I

Once upon a time in a far away land there lived two families divided by a large, serene river.  On the east side of the beautiful river lived the Clan of the Sheep.  On the west side lived the Clan of the Wolves.  Both families were engaged in a bitter battle since time began, and not a day went by in the far off land where a raging war wasn’t fought between the two clans.  The smooth flowing river separating the two families ran red with the blood of both clans.  Bodies that were stacked up on both shores were piled so high, they almost blotted out the sun.

The Sheep were a simple, god fearing type of folk.  The family members usually did as they were told by their elders, and tried to be as helpful to members of their own family as they could.  The clan did not like outsiders and believed that everyone who was not one of their own were one with the devil.  The Clan of the Sheep did not want to become corrupt by other clan’s beliefs and customs, so they fought bitterly to conquer clans and convert them into Sheep.  Their name and reputation spread throughout the land and pretty soon every cat, dog, goat and cow feared The Sheep.  Their only major opposition was The Wolves.

Family members of The Wolves were more complex than The Sheep.  The Wolves were usually very calculating and rebellious in nature.  When The Sheep first rose to power, The Wolves were the only clan to raise their voice in opposition to the other Clans of the Animal Land.  The Wolves only received support from the one clan, The Ferrets, at their first meeting.  The Ferrets were a mischievous little bunch and were always looking for trouble.  Other clans were hesitant and withheld their support for one more meeting.  When the next meeting took place, The Ferrets had been conquered and destroyed by The Sheep.  No other clans dared to oppose The Sheep for fear of the same fate happening to them as happened to The Ferrets.

Eventually The Sheep conquered each and every member of the other Clans and either converted them into Sheep or destroyed them if they would not convert.  The only other Clan that remained was The Wolves.  Although The Sheep outnumbered The Wolves tenfold, The Wolves’ determination to survive was stronger than any army.  The Wolves were beyond conversion to The Sheep and they were too hard to destroy.  The Sheep allowed The Wolves to have their land, and for a while the two clans tried to live in harmony.  However, petty disagreements between the two clans always escalated into all out war and bloody battles ensued on a regular basis.

The Clan of Sheep had a head family that was bound by the lineage of their ancestors.  The head of the head family served as the leader for the entire clan.  Clan members referred to their leaders as Daddy Sheep and Mommy Sheep, while other members of the clan were defined by their choice of work.  There was a Baker Sheep.  There was a Butcher Sheep.  There was a Mailman Sheep.  There was a Police Sheep.  There was a Teacher Sheep.  There was a Plumber Sheep.  There was even a Garbage Man Sheep.  Everyone in the clan took up a different duty around the town and defined themselves based on what they did to help out the town.

The Clan of Wolves lived a much different lifestyle.  There were no leaders and there were no names.  Individual clan members were known for who they were, not what they did.  It was an anarchic type of community that worked like a commune to promote harmony amongst its members.  The Wolves only had one rule: do whatever you want as long as it does not affect any other individual or individual’s life.  Everyone in the Clan of Wolves got along very well with each other, and there was no crime or poverty or corruption.

The only ones trying to impose on their lifestyle was The Sheep.  The Sheep would attack, kidnap, torture or kill any member of The Wolves it came across walking alone in the woods.  The Wolves lived in constant fear of The Sheep, but kept to themselves until they were provoked or attacked.  When their lifestyle was challenged, self-preservation became more important than not imposing on others.  They waged war against The Sheep until they would retreat back to their own side of the river.

On and on it went like this between the two clans for generations and generations.  The two sides waged war on one another, with both sides taking casualties evenly.  One day, a single event would change the entire course of the future for the two clans.

II

The front door of the Sheep family bursts open and a roar of rain and thunder force themselves inside of the little domicile.  Daddy Sheep walks into the house, dressed in an oversized poncho.  He slams the door behind him and stands on the welcome mat, dripping rainwater like a monsoon everywhere.  When he finally strips off the soaked poncho, Daddy Sheep reveals that he did not come home alone.  Tucked in his arms is a mysterious and small package that is squirming in his hands.  Daddy Sheep looks visibly shaken, mumbling to himself incoherently.

“Mnrph…yes, yes….mnurph….shhh…”, Daddy Sheep mumbles to the mysterious bundle in his arms.

