Leggtowne Chronicles

Single-Foot could see from her window began to congregate under the old oak tree that stood on the hill. The day was coming to a close and a cooling breeze was beginning to swish and sway through the Big Barn. Whopp! The quiet came to an abrupt end as Nanny Goat finished her grain and began once again to beat her lowered head against the stall door. The Cat-Faced children, roused from an early bedtime, began whooping with delight again as their web began shaking with increasing vigor. “Stop that!” Mr. Cat-Faced yelled. “Stop that this instant!” But Nanny kept right on banging until the latch of the stall door began to bend and loosen from its housing. A few more whopps and the door flew open. With her head still lowered in anticipation of another whopp against the door, Nanny Goat unexpectedly barreled out into the hallway and into a bale of hay. Flipping tail over head, she landed feet first in the hog pen. Mama Berkshire and her eleven newborn piglets stopped their suppertime activities and stared at the sudden appearance of Nanny Goat. Then Mama Berkshire, with a disapproving scowl on her large face, popped up much faster than you would ever think something that big could move and, lowering her head, charged Nanny Goat. But no matter how fast a hog is, a goat is faster and Nanny Goat, despite her rather large middle, was fast indeed. Before Mama could get to the goat, Nanny was clearing the low wall of the pig pen and heading for the open road. “I’m free!” sang Nanny Goat. “I’m free at last!” Capering with goat-like bounces and jumps, Nanny Goat made her way down the dirt lane that led from the Big Barn to the farmhouse. To either side of the lane was a goat proof fence that Farmer Papa had installed so the goats could not get out of the pasture, but that meant that Nanny Goat could not get in, either. But at that moment, Nanny was unconcerned; she was just happy to be out of the barn and heading down the open road. Pretty soon, though, Nanny Goat got tired of capering. After all, she had noticed that she had put on a little weight while hanging around her stall in the Big Barn with nothing to do but eat and sleep. Slowing to a walk, she began to notice her surroundings and realized that she was on the wrong side of the fence. “Oh well,” she thought to herself. “I have always heard that the grass is sweeter on the other side.” So, she dipped her head into the spring-sweet fescue and began to nibble. Breaking off and chewing the tender grass kept Nanny busy for a while, but soon her recent adventures and a full stomach began to make her sleepy. Trudging slowly to the other side of the lane and into the tall grass on that side, she lay down and soon drifted off into a deep sleep. A few hours later when Nanny woke up, it was dark and beginning to rain. Being out of the Big Barn was all well and good, but a rainstorm on the wrong side of the fence was a little alarming. Nanny ran frantically back and forth along the fence line looking for a place to get in. Still standing under the old walnut tree on the hill, the horses in the pasture saw Nanny’s back and forth behavior and wondered what she was up to. Dan Arabian slowly roused himself from his almost-asleep zone and wondered over to the fence to check out the situation. “Whatever are you doing?” he asked Nanny. “Are you lost? All the other goats are by the kudzu patch. If you’re looking for the Big Barn, it’s back that way,” he said, pointing with his ear in the direction from which she had come. “No!” said Nanny. “I don’t want to go back to the Big Barn. I want into the pasture so I can…” but all of a sudden, Nanny got a funny look on her face, sat down into a rain puddle with a splash, and groaned. “What’s wrong?” asked Dan. “What happened? Are you OK?” But Nanny just slowly laid down, with her head on a tuft of grass and groaned louder. Whirling, Dan headed back to the old walnut tree hollering for the horses and telling them to get help. Sugarfoot Saddlebred took off in one direction, Sunshine Walker in another and Wild Bill Single-Foot ran back toward the Big Barn. And Nanny groaned louder. As luck would have it, Crack Blakldym just happened to be hopping by at that moment and noticed the commotion. Crackle, for that’s what everyone called him, was a very unusual rabbit. His close association with the many spiders of Leggtowne had enabled him to spin a web from the back of his little cotton tail. He was well known in Leggtowne, the spiderburbs, and the Big Barn as a friend of the spiders and the other nearby residents. As Crackle watched, Nanny’s groaning got loader and loader, when, all of a sudden, out popped a tiny baby kid and then another. Crackle was astonished! He was amazed! He was alarmed! Here it was, dark outside; it was raining, Nanny was on the wrong side of the fence, and she had just given birth to two kids! What could he do to help? How was he going to get this small family back to the Big Barn and out of the rain? So, Crackle did what he always did in times of doubt, he prayed. His nose twitched wildly from side to side as he listened to his heart, which, of course, was God’s telegraph system. Then an idea popped from his heart...