Mother Goat and Her Last Kid Standing

I happened to witness a beautiful scene at my village recently.

Every afternoon, some small boys from the village came to feed their goats in the area near our home, since it had plenty of green grass. They would tie the goats with a long rope so that the goats could move around and eat as much as they wanted. In the meanwhile, the small boys would play games together nearby. And when it would start getting dark, the boys would take away the goats to their homes. That day, I noticed something interesting.

I saw that there was a mother goat along with five of her kids, and all were grazing grass in the same area. Only the mother goat was tied to a rope and the kids were allowed to remain free; since they would anyway never dare to go away from their mother. The goat was of creamy white color with some black in the legs. But the kids were of interesting shade. They were totally white except that they were black in every ‘bordering’ area of their body. It was like someone had made a drawing with black crayon – only the outlines were black while everything inside was white. The mother goat was grazing grass and her kids played all around her. Every once in a while, two of the kids used to jump and reach out to their mother to drink some milk. But perhaps that was not the right time – and hence mother goat would always retreat or push them away.

It had started getting dark, but that day, the boy was not coming to take the goats away! The kids did not know any complexities of the world and hence were just playing unconcerned. But the mother goat clearly looked worried. She had stopped eating and constantly looked in the direction in which the boy had gone, and she would make a shout out – Mee.. Mee.. Mee.. But that day, the boy was nowhere to be found! Perhaps her constant shout-outs were what had attracted my attention in that direction.

It went on for a long time. By now I had got concerned too – what would happen if the boy did not return? I wondered if the mother goat was thirsty – a concern I share whenever I see any stray – where do they get to drink water from? Anyways, the scene kept repeating – the mother goat had stopped eating; she would look in the direction where the boy went and make a shout out. The kids would still play around and jump to drink her milk while she would avoid them. I kept watching them wondering what happened next.

After a long time, finally the boy came back running. He must have got late due to some game he was playing with other kids. He quickly took out the wood with which the mother goat was tied, gathered the kids and left for his home. I felt relieved. But the story was not to end there! 

After a while, I noticed some sounds and looked in the same direction. I would never forget what I saw. The mother goat and her kids had left and were nowhere to be seen. The boy was standing at some distance. And one small baby goat was still standing near the place where her mother earlier stood; and it was crying! Yes, by the sound of it you would know that the baby goat was “crying” and not just shouting or making a sound. It became clear that while the boy rushed away the mother goat and her kids, one of the baby goats was left out! The baby goat would have got scared due to being left all alone; and hence it was crying.

The boy made signs at the baby goat to come in his direction, but the baby goat was not moving! It just stood where it was, totally still, and kept “crying”. After a while, the boy came, picked up the baby goat and carried it in his arms and walked away. Have you seen people carrying small goats in their arms? It is a lovely scene.

In the end, I was happy and touched with what I had seen. Next day, same time and same place, I just looked around to see what was happening. And I was shocked at what I saw!

That day in the evening when the time had come to return home, once again the boy had taken the mother goat and her kids towards his home; and once again one kid appeared left out; was just standing and again seemed to be “crying”! “Is it all over again?” I wondered. This time, the boy’s sister came and picked up the baby goat in her arms and walked away.

How could this keep happening daily? Or at least two days consecutively! Several thoughts crossed my mind. Was the small goat not the real kid of this mother goat and hence she was not taking care of it? May be the small baby goat was an orphan but attached to her for care? Or did the baby goat suffer from some physical problem due to which it could not walk? Or was it a different baby goat this time; and it was a common thing for baby goats to be left behind incidentally? I had no idea.

I could not think of a proper explanation to what had happened over those two evenings. But what happened did open my mind to a different world around us. The animal world... 

Hence ends the story of a mother goat and her last kid standing.

- Rahul Tiwary