Bertha, the black sheep
When someone sees Bertha for the first time, they say amazed:
“Oh, what a lovely little sheep. Is it a boy?”
As a reply, Berthas parents always shake their heads smiling. They aren’t angry with the people who ask the questions, because they can’t possibly tell from Bertha’s thick, woolly coat whether she is a boy or a girl. And everyone can rightly think that Bertha is a boy, because she is a real black sheep. She has black wool and she is nothing like the other sheeps. She always does something cheeky, she goes up the smoky chimney or hides in the fireplace, and sometimes, she even plays in the mud with the little piglets.
But her parents can’t be angry with her, because Bertha is a very kind, warm hearted sheep. She always helps her parents if they ask, and she always shares her breakfast with her siblings. She is only adventurous. And of course, she is not afraid of anything. So, she wonders off from time to time to look for new adventures.
One day she had wondered too far, into the dark forest. And before she realised she had gone too far, it was already late, and night time was coming. No matter how much she tried to find the way out of the forest, she couldn’t, because it was so dark.
“Hello. Please help!” cried Bertha.
“Hello. Please help!” answered someone.
“Is anyone there?” asked the little sheep.
“Is anyone there?” replied someone.
Bertha realised that this conversation was heading nowhere, so she started to run. The poor little sheep was really unlucky, because it even started to rain. So she run to the left and then to the right, she run in the dark forest, and all the while she became soaking wet from the rain. She was very scared but she was even more tired, so much so, that she curled up, under a bush and fell asleep.
Her parents spent the night awake, worrying. They were very worried, but they decided to wait for their daughter at home until the morning. But after sunrise, they went to look for her and left the other little sheeps with the grandparents.
Unfortunately, the rain washed away all the footsteps and trails, so there was nothing to follow, except for the mother’s intuition.
“She is going to be in the forest” said the mother to the father.
“All right, let’s see” said the father, and they started towards the forest. They were very-very lucky, because near to the forest, they noticed something under a bush. They started to go faster, and saw that someone was sleeping under the bush.
“Bertha, is that you?” asked the father, surprised.
Though the little sheep looked a lot like Bertha, there was something different.
Hearing his father’s voice, the little sheep woke up and said:
“Dad? Daaaad!”
She started to run towards her parents, whose jaws dropped in amazement.
Because believe it or not, the rain at night washed off all the dirty cheekiness from Bertha, and her wool became white as snow.
“Bertha, darling. Come here, you cheeky” said her mother, after she could catch her breath, and hugged the little sheep tightly.
This is how it came to light that Bertha wasn’t really a black sheep. From there on Bertha didn’t do anything cheeky, because she knew that she could easily get into trouble.
Bertha is black in the beginning of the story and white at the end. Do you have a favourite colour? What is it?
Can you list some things that have your favourite colour?