Mommy Sheep’s ears prick up at the sound of her husband coming from.  She turns off the faucet and takes a break from the pile of dirty dishes to greet her husband.

Is that you, dear”, Mommy Sheep asks from around the corner.  “Did everything go okay today, honey?”
“Yes, yes”, Daddy Sheep says from the foyer.  After stripping off his hat and coat, drenched despite the large poncho, he walks over and deposits the small, moving package onto the living room sofa.  “Everything went fine, dear.  The reconnaissance mission was a complete success.”

Daddy Sheep heads into the kitchen to give his wife a proper introduction.  Mommy Sheep has resumed working on the mountain of dirty dishes left over from the previous night’s party.  They had everyone from the town over and feasted on yummy barbeque.  Daddy Sheep sneaks in behind his wife and slips his arms around her waist.  He hugs her deeply as he kisses the nape of her neck.

“Tell me that you love me”, Daddy Sheep says as he continues to shower his wife with love and affection.  His left hand disappears behind his back then reemerges in front of  Mommy Sheep’s face.  Clutched tightly is a single purple flower.

“Oh, you know how I so love anything purple”, Mommy Sheep bleats in excitement.  This was no exaggeration.  In fact, this was the understatement of the century.  Mommy Sheep love purple so much that she made everything around her purple.  The house was purple, the walls were purple, the furniture was purple, the rugs were purple, even the dishes were purple.  Mommy Sheep loved purple so much that she herself was even purple (after many, many costly wool-dying procedures of course).

Mommy Sheep quickly turns around and smothers her husband with kisses.  Disregarding her soapy hands, she leaves trails of soap bubbles all over Daddy Sheep’s shirt and hair.  Daddy Sheep blushes slightly from the showering of affection and grabs his wife’s hand.

“Come with me, honey”, Daddy Sheep says as he drags her into the living room.  The peculiar object still sat on the sofa.  Whatever was inside was obscured by the blanket that it was covered in.  As they cross the threshold to the room, Daddy Sheep slips in behind his wife and covers her eyes with his hands.

“No peeking, it’s a surprise”, Daddy Sheep says.

“Oooh, surprises”, Mommy Sheep responds as she stumbles momentarily on a loose board.  “You know I love surprises!”

Daddy Sheep guides his wife into the living room carefully, making sure she doesn’t stumble again.  When they reach the edge of the sofa, Daddy Sheep removes his hands from her eyes.  Mommy Sheep opens her eyes slowly, allowing her vision to adjust to the dim fireplace lighting of the living room.  Her husband is now sitting on the sofa, holding the peculiar object cradled in his arms.  Mommy Sheep’s vision begins to become clearer and she looks closer at what her husband is holding.  When she finally realizes what it is, she yelps and jumps backwards as if she had just seen a ghost.

“GET THAT WRETCHED THING OUT OF MY HOUSE”, Mommy Sheep screams at the top of her lungs.  Whatever Daddy Sheep was holding starts to cry from underneath the wrapped blanket.

Daddy Sheep quiets the package by rocking it back and forth in his arms.  When the package is no longer making a sound, he puts it back down on the sofa and walk towards his still-cowering wife.

“Don’t worry, dear”, Daddy Sheep says.  “It’s all part of the plan.”

Mommy Sheep instantly calms down when she hears her husbands words.  She looks first at him, then to the package on the sofa.

“Fine.  If we have to we have to”, Mommy Sheep says to Daddy Sheep.

“But he can’t stay up here.  He clashes with the furniture.”

III

Daddy Sheep explained to Mommy Sheep that he had been out in the woods gathering intelligence data for the war effort against The Wolves.  He told his wife that he stumbled across two of The Wolves gathering berries in the woods.  When they noticed him, they turned and ran, but were quickly shot in the back by Daddy Sheep.  When he was checking their bodies for information or supplies, he noticed one of them was holding a package.  The package was moving and underneath the layers of blankets, Daddy Sheep heard crying.

Daddy Sheep picked up the pile of blankets and unwrapped the mysterious package.  Tucked safely inside was a newborn Baby Wolf.  Shocked at the discovery, Daddy Sheep accidentally drops the package, which lands harmlessly in a pile of leaves.  The baby inside laughs at the jarring motion and coos wildly.  Daddy Sheep regains his composure and peers down at the little Baby Wolf.

