One fine fall day, as Sophia the sheep was looking for tender grass, she came upon Henry the horse.
“Good morning,” said Sophia. “It’s a fine day, isn’t it? Have you any plans?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” answered Henry. “Sometimes I think I’ll run away to the green woods. It’s so warm and sunny there, and the air is always sweet.”
“How happy you would be there!” sighed Sophia. “But I’d much rather stay here in the green pastures near the barn.
“Do you know, Henry,” she went on, “I’ve had an idea in my head for some time? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a farm fair? There are so many kind, clever animals on the farm; there must be dozens of different ways to amuse ourselves.”
“That would be a very fine plan,” Henry replied thoughtfully. “But will you have the ideas and the animals too?”
“Why not?” said Sophia. “We’ll ask them.”
“But who’s to do all the work?”
“We ought to work together in everything,” said Sophia.
Henry had only to look over the fence to see the yard full of kind, strong animals who would be glad to help them. So the two friends began to walk up and down the yard, inviting all their neighbors to help them have a fair.
The goats joined with the sheep, and the turkey gobbler talked earnestly with the hens and ducks. The doves silently entered into a nest of plans; and at the very first sound of a bell-drum, Little Billy goat ran and jumped in two or three places, simply for joy. So many tongues were busy that it was hard to tell what the other was saying.
“Do you think we’ll have a fair next week?” said Sophia tentatively.
“Next week would be too early,” said Henry. “Don’t you want the horse to trot around and at the end to give each of the winners a heavy good luck penny?”
“That’s the finest of all, if we only can have it,” said Sophia speaking more slowly than common.
The fair was fixed for Friday afternoon. On Monday morning Sophia and Henry met again; and Sophia said: “What do you think of the white doves going at once to the wood and telling the birds?”
“Tell them about it!” said Henry, stamping his foot for joy.
And while they sat quietly a minute talking, the white doves had made their flight to the woods, and were soon back with the answer.
There wasn’t a bird on the tree who would take a crumb from thirty young birds. But they would come, of course, if they were their native woods. It was delightful to hear the answered, and then to see the bright green woods filled with the singing before they returned to the green farm.
“I think it’s a very good plan,” said Sophia, smiling.
“I could never have thought of anything so courteous,” said Henry.
The Monday afternoon passed swiftly and joyfully. The early morning was bright and warm, but showers came up as they did on Wednesday. As soon as the storm was over, the kindly animals began their preparations. Little Billy goat and the strong working ox remarked on the damp beds in the pasture where the fair was to be. So they built a warm place of dry straw.
The ponds and streams were to give refreshments of pure cold water, and to wash the village rust from the tired animals on the way home. Little Billy goat was to be the waitress.
The yard was to be turned into a green bower with new branches, the fences almost hidden under the bright green leaves that hung like a curtain, and were nibbled off before night was over.
“Don’t you feel fine,” said Sophia, as she said good-night, “I think our animals mean to do their best to have a good time.”
“Good-night, its so near day,” answered Little Billy goat sleepily.
The sunshine was smiling bright and soft on Friday afternoon. Near one fence stood the strong ox, shaking hands with each of the judges, who were all the animals in the yard. He was sorry to see so many of them saluting folks they didn’t know; but it was very agreeable to Dummy, an extremely cheap turkey, to know that there wasn’t one person present who had not dropped his calling; if it was only D. W. L. and sack a sheep and one or two odd looking goats.
The twenty-five citizens ran from one neighborhood to another. Little Billy goat was very sleepy and tired, but she refreshed herself at the bubbling spring and felt as happy now as a lark. And when everybody had had supper, nodded twice towards the woods, where there were singing and talking of happy birds, those green woods seemed to return every now and then echo with laughter from “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.