There was once a female sheep who had given birth to two lambs. The Female Sheep’s mother lived in the south across the forest. She reared her lambs with great care as taught by her mother. In a few weeks’ time, they began to walk. The eldest lamb said, “I wish to visit my grandmother on the other side of the forest, please may I go?”
At first, the mother was not very sure of her lamb being safe and traveling through the forest. But the lamb kept insisting on visiting his grandmother’s place. In the end, the mother agreed to let the lamb go to his grandmother’s place by himself.
The eldest lamb went to visit his grandmother but never returned. It was rumored that he fell prey and was killed in the forest. All suspected that it was the tiger, the fox, and the vulture which killed and ate him.
After hearing this news, the female sheep was unhappy and was raging inside her. Yet, she found solace in the presence of her youngest lamb. But one day, the youngest lamb also wanted to visit his grandmother. So, he begged and cried to his mother to allow him to visit his grandmother.
His mother prevented and tried to change his mind referring to the death of the eldest lamb. Yet, the youngest persisted in visiting his grandmother. The Mother sheep agreed to allow him to visit his grandmother.
The next day morning, the youngest lamb got ready to set out towards his grandmother’s place. His mother advised him not to talk to anyone on the way.
The youngest lamb happily went on his way towards his grandmother’s place. By and by, he entered the forest. Near a small brook was a tiger resting under a tree. When the tiger saw the baby lamb, it immediately sprang into action and headed towards the lamb.
“What a tasty morsel of food walking on four legs, hmm…Lunch! You remind me of another lamb who looked just like you!” spoke the tiger in appreciation of seeing food.
“Oh! Mister Tiger, please don’t eat me now. I am going to my grandmother’s place and where I will grow fat and then you can eat me.”
“Of course, if you were fatter, it would be more the merrier to eat you,” said Tiger with eyes that bore down into the eyes of the baby lamb.
“Oh! Sir, I promise to return to you after I fatten myself,” promised the baby Lamb.
“Okay then young lamb, off you go and come back fattened as you promised,” said the tiger giving him way to walk past him.
As he continued, he came across a fox who stopped his happy trot and said, “Oh! You are juicy looking baby lamb much like the one who came by the last time. Oh! He tasted so yummy. Now, come here I will eat you.”
“Oh! Mister fox, what use of eating me now. I am going to my grandmother’s place where I will grow stout and make myself a worthy food for you.”
The fox thought for a while and said, “You surely have a point there. Very well then, go on to your grandmother’s place, but don’t forget to get fat when you come back.”
“Oh! Sir, I promise to return to you after I fatten myself,” promised the baby Lamb.
“Okay then young lamb, off you go and come back fattened as you promised,” said the fox allowing the young lamb to walk past him.
Soon, the baby lamb continued his journey through the forest. At the edge of the forest, there was an open space. A Vulture was flying with great freedom when he spotted a lamb walking happily. He immediately swooped down and landed near the baby lamb.
“Stop! Who goes there?” said the Vulture.
“It is me,” said the baby lamb meekly.
“Ah! It is a baby lamb,” said the Vulture hunching down. “You will make a wonderful snack. Now then, get ready to be my snack,” warned the Vulture.
The baby lamb lifted his sad innocent eyes towards the Vulture and said, “Oh! Mister vulture, please don’t eat me now. But if you let me go to my grandmother’s place, I will fatten myself for you.”
“My, that is a wonderful idea indeed,” said the vulture with his eyes glinting in greed.
Suddenly, the vulture caught the lamb by its tail and said, “Remember if you try any of your neat tricks on me, I will surely punish you for it.”
“Have faith mister Vulture! I would definitely return after fattening myself at my grandmother’s place,” said the baby lamb.
On his way toward his grandmother’s house, the Young lamb pondered and understood that his brother was killed by the three perpetrators and wished to punish them for their evil deed.
And soon, the baby lamb reached his grandmother’s place. “Welcome home little Lambkin,” crooned his grandmother and hugged him with lots of affection.
“How did you cross the forest? Where you not frightened?” asked his grandmother.
“It was a little difficult, I saw all my brother’s killers in the forest, they also wanted to eat me too,” said the baby lamb.
“How did you escape from them?” asked his grandmother.
I had promised the fox, the tiger, and the vulture, that I would fatten myself for them. Well they let me go for now, though on my return journey, I would be their food. As you know, one must keep their promise that I made to get revenge on my innocent brother’s death, so grandmother please put me in the corn bin,” said the baby lamb.
Oh! My little grandson, do you truly wish to get your revenge. Life is more important than petty revenge,” said his grandmother.
But the Lamb was determined to have his revenge. So, he planned how he would get back with all the three dangerous animals. He found a carpenter around his grandmother’s village and got from him a huge drum with outer wood wall filled with nails and hard iron.
So, the lamb spent the entire month inside the corn bin and waited as per his plan. He grew up in good size. He asked his grandmother to get the carpenter to make drum and have it covered with his dead brother’s skin. He then got into the drum and snuggled into it and began his wabbly walk back to his home.
On the way, he came across the Vulture who stopped him and asked, “Oh! walking drum have you seen a big fat baby lamb?”
“Mister Vulture sadly the baby lamb fell into the fire and is no longer alive. I’m sorry you must forget about eating him,” said the lamb with great cheer from inside the drum.
“Oh! Well, what a loss,” lamented the Vulture.
“But I have his hoof with me you could chew on it,” said the young lamb. He brought out a hard nail filled hoof for him to chew on it and then, the vulture’s beak broke. Now the young lamb set fire to his wings with a small match box that he had with him. The vulture rolled off to rest on a boulder to put out the fire on his wings. The gleeful young lamb picked up the iron hoof and continued his journey.
Soon the lamb camouflaged as a drum came upon the fox. The fox also asked the same question and the Lamb replied, “Oh! Mister fox, the young lamb fell in a fire and has passed away.
“All that he had left was a hoof for you,” so saying the young lamb showed the nails filled iron hoofs.
The fox chewed upon it and cried in pain as all his teeth broke and his mouth was bleeding. In hurt the fox ran deep into the forest with his tail set on fire.
Soon the lamb came across the Tiger who stopped to question him about lamb who promised to get fat for him to eat. The Lamb inside the drum replied cheerfully, “Oh! The lamb sadly fell into the fire and passed away. I’m sorry you must forget him.”
The tiger didn’t let the lamb complete his sentence because he immediately recognized the lamb’s voice. When the tiger tried to break open the drum which had lots of carpenter’s nails and hard irons. He heard his teeth crunch and break. Much like the fox and the vulture, the tiger also failed to reach the lamb’s soft flesh.
Soon, his mouth started to bleed profusely. The clever lamb quickly set fire to his tail and escaped from the forest. He sped to where his mother was waiting to be sheared by the Sheep farmer.
When they returned to their pen, the young lamb related all that happened and said that his brother would be at peace. As his younger brother, the young lamb brought justice for his elder brother’s death. The next day, he and his mother arranged a tower of stones and prayed for his dead brother.
Source: The Lambkin (Folktale)
Itinerant Storyteller 