The thought occurred to him instantaneously as he looked down at the cute, adorable face smiling back at him.  One reason why The Sheep were unable to conquer The Wolves was because no Sheep was ever allowed to set foot in The Wolves’ territory.  In conquering the rest of the clans, The Sheep would merely send their missionaries to the enemy territory and convert them into followers.  If the other clans could not be converted, the missionaries would double as an attack party from the inside.  No other clan, besides The Wolves, denied The Sheep entrance into their territory.  This one baby may be the key to finally infiltrating The Clan of the Wolves.

Daddy Sheep and Mommy Sheep raised Baby Wolf as one of their own.  They tricked the baby into believing it was nothing but an ugly Sheep and taught it to hate its own kind.  Mommy and Daddy Sheep kept Baby Wolf locked up in their deep, dark cellar.  The poor thing was confined to a bed of straw and chained to a wall, far away from the prying eyes of their neighbors.  No one in the town knew about Baby Wolf, and if things went according to plan, no one ever would.

The poor Baby Wolf grew up believing that he was nothing but and ugly, mangy Sheep.  Mommy Sheep would tell Baby Wolf that if the Clan of the Wolves ever got a hold of him, they would chop him up into itty bitty pieces and cook him in a stew.  This terrified the Baby Wolf, who was scared into believing the lies of his own parent’s killers.  The fear kept Baby Wolf submissive, and he would do anything that Mommy or Daddy Sheep told him to do.

Mommy Sheep would visit with Baby Wolf for a few hours each day.  She would teach him about the War, and how it would be his destiny to one day take up arms against the heathen Wolves.  Baby Wolf’s room was an old root cellar, where dirt and bugs were prevalent across every inch of the room.  During the day, he was shackled to the wall to avoid any unnecessary contact with the neighbors.  At night, he was allowed to wander outside, but was confined to the fenced in back yard.  The poor Baby Wolf had nothing but half a ball to play with and was tethered by the collar around his neck to a stake driven deep into the ground.  No matter how hard Baby Wolf pulled, the stake would not come out of the ground.  Even in his allotted outside freedom, Baby Wolf was still a prisoner.

This type of upbringing did nothing for Baby Wolf’s self-esteem.  The poor creature retreated into his own inner-made world of imagination.  In his mind, The Sheep and The Wolves would go on a picnic with one another in peaceful harmony.  Baby Wolf would draw pictures and write stories about the two races getting along with small pieces of burnt wood that fell down from the fireplace and on through the cracks in the ceiling from time to time.  Finding rolls of old, faded, purple wallpaper hidden in a corner, Baby Wolf used scraps off of the paper as his canvas.  Every day he would write and draw.  Then every evening Baby Wolf would do as any juvenile would do with material they didn’t want their parents finding:  he his them under his mattress.  For if Daddy Sheep ever found out about Baby Wolf’s fantasies, he would be punished more severely than he had ever been in all his life.

IV

On one fateful day, Daddy Sheep came down into the root cellar to talk to Baby Wolf.  Baby Wolf was no longer a baby, for eighteen years have passed by.  Baby Wolf is on the brink of adulthood, but still kept as a prisoner by The Sheep.  Daddy Sheep says nothing to Baby Wolf while he pauses to look at the filth and squalor he provides as a living area for his supposed son.  He walks over to the bed, where Baby Wolf is seated, and sits down next to him.

“Son”, Daddy Sheep says as he puts his arm around Baby Wolf.  “There is something that I need to talk to you about.” Baby Wolf flinches from the sudden motion of his father’s arm, and has trouble relaxing once the arm is slung around his shoulder.  Baby Wolf was only used to receiving negative attention from his mother and father, and did not know what to make of this sudden change of heart.  He only saw Daddy Sheep’s arm motion in two modes: pointing or punching.

“You have just turned eighteen, son”, Daddy Sheep says, and Baby Wolf relaxes slightly when he finally realizes that he is not about to be struck.  “It is time for you to perform your services to the family and join the war effort against The Wolves.”

Baby Wolf dares to look up at his father and starts to protest.

“But Dad…”, he says in a whisper of a voice.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH”, Daddy Sheep screams, and stands up from the bed.  He leans in close to his son and raises his hand as if to slap his son.  Baby Wolf can see the anger written on his father’s furrowed brow, his beat read face and his raised hand.  He immediately puts his head down in subservient silence.

