On a sunny farm, with the cattle lowing and the quiet of the fall afternoon about her, Gracie the Goat stood gazing rapturously at a pile of feed before her. How good it looked! How fragrant it smelled! She was really sure no other goat ever had so many tempting morsels together in one pile.
“Why, my dear Gracie,” said one of her friends who was passing by at the time, “Why, my dear Gracie,” said one of her friends who was passing by at the time, “do you want to eat all that feed all by yourself? Won’t you share some of it with me?”
At the same time she stretched her neck out toward the feed, but Gracie butted her under the chin and said this was her own private pile.
Then another and still another passed by and made the same friendly offer, but Gracie shook her head and butted each in turn.
“It is all mine,” she cried, “I won’t share it with anybody. If they get around my manger, I won’t be able to tell which is mine and which is theirs.”
Each friend gave up and went away, and so Gracie had her feed all to herself, for it really was all hers. But then very soon a great storm arose, and down came the rain upon the pent-up clouds, and the water flooded the whole pasture. Gracie was soon glad to find a high spot with the rain rivulets rushing about her on every side.
“Well, I’m glad I’ve got my own feed up here with me,” she said, munching at the pile. But alas and alack! – on the ground below, and all around, where the level rain had been–was her own private pile of feed. How it had been carried down there by the rushing waters she could not imagine, but it was gone.
And what was worse, she looked around and there was no other goat and no other animal or bird anywhere near on all the flooded landscape. All the creatures she had turned from her door were come in now from upper pastures, and all were thronging about her mound, but they seemed to be all strangers to her.
Gracie stood there alone in the Kingdom of Distress, and when all the world was her neighbour she found herself crying over her mountain high her own feed.
She soon found out that nobody can isolate his interests without losing his friends.