The Shepherdess And The Sweep Story

Children's stories

The Shepherdess And The Sweep

There was a very old cupboard in James's house. It was so old that it's color had changed into black. It was old but had much importance in the modern age, it was a master piece of the ancient era. This kind of furniture is very rare these days. It is usually found in museums. Museum is the right place for antiques. There were carved beautiful flowers on it. There was carved a strange man too at top of the cupboard who had two horns like a goat. James and his brothers called him Commander-in-Chief. Whenever they were free they used to play in the room where cupboard was placed. James and his friends also used to discuss about the curved man. They used to spend enough time looking at Commander-in-Chief. Commander-in-Chief used to gaze at the two beautiful statues which were on the chest. One of those statues was of a working boy ''Sweep'' while the other was of a Shepherdess. Both statues were made of crystal. And they were very beautiful to look at. These statues were gifted to James's father by his friend. At the other corner of the chest there was a statue of a Chinese too. They called him grandpa. The child called the statue of a shepherdess a ''Doll'' and ''Lamboo'' to the statue of working boy. Doll and Lamboo stood so closed that they used to talk in whispering. So grandpa couldn't hear them. One day they decided to marry. So Lamboo told grandpa that he was going to marry doll.

 The old man said, ''It can't be done, you can't marry my innocent grand-daughter. I'll arrange her marriage to a handsome boy.'' Lamboo and doll were very sad to hear it. Then they planned to run away. They thought and thought and at last Lamboo told the doll that there was a chimney in that room, they could escape through that chimney. You will have to take courage. Because it's very hard to go through it but there was no other way. At night when the old man closed his eyes and turned in, they slowly reached the fire place. Lamboo said, ''Look doll, first I'll go in the chimney, and then as I call you, you would come in too. Be brave soon we will succeed in escaping through it.'' The hole of chimney led to the roof. Following the Lamboo when doll reached the top, she was astonished to see the star studded sky all over them. She hadn't seen such a scene. She was confused to see the vast world. She said to Lamboo, I can't stay here any more, please take me back to the chest. If I stay here any more, I'll die.'' Lamboo tried his best to make her understand but she insisted to go back. At last Lamboo was forced to go back down to the room. So, they climbed back down the chimney and got into the room. There, they saw the old man lying on the ground in order to follow them. He fell from the chest and had broken his leg. His one arm and his head were also detached from the body. The shepherdess started to weep, seeing it. Lamboo said to the doll, ''Don't worry, we can mend it by glue. And we will fix the head with a hook. You will see, it will be Okay again.'' They tried hard and mended the old man but yet it was not able to move. Lamboo asked the old man whether he could marry the all. Butte received no answer. Again he repeated his question but in vain. He was very annoyed. He lost his temper. He did not know what to do. He wanted to hit the old man. In great rage, he threw it on the ground. There was complete silence in the room shattered on the floor. Lamboo again to run away with the doll but the doll did not like the idea. She started to cry to see the pieces of old man. Lamboo tried to console her but in vain. Seeing all that, Commander-in-Chief raised so a horrible laughter that its echo shook the things in the room. There seemed to be an earth quake in the room and every thing started to move. When the chest moved with the sound, the statues of both also fell down to pieces. James cried with fear. His parents came running. They loved James and asked what the matter was. ''Why are You so scared?'' they said. James told them the whole story and told them that he was frightened to see moving statues in his dream.