When Daddy Sheep notices Baby Wolf’s head hung, he lowers his hand and continues.

“You are pretty obedient, my boy”, he says, pacing back and forth in front of the bed.  “The task I have for you is an important one.  As you probably already know, I am in charge of the entire war effort against those heartless Wolves.”

“Yes, sir”, Baby Wolf responds, still avoiding eye contact with his father.

“I am going to be putting you on the front lines tomorrow”, Daddy Sheep says to his son.  “You will fight in the biggest battle our two clans have ever seen.  The Battle of Barbed Fence will be the war to end all wars.  We are going to wipe out every single member of that clan.”

“Yes, sir”, Baby Wolf robotically responds, only half-listening to his father.  He was too utterly terrified by his domineering, abusive father that he dared not oppose him.

“However”, Daddy Sheep added.  “Before I can allow that to happen, I need you to prove your loyalty to The Sheep’s now and forever.  I am going to send you on a very secret mission that only you can carry out.  If you succeed, you will come to live with us upstairs and we will even give you a room of your own.”

Daddy Sheep was of course not going to follow through with his promise, but Baby Wolf was too naïve to know that.  Baby Wolf looks up at his father and smiles for the first time in his life.  A tear flows down his cheek and onto the dirt covered floor.  The prospect of being loved was more than he could handle, and the Baby Wolf leapt at his father and embraced him in a big hug.  Daddy Sheep patted his son awkwardly on the head and struggled free from his grasp.

He tells his son that before Baby Wolf is allowed to fight at the Battle of Barbed Fence, he must first sneak into The Wolves’ territory.  When he infiltrates the enemy’s base, he is to steal their battle plans for the next day.  With the plans, The Sheep were guaranteed to win the war once and for all.

Baby Wolf asks his father why they won’t recognize him like they do other Sheep.  Daddy Sheep explains to his misguided son that he has been kept in the root cellar because he is so hideous and mangy.  This ugliness will act as a disguise, and The Wolves will mistake him for one of their own.

Baby Wolf believes his father out of sheer fear, and doesn’t question his commands.  He tells his father that he will do as he is told and recover the plans for him.  Baby Wolf tells Daddy Sheep that he will make him proud, and Daddy Sheep responds with a grunt.  He tells his son to head west until he hits the river, and hands him a compass.  Once Baby Wolf crosses the river, he will be in Wolf territory and will have to find the plans on his own.

Baby Wolf throws a few things into a knapsack and heads for the forest under the cover of night.  He does not want to be late coming back with the plans for his father or he would be punished severely.  On the thought of punishment, Baby Wolf remembered his writings and drawings.  Thinking his father might find them while he was out, Baby Wolf quickly runs to down to the cellar, grabs the writing and drawings from under his mattress, and crams them into the bottom of his bag.  He sprints out of the open cellar hatch and runs west towards The Wolves’ encampment.

Two sets of eyes are glued to Baby Wolf from the bedroom windows above as he sprints off into the dark forest.

“Your plan better go right”, Mommy Sheep says, handing the binoculars back to Daddy Sheep.  “Sending him back to his own kind is a risky strategy.”

“That little shit is so damn brainwashed that he will never be convinced that his is really a Wolf”, Daddy Sheep says and chuckles.  “With him on our side, we have the perfect spy.  The idiot doesn’t know he’s a Wolf and the Wolves don’t know that he is really one of us.  This is a plan eighteen years in the making, it better work!”

Daddy Sheep drops the binoculars to the floor and grabs Mommy Sheep in his arms.  He throws her onto the bed and jumps on top of her, landing lightly.

“Now”, Daddy Sheep says as he begins to unbutton Mommy Sheep’s blouse.  “Let’s start creating the replacement for our soon-to-be dead son.”

V

Baby Wolf makes his way west towards the encampment, but pauses for a moment once he reaches the river.  He ponders something his father told him as he left The Sheep encampment.  His father said that because he was so ugly and mangy, the Wolves will think that he is one of them.  That didn’t make any sense to Baby Wolf, as it conflicted directly with his upbringing.  Ever since he was just a baby, Mommy Sheep would tell him that if The Wolves ever laid eyes on him, they would turn him into stew.  He didn’t want to become stew, but he didn’t want to go back to his father empty-handed either.

