Country Life
By IAN NIALL
°VI:RTAKING a flock of sheep that had strayed on to the road the other day, I found myself In difficulty in getting past. When I came to a standstill, the sheep slowed down, and when I moved, they hurried on. I tried to give them tnom to turn back, but they didn't see a way °f escape to the rear until the leader of the ,,w°°I1Y heads stopped and plunged along the 1'40 to my right. Immediately the sea of perhaps creatures flowed after him. Man has rerhaps slaughtered and bred most of the Individuality out of sheep, but there remains 4 rogue or ileader in a flock. The ewe wearing a triangle to stop her breaking out of a field !s unfortunate in that, if she persists in her individualism, she will end up on the butcher's slab, • having worn down the patience of the rckmaster. I remember a ram my grandfather This one, too, was a superior sheep with t't respect for drystone walls or thick hedges. Z!anY gays were devoted to bringing him (and "Is followers) back to the home pasture. His escapades led to the loss of so many hqurs that he came, at length, to the block. Until his 'nu he had an unsheeplike glint in his eye, r1°. Or fellow. Anyone foolish enough to bow to nn and turn away, as we mischievous children contrived to get innocents to do, was in danger. As soon as this happened the ram charged.. He evils
, no common mutton and had his dignity `° uphold.
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