The other goats who had practically dragged Goat to see the spectacle at the town square now began agitating to go closer and see the merchants and their attractions at a closer range.
Of course, Goat did not care for such nonsense, and he immediately told his fellows that he was most certainly not going to join them to draw closer to the merchants, under no circumstances.
Unfortunately for Goat, he actually had very little say in the matter, and more unfortunately, the other goats knew why he had no say. One of them, who for some obscure reason had been called ‘Smoke’, immediately struck up a plan.
Now, this Smoke looked more like some wild cousin of a domestic goat, than a goat itself, and many of the other farm animals believed rumors that its wild look must have been because one of its ancestors was an antelope or some other thing.
Smoke, for his part, did nothing to put the rumors to rest, doing the most daring and adventurous things that a goat could afford to do. Of course, this just made the rumors stronger, and Smoke was often considered more a wild goat than domestic.
But Smoke loved being different. And he would do anything not to appear as a run-of-the-mill, average, garden-variety goat. So he drew closer to Goat and said, “no worries, you can start going home now. The rest of us will come back much later when the caravan leaves.”
And that was the problem. Having never been the adventurous kind, Goat had hardly ever left the farm, and when he had to, he had never gone far. This was the farthest he had ever been in his life. So he didn’t know the way back home.
Feeling very angry and frustrated, Goat had to follow the others, because he knew that if he stayed somewhere to wait for them, they would probably forget him where he was and go on home without him. So he had to tag along, in order to ensure he returned home safely, even as he swore never to listen to the other goats.
Eagerly, they approached the caravan, just as a bunch of circus acts traveling along with the merchant troupe decided to stage a show to astound the inhabitants of the town. It was spectacular, with acrobats twisting and contorting themselves in mid-air, jugglers playing with swords and other dangerous materials, wild animals performing tricks, and a fire-breather.
The fire-breather was the catalyst of the change that befell Goat, and no one, least of all the circus man, knew that what would happen next would be worth telling as a story.
To be continued...
Thanks for coming!
That little boy,