Baby Wolf pressed on wondering why his father was so confident that he would be accepted by The Wolves.  The two clans hated each other bitterly, and The Wolves were made out to be a pack of wild animals.  Baby Wolf pushed his conflictions aside and made himself determined to get the plans to his father no matter the cost.  If The Wolves made stew out of him, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about the wrath of his father for failing.

Baby Wolf was so lost in his worries about failing that he realized that he lost his way.  He was unsure which way was west since the moon was dark and new.  Determined not to let his father down, Baby Wolf climbs a tree to regain his bearings.  The night was clear and beautiful above the tree lines, and he notices something down below that is moving.  Through the darkness, Baby Wolf can make out some creature scampering down below.  Excited at seeing another creature, Baby Wolf loses his grip and tumbles towards the forest floor.  His head smacks one branch and sends him somersaulting down to the next set of branches.  His foot becomes ensnared on the “Y” of a splitting branch and he becomes stuck, hanging upside down.

The mysterious creature down below becomes startled by the sudden noise and looks up.  The stranger’s hands fly up in front of their face as if expecting an attack.  After a few seconds, the stranger peers out from behind their hands and gazes up to where Baby Wolf is trapped.

“Hello up there”, a melodious, beautiful voice said from the forest floor.  “Are you okay?”

This was not what Baby Wolf was expecting when he had dreamed of the Wolves.  Although in his fantasies he dreamed of them as playful creatures, his parents had instilled in him that they were evil, full of hatred and sin.  Baby Wolf pictured The Wolves in his head as a kid would picture the Boogeyman.  However, they really turned out to be more like what he had drawn.  He was enchanted from the voice down below but could only respond in whispers.  The tumble must have knocked his head harder than he thought.

“H….”, Baby Wolf muttered.  Before he could even finish thinking of the words to say, his leg came loose and his body came crashing to the ground.  He falls into a large patch of bushes, cushioning his fall.

The exotic new creature utters a feminine gasp of shock and jumps back as Baby Wolf hits the ground.  When she sees him lying in the bushes, hurt and bleeding, she rushes over to his aid.

“Oh my”, the strange woman says, gripping Baby Wolf’s hand.  “That was quite a tumble you took there.  Don’t move, I’m going to go get some help for you.”

Baby Wolf is delirious and is only able to mutter a few incoherent syllables before collapsing into total unconsciousness.  Before the darkness settles in fully, he picks up his head an inch and sees the most beautiful woman in the world running to save his life.  He smiles as his head flops limply to the ground.

VI

Many hours later, Baby Wolf returns home, battered, bruised and bleeding, but clutching the secret plans in his hand.  He had overcome all odds and obtained the plans he had set out to get for his father.  Morning had not yet set in, so Baby Wolf sneaks back into the yard and opens the back door.  Sitting at the kitchen table, looking as if they had not gotten a wink of sleep during his departure, were Mommy and Daddy Sheep.

Both of their eyes light up as they notice the secret plans in Baby Wolf’s hands.  Without a word, Daddy Sheep runs over and snatches the plans right out of Baby Wolf’s grip.  He flattens the piece of paper out on the kitchen table and begins to pour over the information.

“Good job, my boy”, Daddy Sheep says, not even bothering to look up.  “Now get back down to the cellar.  Tomorrow we go into battle, and you will be on the front line, my son.”

“Yes, sir”, Baby Wolf responds in an exhausted voice.  He had been through hell and back and neither of his parents even took notice at his damaged form.  Baby Wolf carried himself down to the cellar, closed the door behind him and shackled himself to the wall beside his cot.  Knowing his parents would be looking over the plans for hours, Baby Wolf takes out the drawings from his knapsack.  He looks at them one by one and smiles.  When he is finished looking at them all, he tucks them under his mattress and drifts off to sleep.

******

“TIME TO GET UP”, Daddy Sheep screams at the top of his lungs to the sleeping form of his son.  Baby Wolf, startled, tumbles out of bed and spills onto the floor.  His blanket is over his head and his feet are caught up in the chain of the shackles.  His father laughs before unlocking the shackles with the key he wears around his neck.

