SAM was a boy about five years old. He lived in the country, and had a
nice little black-and-tan dog, Jack, to play with him. Sam wanted a
goat. He thought that if he could only have a goat, he would be
perfectly happy.
One day, when Sam was playing in the yard, his papa came driving home
from town, with something tied in the bottom of the wagon. When he saw
Sam, he stopped the horse and called, "Sam, come here, I have something
for you."
Sam ran there as fast as he could, and--what do you think?--papa lifted
two little goats out of the wagon, and put them down on the ground. One
goat was black and one was white. Sam was so glad he did not know what
to to do. He just jumped up and down with delight.
Then the dog Jack came running out to see the goats too; but he did not
like them much. He barked at them as hard as he could; but the goats did
not mind him at all.
Pretty soon mamma came to see what Sam had. When she saw the goats, she
said, "Why, papa, what will become of us if we have two goats on the
place?" But she was glad because Sam was glad; and Sam gave his papa
about a hundred kisses to thank him for the goats.
For some weeks, the goats ran about the yard, and ate the grass; and Sam
gave them water to drink, out of his little pail, and salt to eat, out
of his hand. He liked to feel their soft tongues on his hand as they ate
the salt. The goats would jump and run and play, and Sam thought it was
fine fun to run and play with them. Jack would run too, and bark all the
time.
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But by and by Sam began to get tired of his goats, and his mamma was
more tired of them than Sam was. They ate the tops off of her nice
rose-bushes; they ran over her flower-beds; and one day, when the door
was open, one of them ran into the parlor and jumped up on the best
sofa.
Mamma said this would never do: so the next day papa found a man who
said he would give Sam fifty cents for the white goat. As Sam wanted to
buy a drum, he was glad to sell the goat; and with fifty cents in his
pocket he felt very rich.
Then the other goat was put in the orchard, and he liked it there very
much. He liked to have Sam come and play with him. As soon as he saw Sam
coming, he would run to meet him, and push him with his head, in play,
and try to jump on him.
The goat grew very fast,--much faster than Sam did; so that soon he was
quite a big goat, while Sam was still a very small boy. He got to be so
much stronger that Sam, that Sam was a little afraid of him.
[Illustration]
One day, when they were playing, the goat hit Sam with his head, and
knocked him down. Sam was scared. He got up, fast as he could, and tried
to run to the gate; but the goat ran after him, and Sam had to climb
into a tree. It was a nice apple-tree. Sam had often sat up there
before, and liked it; but, now that he was forced to sit there, he did
not like it at all.
The goat staid at the foot of the tree, and, when Sam tried to come
down, he would shake his head at him, as if to say, "Come down if you
dare." Sam did not dare. "Oh, dear!" said he, "what shall I do?"
There were some green apples on the tree; and Sam thought, that, if he
threw them at the goat, he could drive him away: so he began to pick the
apples, and throw them at the goat.
[Illustration]
The first one hit the goat right on his head; but it did not hurt him at
all. He just went to where the apple lay, and ate it up; and every time
that Sam threw an apple at him the goat would eat it, and then look at
Sam, as if to say, "That is good. Give me some more."
At last Sam said, "Oh, you bad, bad goat! I wish you would go away. If
you don't go away, I'm afraid I shall cry." Then he thought of Jack, and
called, "Here, Jack! Here, Jack!" Jack came running up to see what Sam
wanted. Sam said, "At him, Jack! At him, Jack!"
Jack ran at the goat, and barked at him and tried to bite him; but the
goat kept turning his head to Jack, so that Jack could not get a chance
to bite him. At last the goat got tired of hearing Jack bark, and
thought he would give him one hard knock, and drive him away.
So he took a step or two back, and then ran forward, as hard as he
could, to hit Jack. But, when his head got to where Jack had been, Jack
was not there: he had jumped away. The goat was going so fast, that he
could not stop himself, but tumbled over his head, and came down on his
back with his legs sticking up in the air.
Sam laughed so hard that he almost fell out of the tree, and Jack was so
glad, that he jumped and barked, and tried to bite the goat's legs. At
last the goat got up and walked over to the other side of the orchard as
far as he could go. Then Sam jumped down out of the tree, and ran to
tell his mamma all about it.