It’s Himself
Jonathan: I now know what name our sheep know me by. Alas, the human (Western) alphabet lacks the concepts and symbools necessary convey the distinctive inflections and tones of sheep language, so I can’t really do it justice; but to put it simply, they know me as Baa! This morning I found the sheep dotted about rocky outcrops and boggy hollows down by the shore, but as I quietly approached the flock, only one ewe – standing on a low ridge about 15m from me, could see me. She stood still watching me a while, then suddenly turned round to face the others, still hidden behind another ridge further on, 50m or more away, and announced – quietly but clearly – Baa!. There was a brief pause, then 23 other pairs of horns appeared, stationary, just above the far ridge.They could only see my head. The nearest ewe exactly repeated her call, which was answered with a thundering of hooves as the flock galloped over, licking their lips in anticipation of the morning snack! I have never seen this before: if the sheep had known I was there, they would not have needed calling ; and were I not there, a sheep baaing just once would have caused no more than one or two other sheep to lift their heads for a moment before resuming their grazing. No, this was a call which meant, as Gaelic speakers say in English: It’s himself!
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