“Time for battle”, Daddy Sheep says and throws a set of new clothes at Baby Wolf.  “Put on your uniform and get upstairs for breakfast, pronto!”

Daddy Sheep marches back up the steps and leaves the door open for Baby Wolf to follow.  Baby Wolf throws on his uniform and heads upstairs for breakfast.  This is the first time he was ever invited to breakfast at the table.  All of his meals were usually eaten alone on his cot downstairs.  He didn’t know what to expect.

In the purple kitchen, with the purple drapes and purple cabinets was a purple table with purple plates filled with all sorts of different foods.  Baby Wolf salivated just at the thought of even one of these foods.  He was only given gruel to eat every day for every meal for the last eighteen years of his life.  The smell of eggs and bacon seemed like ambrosia to his delicate and unaccustomed senses.

“Now eat up”, Mommy Sheep says to Baby Wolf.  “You don’t want all those clan members of The Pigs and The Chickens to go to waste now, do you?”

Although disgusted by the thought of eating another clan’s flesh, Baby Wolf devoured his food quickly as not to upset Mommy and Daddy Sheep who were now so kind to him.  He had a long day of battle ahead of him and needed all the strength that he could muster.  When Baby Wolf finishes with his breakfast, he walks out the front door to where Daddy Sheep is waiting.

“Son”, Daddy Sheep says.  “You are going to have the most important part of the battle today, are you ready for the responsibility?”

“Yes, sir”, responds Baby Wolf, standing to attention like a soldier should.

“You are going to be in charge of leading our soldiers into battle, can you do that?”

“Yes, sir”

“Good”, Daddy Sheep says as he hands Baby Wolf a large, purple flag.  “Now when you hear the sounds of a trumpet, you raise this flag as high as you can and run towards the enemy.”

“Won’t they attack me, Daddy”, Baby Wolf asks admiring the flag in his hands.

“No, son”, Daddy Sheep lies.  “They will never attack a flag carrier.  That’s part of the warrior’s code.”

There was no warrior’s code.  Daddy Sheep knew it, Mommy Sheep knew it, and even poor little Baby Wolf knew it, but he didn’t let on.

“Now the time has come”, Daddy Sheep says.  “Onto the battlefield!”

******

The two sides prepared for battle, with The Sheep lining up their troops on the east side of the river and The Wolves lining up their troops on the west side.  Baby Wolf took his place in front of all the troops and waited for the trumpets to sound.  He was nervous and trembling, but determined to succeed today.  No matter what happened, Baby Wolf was going to fulfill his destiny.

The trumpets sounded and Baby Wolf took off ahead of everyone else, waving his flag high and making him a prime target for The Wolves to attack.  They couldn’t miss the bright purple target that he was carrying.

“Our plan is going as well as it can my love”, Daddy Sheep says to Mommy Sheep. “That stupid little Wolf got us the plans, now he’s going to get himself killed.”

Mommy Sheep laughs and rubs her belly.  “Well that’s good, because I don’t think we could afford to feed two mouths.”

Although it wasn’t showing, Mommy Sheep was indeed pregnant.  In just four short months, a new Baby Sheep would be brought into the world.  Mommy Sheep and Daddy Sheep embrace in a hug and look out over the battlefield.  Knowing the enemies moves before they even carry them out was going to win this war for The Sheep once and for all.
Baby Wolf advances on The Wolves at a rapid pace until he hits the boulder-strewn river.  He jumps from rock to rock over the river until he is on the other side.  The Sheep troops rush in behind him, and The Wolves’ troops are almost to the river.  The two sides collide, and all is chaos for a while.

“That’s an end to one major problem”, Daddy Sheep says to his wife.  No response.

“Honey”, Daddy Sheep asks looking behind him.  Mommy Sheep is nowhere to be found.  “Where did you go, dear?”
Daddy Sheep hears some rustling in the bushes and goes to investigate.  He parts a few branches and sees his wife tied up and gagged behind the bushes.

“What the hell is this”, Daddy Sheep asks and is startled when he reels around to see who answers.

“This is the end of your reign, Daddy”, Baby Wolf says and hits Daddy Sheep across his face with a thick tree branch.  He falls to the ground, unconscious.

