t seemed to him that he could even now hear his own voice
saying crossly, "Seems to me we always have to stay close to you. I
never have a bit of fun!" He wished he had not said it. He knew she was
a dear mother, and he would have given anything in the world for a
chance to stay close to her again.

His sister felt as lonely and frightened as he, but she did not act in
the same way. She stood close to a younger Lamb whose mother had just
been taken away, and tried to comfort her. One by one the mothers were
taken until only the Lambs remained. They were very hungry now, and
bleated pitifully. Still the twin brother stood with his head in the
corner. He had closed his eyes, but now he opened them, and through a
crack in the wall of the shed, he saw some very slender and
white-looking Sheep turned into the meadow. At first they acted dizzy,
and staggered instead of walking straight; then they stopped staggering
and began to frisk. "Can it be?" said he. "It surely is!" For, although
he had never in his short life seen a newly shorn Sheep, he began to
understand what had happened.

He knew that the men had only been clipping the long wool from the
Sheep, and that they were now ready for warm weather. No wonder they
frisked when their heavy burdens of wool were carefully taken off.

Now the farmer opened the door into the barn again, and let the Lambs
walk through it to the gate of the meadow. They had never before been
inside this barn, and the twin brother looked quickly around as he
scampered across the floor. He saw some great ragged bundles of wool,
and a man was just rolling up the last fleece. He wondered if that had
been taken from his mother and was the very one against which he had
cuddled when he was cold or frightened.

When they first reached the pasture, the Lambs could not tell which
were their mothers. Shearing off their long and dingy fleeces had made
such a difference in their looks! The twin brother knew his mother by
her way of walking and by her voice, but he could see that his sister
did not know her at all. He saw his mother wandering around as though
she did not know where to find her children, and a naughty plan came
into his head. If he could keep his sister from finding their mother for
even a short time, he knew that the farmer would take her up to the pen.
He thought he knew just how to do it, and he started to run to her. Then
he stopped and remembered how sad and lonely he had been without h