shone like gold. He could try to squeeze around the edge, but the stalks looked as if they were right up to the hedge in some places. He could take the path that seemed to go through the middle. He decided to do that. The little goat squelched and squished through the field. Suddenly his nose started to tickle.
‘Achoo!’ he sneezed. It made him jump and his eyes close. When he opened them he saw something on the path. A little line of creatures marched ahead of him.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Following,’ one of the creatures said.
‘I’m lost’ the little goat said
‘Well follow us,’ the little creature said.
So he followed the ant, because, of course, that was what the creature was. After a while the little goat stopped. Up ahead was a big circle that seemed to be moving. He walked up to it and bent down to inspect it more carefully. There were lots and lots and lots of ants walking round and round. More ants were approaching and joining the throng. The little goat's eyes followed the creatures spiralling round and round and started to get dizzy. This couldn’t be the way home, he thought. He wondered if they were descending into a hole or if they were building a tower to see the way. And then he sneezed again. The force of his sneeze blew some of the ants from the mound and they started to peel away with others following them. They seemed to be released from their spell at last and the little goat could walk on.
The little goat eventually reached the edge of the field and a wooden stile that he could crawl under, as he was still only a little goat. On the other side was a path carpeted with pine needles and leaves. Rising up each side were majestic trees reaching higher into the sky than he could see. He marched on, he must be home soon. He was tired and hungry. He felt a bit scared by the unfamiliar sounds of the woods, the creaking of the giant trees and the rustling in the leaves at their feet. He felt a splash of water on his nose and realised it had started to rain. He decided to pause for a rest by a big tree trunk. The little goat felt he was being watched but he couldn’t see anything. There was a musky smell that he thought was from something quite close to him.
‘Hello,’ a little voice said, and the little goat saw someone peering at him from the tree trunk right in front of him. A little creature with glossy beady eyes, a quivering pointy nose, whiskers and a silver coat.
‘Oh hello,’ the little goat said. ‘I didn’t see you. I’m trying to get home, can you help me?’
‘I can try,’ the mouse said, because, of course, that’s what the creature was.
‘What help do you need?’
‘Well, I could do with a friend,’ said the little goat. ‘I am a bit lonely on my own and frightened by these big trees and being away from my Nanny.’
‘Well, that’s easy,’ said the mouse. ‘I can travel up there, she said, and pointed to the dark patch between the little goat's tiny horns.’
‘Yes, of course,’ said the little goat.
The mouse scampered from the broken tree trunk onto the little goat’s head. The little goat got up very slowly and gently, keeping his head as still as possible, and the friends carried on along the woodland path.
When they got to the edge of the woods, they could see a white farmhouse in the distance way down the valley. Outside the woods big raindrops were falling.
The mouse said, ‘I know a place we can shelter until it stops. Walk along the side of the woods here and we will get to a rocky outcrop’.
The little goat trotted around the wood close to the wire fence and they soon came to the rocks.
‘There,’ said the mouse, ‘we can shelter in that cave.’
The wind was starting to blow hard, so they hurried along and were relieved to reach the shelter of the cave. They lay down to rest until it eased.
The little goat and the mouse slept. When they woke the rain had stopped but it was getting dark. The little goat had never been away from his Nanny at night and got quite upset. The mouse tried to comfort him. A very elegant creature lowered himself down in front of them. He had eight legs: he was holding on to a silken strand with one leg, whilst scratching his brow above two of his eight eyes with another.
‘Whatever is the matter?’ he said.
‘I’m lost,’ said the little goat, ‘and I’ve been walking all day but I can’t find my way. I’m hungry and I just want my Nanny.’
‘Oh dea,r’ said the spider, because, of course, that’s what the creature was.
‘Perhaps I can tell you some stories until its light enough for you to go on?’
‘Oh, yes please,’ said the mouse.
The little goat snuffled. So the spider started to spin stories for them, and they got lost in magical tales until they fell asleep again.
The little goat and the mouse woke in the morning light to shuffling noises outside the cave and they cuddled up closer to each other. The head of a creature appeared and peered into the cave.
‘There you are!’ the head said, ‘Come on, little goat, I’ll take you home.’
The human, because, of course, that’s what the creature was, lifted the little goat up into his arms. The little goat said goodbye to his new friends and said he would see them again soon. He snuggled in and started to daydream of his next adventure.
The End
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