VII

When Daddy Sheep finally regains consciousness, he finds himself bound and gagged to a chair in the cellar of his own house.  He tries to wiggle free, but the ropes are tied in such a fashion that all he does is make the knots even tighter.  He looks to his left and his wife is also bound and gagged in a chair next to him.  She is still unconscious, but isn’t bleeding from a head wound like he is.  Daddy Sheep hears footsteps above him then down the stairs to the cellar.  He cannot look behind him, and whoever it is is just standing behind them breathing heavily.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy”, Baby Wolf says, revealing himself to the two prisoners.  Mommy Sheep wakes up at the sound of his voice and emits a muffled scream from behind her gag.

“Your troops are dead”, Baby Wolf says.  Daddy Sheep notices that the entire room is full of Wolves.  There must be at least twenty Wolves in the cellar alone.  He wondered how many were trashing the place upstairs.

“I have a little story that I would like to share with you two”, Baby Wolf says, pacing back and forth between his two foster parents.  “Now be sure to stop me if you’ve heard this one before.”

Baby Wolf proceeds to tell the two the tale of his life as he had just learned it from his encounter with The Wolves for the first time.  When Daddy Sheep sent him to infiltrate The Wolves, he had no idea that they were already expecting him.  While The Wolves may have kept to themselves and tried to avoid The Sheep at all costs, they still had their ways of obtaining information of their own.

The Wolves had known that The Sheep would be trying to send one of their own for years.  They were just awaiting the strange Wolf to wander into their territory.  When Baby Wolf had made his trek to the unknown land, he had no idea what he was in for.  First when he fell, Baby Wolf was taken to The Wolves’ encampment and treated for his injuries.  In searching his belongings, The Wolves found his drawings of Sheep and Wolves in harmony.  Knowing they had very little time and no other choice, they told Baby Wolf everything they knew.

Baby Wolf’s parents were brutally killed by Daddy Sheep one day while they were out gathering berries for the clan.  The Wolves did not eat meat as The Sheep did.  They only ate what they could forage from the forest.  Daddy Sheep snuck up behind the two innocent Wolves and shot both them in the back.  They died instantly.  Daddy Sheep took everything they had in their pockets and pried poor Baby Wolf from his Mother’s lifeless arms.  He fled with the baby and left the two Wolves to rot.

The Clan of the Wolves stumbled on the two victims and gave them a proper burial.  The clan knew of their baby and searched the forest for days looking for him.  When they were unable to find any trace of him, they surmised that the baby was kidnapped by whoever killed the parents.  The Sheep were the only ones who could have perpetrated such a deed, and The Wolves knew that one day they would try and use that baby to their advantage.  The made a plan to capture the stray Wolf when it came back home and tell it what really happened.

When Baby Wolf fell out of the tree, the pretty Wolf Girl that found him, rushed to the encampment to gather the rest of the clan.  They all rushed out into the woods and carried his unconscious body back to camp.  They treated his wounds and waited for him to awake.  When Baby Wolf finally regained consciousness, they fed him and gave him plenty to drink.  Baby Wolf never experienced this type of welcoming, and his fear of them instantly diminished.  Instead of ugly, mean creatures, The Wolves turned out to be a kind, peaceful community of animals that looked just like him.

When he was well fed and had rested for a while, The Wolves told them the story about his real parents and what had happened to them in the woods that fateful day.  Baby Wolf shared with the clan Daddy Sheep’s orders for him to steal The Wolves’ plans for the next day.  The Wolves went to work creating a fake set of plans that would lure The Sheep into a trap.  He looked over at the Wolf Girl that had rescued him and smiled.  She returned his smile and blushed a little. 
When the plans were completed, they handed them to Baby Wolf and gave him instructions for the next day.  When he was ordered into battle, as Daddy Sheep had told him, he would be whisked away by one of the troops.  He would then double-back and surprise The Sheep from behind.  Mommy and Daddy Sheep will have expected him to be caught or killed, so his one-man army was enough of a surprise to turn the tides of battle.

The plan had worked out perfectly, and The Sheep surrendered after they discovered that their leaders had been captured.  Each Sheep was sent back to their own house and kept there as prisoners, flanked by a set of guards outside on each side of the house.  For all intents and purposes, The Sheep were totally and utterly defeated.
There was only one matter left to attend to: the execution of Mommy and Daddy Sheep.

