Never take anything from a stranger. I had to learn the hard way. Now, I have learned my lesson. Never, ever, ever take anything from a stranger. Especially the one that stands outside your house every day.
Owning a farm is hard work, definitely over spring. That's when we have to shear the sheep's wool. All one hundred-forty-six of them.
It was then, in the middle of spring, when I noticed an odd man standing on the road, watching me tend the sheep. I never thought anything of it, at all. I thought that he liked to watch the sheep do about their day.
March twentieth is when the man approached me. He asked if I'd like to take a sheep from him. I recently had one of the sheep pass away, so I wanted to seize this opportunity.
I asked him how much money he wanted. He told me he didn't want any money, which was a bit odd. Nobody can ever get a perfect healthy sheep for free. I thought that I just gotten lucky, being able to get a free sheep.
That following day, the man brought me the sheep. It was beautiful. It had soft, black wool and it was tiny. I instantly fell in love with the animal. I thought that it would be a great addition to the farm.
I introduced the tiny sheep to Max, my herding dog. Max usually loves everyone, but he did not like this sheep. He backed away from it slowly, sticking his tail between his legs. I didn't think anything of it and put the new sheep in the grazing field, where he would soon meet his new family.
Instantly, the sheep fled. They all cowered into one corner of the huge field. If the black sheep made its way over there, they'd move far away from it, as far as they could go.
This kept on for days. Ever since I got that sheep, nothing has ever been the same. My crops were dying, the sheep were acting weird, and Max never came outside. I never thought that the little black sheep in the middle of the field would cause such a problem.
Now, I have figured out why the black sheep was different, but I had to figure it out the hard way.
I looked at the field, wiping a tear off my cheek. Everything was dead. The crops, the cattle, the pigs, the chickens, the sheep, the horses, and Max. They all laid there, not moving. I know that they weren't killed. This was the work of something internal.
I sighed and shook my head. Everything is ruined. The farm has no future. I'll have to start over now.
I started to make my way inside when I heard something making its way towards me. I turned around to see the little black sheep, alive and well. I looked it in the eyes, wondering how it was still alive and everything else dead.
That's when I felt light-headed and my chest began to burn. My legs buckled under me and I fell to the grassy ground. My vision started to fade away. The last thing I saw was the stranger who had given me the sheep, standing on the road, watching my life slip away.
