{"id":495,"date":"2009-03-25T20:48:25","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T03:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/?p=495"},"modified":"2009-04-21T20:01:20","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T03:01:20","slug":"story-the-lazy-loppin-goat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/2009\/03\/25\/story-the-lazy-loppin-goat\/","title":{"rendered":"Storybook: The Lazy Loppin Goat"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA)
\nthe author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories<\/a>
\nillustration by Kevin Scott Collier<\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/em><\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

The grass was tall; very, very, tall, but it shouldn\u2019t have been. Alfred Lambert had the worst luck with lawnmowers you see, and no matter how many new lawnmowers Alfred bought none ever worked for him. Alfred\u2019s luck was so bad that the store he bought lawnmowers from made sure to have a new one waiting for him every day; they just knew he would be coming back for another. At first, Alfred\u2019s neighbors were mad at the way his yard made the whole neighborhood look; many folks in town were so fed up that they offered to cut Alfred\u2019s grass for free, but Alfred refused any help. He was determined to cut his own lawn.<\/p>\n

As Alfred\u2019s grass grew to historic heights the whole town of Belvar eventually embraced the jungle known as Alfred\u2019s yard. The Mayor of Belvar even declared Alfred\u2019s yard as a town landmark. Next to the clouds in the sky, Alfred\u2019s yard was now the tallest thing in town. Alfred didn\u2019t like all of the attention his yard was receiving though, and he felt embarrassed at how tall his grass had become.<\/p>\n

One evening after yet another failed attempt to buy a working lawnmower, Alfred was ready to give up on finding a way to mow his jungle of-a-yard, when out of nowhere a faint little bleat from a goat could be heard in the distance. Alfred\u2019s face lit up like a Christmas tree upon hearing the goat\u2019s bleat. Alfred felt he found the solution to cutting his lawn, because goats love to eat grass, and any goat would be thrilled to feast in Alfred\u2019s yard.<\/p>\n

After climbing up the grass in his yard and looking down at the telephone poles, Alfred worked his way out of his yard and darted to the nearest farm. The Cline family lived down the road from Alfred, and they had several kinds of animals on their farm. In addition to chickens, cattle, and hogs, the Clines had one little caramel colored goat with dark stockings. She was a friendly little goat, but the Cline family seldom paid her much attention. The little goat felt lonely and spent most of her days walking aimlessly in the green pasture. When Alfred approached the Cline family about his idea, Mr. Cline and his entire family started to laugh hysterically. And it didn\u2019t stop there! The chickens, cattle, and hogs nearby all laughed too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one lazy loppin goat,\u201d declared Mr. Cline. \u201cYou can have her for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I ask why you feel the goat is lazy?\u201d asked Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t want to work! It doesn\u2019t want to do much of anything,\u201d said Mr. Cline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, since you\u2019re offering her for free, I don\u2019t have anything to lose,\u201d said Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery well,\u201d said Mr. Cline. \u201cShe\u2019s all yours!\u201d<\/p>\n

As Alfred walked across the Cline\u2019s farm in search of the little goat, several of the farm animals were still laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck with that goat. You\u2019re going to need it,\u201d said one of the chickens.
\nThe chicken\u2019s comment made all the other animals laugh even harder. Alfred ignored the animals\u2019 laughter and spotted the little goat down on the meadow. As Alfred approached the little goat, she lifted her head out of the creek she was drinking from to see what he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me, my name is Alfred and I live down the road from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you do?\u201d asked the little goat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am fine thanks. Do you have a name?\u201d asked Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d replied the little goat. \u201cMy name is Irene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, very nice to meet you Irene. I just spoke with Mr. Cline, and he said that I could be your new owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked the little goat. \u201cWhat did he get in return?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing, he gave you to me for free. Mr. Cline said you\u2019re lazy and don\u2019t like to work. Is that true?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, sir, it\u2019s not,\u201d replied the little goat. \u201cI love to work, but nobody on this farm understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve got a situation I was hoping you could help me with. Come with me and we\u2019ll discuss it along the way,\u201d said Alfred.<\/p>\n

The little goat\u2019s feelings were hurt that the Cline family was so willing to give her away for free, but she thought moving might be the new start she was looking for. As Alfred and the little goat walked toward his home, Alfred\u2019s yard became visible almost immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat in the world is that?\u201d asked the little goat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my yard,\u201d replied Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait a minute. I\u2019ve heard of you. You\u2019re that Lambert fellow with the yard that touches the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfred couldn\u2019t believe that his yard had become gossip even among farm animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that\u2019s my yard,\u201d replied Alfred. \u201cThe height of my grass is why you\u2019re coming with me. I need my grass to be down to a respectable height.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, you don\u2019t need a goat for that Alfred, you need about 25 combines,\u201d said the little goat. \u201cSecondly, I am allergic to grass.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re joking right?\u201d asked Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not,\u201d replied the little goat.<\/p>\n

Alfred became upset at the little goat, because he thought she was lying to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can a goat be allergic to grass? Don\u2019t you live for that stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrass isn\u2019t cotton candy Alfred,\u201d replied the little goat. \u201cAnd since when do any of us decide what we\u2019re allergic to?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t buy this for one second,\u201d said Alfred. \u201cIt\u2019s like Mr. Cline said, you\u2019re a lazy loppin goat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fed up with Alfred not believing her, the little goat walked over to the side of Alfred\u2019s yard and took a huge bite out of it. Almost immediately after taking the bite of grass the little goat broke out in green and purple polka dots. Alfred couldn\u2019t believe his eyes. After just one bite of grass, Alfred had a rainbow colored goat on his hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really sorry,\u201d said Alfred. \u201cI should have believed you. Can I get you anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d replied the little goat. \u201cI need some fresh water and something to help settle my stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought goats were supposed to be garbage disposals,\u201d said Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what everyone at the Cline farm thought too,\u201d said the little goat. \u201cI\u2019m not a lazy loppin goat Alfred, I just happen to be a goat that\u2019s allergic to grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re more than welcome to stay here anyway. I\u2019ll just find something else for you to do if you can\u2019t eat grass,\u201d said Alfred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, Alfred, I\u2019ll help you mow this yard, and all I\u2019ll need in return is just two things,\u201d said the little goat.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust two things?\u201d asked Alfred. \u201cName it. Anything you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know I can\u2019t eat grass, but what I do love to eat is lima beans. I can\u2019t get enough of them,\u201d said the little goat. \u201cThat\u2019s the first thing I\u2019ll need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s easy enough,\u201d said Alfred. \u201cWhat\u2019s the second thing you\u2019ll need?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second thing is really more for us than just me,\u201d said the little goat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked Alfred.
\nThe little goat tapped her hoof on Alfred\u2019s lawnmower and said, \u201cWe\u2019ll need gas for the lawnmower Alfred. We\u2019ll need gas for the lawnmower.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE END<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Lazy Loppin Goat”<\/span><\/em> Copyright \u00a9 2006 by Artie Knapp
\nAll Rights Reserved <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA) the author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories illustration by Kevin Scott Collier The grass was tall; very, very, tall, but it shouldn\u2019t have been. Alfred Lambert had the worst luck with lawnmowers you see, and no matter how many new lawnmowers Alfred bought none ever worked for him. Alfred\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-stories","tag-artie-knapp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}