VIII

Mommy and Daddy Sheep were ungagged and gasped for breath.  Mommy Sheep pleaded for her life and the life of the child inside of her womb.  Baby Wolf took pity on her and told her that he would let her live as long as it took for her to give birth.  Then he would decide what to do with her pathetic purple self.  Daddy Sheep also pleaded for his life, but Baby Wolf took no pity on him.

“You killed both my parents”, Baby Wolf said as he spat in Daddy Sheep’s face.  “There is no forgiveness for that.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, son”, Daddy Sheep groveled.

“Don’t you ever call me that again”, Baby Wolf roared and slapped Daddy Sheep across the face.  A trickle of blood ran out of the side of his mouth.

“Death is too easy of a punishment for you, wretch”, Baby Wolf scolded, calling his abusive foster father the same names as he had been called as a child.

“I think we’re going to get a little more creative with your punishment, what do you say boys”, Baby Wolf asked of his new clan.  They all roared with approval, and Daddy Sheep was dragged away.

Mommy Sheep was shackled and left in the cellar as she had done with Baby Wolf for so many years.  There she stayed for four months until her child was born, it was a baby boy.  Baby Sheep was snatched away by The Wolves the second it was born, and Mommy Sheep didn’t even get a chance to lay her eyes on her own child.  She cried for hours in the solitude of her confinement before she rejoined her husband in punishment.

Death was definitely too easy for these two evil, wicked leaders.  They needed to suffer as much as they had made the poor Baby Wolf suffer for eighteen long years.  Mommy and Daddy Sheep killed his parents, kidnapped him from his clan, locked him in a cellar for eighteen years and abused him.  Yes, death would not be justice at all.

Mommy and Daddy Sheep were locked up in the stockades in the middle of town.  There they were locked day and night without any food or water.  If they were nice to the clan members passing by, they might be rewarded with food or water.  If they were mean and spiteful, they would starve to death.  No matter what they chose to do, they were locked up for the entire town to see.  They served as a constant reminder as to why it was important to be good.
Without the two corrupt leaders, the two clans started to get along and interact more.  Baby Wolf took charge of the kingdom, and ruled with a goal of equality and peace.  He eventually married Wolf Girl and made her his wife.  Eventually the two clans merged peacefully and became the greatest clan in the animal kingdom.  They reached out to each and every other clan and offered them a helping hand to help rebuild what The Sheep had destroyed.  Everything in the animal kingdom eventually went back to normal, and every creature prospered fruitfully.

…that is to say, everyone except for Mommy and Daddy Sheep. 

******

One day, many years later, Mommy and Daddy Sheep were begging for some food or water from the townsfolk.  A little Sheep runs up to the stockade and stares at the two strangers.

“Daddy”, the little Boy Sheep asks.  “Why are those two locked up in the middle of town?”

The two Sheep remain silent as they look first at the boy and then to his Dad.  Their hearts sink to the depths of their stomachs as the realization sets in.

“Well son”, Baby Wolf says.  “These wretches are the two most evil people in the world.  They are locked up here to serve as a reminder to us that if you do evil things, evil things will be done to you.”

Baby Wolf smiled with satisfaction as he saw the heartache in both of their faces.  When they were sentenced, there was one rule.  They would be allowed to live as long as they could, provided the townsfolk fed them if they were nice, as long as they never mentioned their child again.  If they were ever caught talking about their child, they would not be fed at all and let to starve to death.  Their skeletons would make just as impressive of a statement.

So the two evil Sheep had to watch their son grow up right before their eyes.  They were never able to utter a single word to him, and they never could hold him.  Their plan had backfired.  Their own son was stolen and raised by the baby that they had stolen and raised as their own.  The only difference was that Baby Wolf raised the Sheep’s son with love and affection.  Even when he found out who his real parents were, after Baby Wolf told him when he was old enough, he wasn’t upset.  He loved the parents that had raised him with love and affection.

Even when he snuck outside in the middle of the night and smothered his two birth parents to death, he still loved his parents.  As he choked the life out of Daddy Sheep, a tear fell down his face as he pictured his own father growing up chained to the wall and abused daily.  When Mommy and Daddy Sheep were finally dead, Boy Sheep snuck back into his house, and climbed into bed with both of his loving parents.  He smiled as he drifted off to sleep wedged in between the warm bodies of his wonderful family.