Sunset Socks

Three sheep
Millie - a silly sheep,
Lily - a shy sheep,
and Tib - a very, very smart sheep.
Lived with Megan.
Megan gave Millie, Lily and Tib, sweet oats and cream and soft brown sugar. She spun their fleeces into yarn to knit lots of socks.
She knitted, long socks,
short socks,
tennis socks and hockey socks.
She sold the socks to feed them all.
But people grew tired of Megan’s socks.
‘They’re always the same boring white,’ they said. Some mean children mocked the socks.
They called them silly socks and soggy socks and such a lot of soppy socks.

‘If we can’t sell our socks we’ll have no money for food,’ Megan told Millie, Lily and Tib. ‘If we have no food I’ll have to give you to someone else.’ A tear trickled down Megan’s cheek. Millie and Lily cried too. They cried big salty sheep sobs.

When Megan left, Millie and Lily sobbed until their fleeces were soggy. But Tib didn’t cry. Tib thought. She thought - I must come up with a plan to keep us together. Tib found a quiet corner, lay on the fresh green grass and thought and thought. Tib thought all morning as the rain fell. Tib thought all afternoon, as the sun shone. Tib thought until sunset lit the sky with streaks of purple, pink and gold, but she couldn’t think of a plan to keep them all together. ‘I’m too hungry to think anymore,’ she said. ‘I need my sweet oats and cream and soft brown sugar.’ But Millie, the silly sheep, had eaten her own meal and Tib’s too.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Millie. ‘When I’m upset I get extra hungry.’
‘You could try eating poppies,’ said Lily shyly, ‘perhaps they’ll taste good.’
Millie and Lily were so worn out with crying they were soon fast asleep.
Tib was too hungry to sleep. She chewed a poppy. It tasted good - warm and red peppery. All the thinking had made Tib very hungry indeed and she munched and crunched her way through poppy patch after poppy patch. As Tib munched and crunched something strange happened . . . . . . her white fleece turned pink - poppy pink.
That made Tib really think. Tib thought all evening as the moon rose high in the sky. She thought into the night as the twinkle of stars sprinkled the darkness. By morning, Tib had a plan. She woke Millie and Lily. They were surprised to see her pink fleece. Tib said, ‘If you want us to stay together you must do what I say.’
She took Millie to the hedges at the edges of the field. ‘There are blackberries here, eat as many as you can,’ she said.
‘Shall I eat the prickles?’ Millie asked.
‘No,’ said Tib.
‘Shall I eat the leaves? Millie asked.
‘No,’ said Tib.
Shall I eat the stems? Millie asked.
‘No,’ said Tib. ‘Only eat the purple blackberries. What a silly sheep you are, Millie.’
Millie nodded. She tucked in and sucked and sipped the fruit of the bramble bushes.
While Millie was sucking and sipping, Tib took Lily into another field. It was a field full of corn.
‘Eat as much corn as you can eat,’ she said.
‘Are we allowed in this field?’ Lily asked
‘Yes,’ said Tib
‘Will you stay with me?’ Lily asked.
‘Yes,’ said Tib.
‘Can I hide myself in the stalks of corn while I eat?’ Said Lily.
‘Yes,’ said Tib. ‘What a shy sheep you are, Lily.’
Lily nodded and nervously nibbled niblets of corn.
When Megan arrived with the sweet oats and cream and soft brown sugar what a surprise she got.
Standing proudly in the field was . . .
One poppy pink sheep,
One bramble juice purple sheep,
and one gold, as gold as the corn sheep.
Three sunset sheep. Megan spun the sunset wool into sunset yarn. She knitted lots of socks, socks with pictures and patterns on. She knitted clock socks and fox socks and bright jack in the box socks; socks with peacocks, socks with shamrocks socks with little leaves and flowers.
Every day people formed long queues to buy them.
Megan and her sheep were very happy together. Every winter, when the snow fell and froze the ground, Megan knitted six pairs of very special sunset socks - socks for her flock, socks.