A little boy and baby goats!

Hello Steemians I have quite days to publish something, but I am ready to come back by posting more often in future. Today I will share with you a true story about goats, baby goats and a little boy.

Lets start!

Once upon a time, there was a little child who had a great love for goats.
For the needs of our story, we will name this little boy, Tom.
Little Tom lived with his family, next to his grandparents’ house.
His grandparents had two goats, that provided them with meat and milk.
Little Tom loved the goats so much that he wanted to watch them, feed them and take care of them every single day.

Every summer around August, the goats’ mating season began, so Tom’s grandfather had to take their two female goats to the male ones, in order to mate.
The distance they had to travel, was about 2 km away. Tom’s grandfather had to walk all this way, on a path full of dust and through the summer heat of keeping the goats alongside him, and, of course little Tom would tag along, as well.

So, the day of their little journey finally arrived, and little Tom, his grandfather and their two goats set off very early in the morning, to avoid the midday heat. Almost halfway along their route, there was bridge that cast a large and cool shade underneath it, so the little Tom and his grandfather made a short stop there, to rest and cool off.

After travelling a very long distance in the dust and the heat, they finally arrived at the place where the male goats were kept. This place had about 20 trees and under each tree, there was a male goat and all the villagers were bringing their goats there to breed. An elderly woman welcomed little Tom and his grandfather and placed the goats under the shade of tree. Then, little Tom and his grandfather took off on their way back home, and waited for the elderly woman's call, to let them known that their goats had been impregnated and that they could, therefore, go back to get them.

A long week later, they got the call from the elderly woman and little Tom and his grandfather followed the same route they had taken a week ago to bring their goats back home.
Little Tom was thrilled because he knew that the goats were pregnant and were expecting little baby goats.

Since they returned home, little Tom began taking even greater care of the goat-mothers, feeding them properly so that the baby goats could grow big and healthy, and he was amazed, watching how the goat-mothers’ bellies were growing.

Days and weeks passed and both the goats’ bellies were growing bigger and bigger. By the end of the year, their bellies had grown quite a lot, and soon, the goat-mothers’ would give birth to their baby goats.

As the days passed, little Tom tried to spend more and more time looking after the goats, because he wanted to be there when they would finally give birth, and was curious to see how many baby goats they would have, as well as their different colors. However, as his excitement and persistence grew bigger, his grandfather scolded him, telling him that he should not be around the goats as much, since that would make them quite anxious and would not allow them to give birth in peace. Complying with his grandfather’s advice, little Tom thence forth kept an eye on them secretly, from distance, hidden behind trees and shrubs.

At least, along with the first few days of the new year, came the birth of the baby goats, and Tom being the first one to notice the time had come, immediately ran to fetch his grandfather, screaming excitedly.

Tom – Grandpa, hurry! The baby goats are coming!

His grandfather rushed to them straightaway, and the little Tom could not contain his excitement.

Tom - Look grandpa! It’s a baby goat, it’s coming!
Tom’s grandfather – Be patient… the baby goat needs its time.
Tom – Oh grandpa, look! It’s a blue baby goat!?

His grandfather laughed loudly and joyfully with his grandson’s observations!
The first baby goat was finally born. The newborns were, usually, either white, or brown or black and white.
Tom’s grandfather picked it up carefully and cleaned its mouth and nose so that it could take its first breaths.

Tom - O grandpa, look! The second it’s a green baby goat!?

The second baby goat was come.

Tom - Grandpa look! There comes another one! This one is yellow!?

His grandfather kept on laughing with little Tom’s excitement!
Each goat usually gave birth to two or three babies at a time, although Tom wished for more.
For the first few days after they were born, Tom made sure to take a great care of the little goats, helping them breastfeed, then, placing them on warm blankets to sleep calmly.

More days and weeks passed, and the baby goats grew bigger and stronger, and they would, now, jump around and play all day long. So, Tom decided that it was time to give them names, not to merely, unceremoniously name them, but to baptize them, just as the orthodox Christians do!

Thus, in afternoon he secretly went to the warehouse where his grandfather kept the olive oil, filled a few bottles with oil, made a wooden cross and started to baptizing each baby goat, bathing them, one by one in olive oil.
Every baby goat now had a name!
When his grandfather, later, discovered his little ceremony, he got quite angry and scolded his, yelling that this olive oil was to be used only for cooking!
Tom, then replied, confused, “But grandpa, I was also baptized like this”.

As the time went by, the baby goats grew bigger and began to feed on grass.
Since the little goats did not need to sickle anymore, Tom’s grandmother was, now, milking the goats every morning, to make cheese, for the family.

More months passed, and baby goats had now grown big and heavy.
Unfortunately, a very difficult time had come.
It was time for the goats to be slaughtered.
Tom was deeply sad and did not want to let something like that happen.
Tom’s grandfather spoke to his brother, regarding to process, since he was the one who knew the proper way to slaughter goats. Then, one day, Tom and his uncle took off to play football someplace far from their house, so that Tom would not see the slaughter. But suddenly, as they were playing around, Tom experienced something quite unexpected. He felt a very intense pain in his belly, fell down and was unable to continue. His uncle, decided to take him back home, and, by the time they arrived, Tom’s pain has completely disappeared. He, later, realized that his pain emerged at the same time, as the goats were being slaughtered. When they arrived home, the goats had already been killed and hung.

Although they were no longer alive, they had, thankfully, provided the family with enough meat to last the next few months.

This was a true story!

So, now, let me tell you a little secret… little Tom was, in fact, me!
And every year since then, whenever that time comes, I always look back at my childhood and remember those little baby goats I loved so much…

If you were patient and you read the whole story I would like to thank you very much!!!

All pictures were taken by @nikoleondas

Thank you!
@nikoeondas