And tried what she could
As a shepherdess should,
To tack to each sheep its tail, oh.
But the very first sheep she came to refused to allow her to sew on
the tail, and ran away from her, and the others did the same, so that
finally she was utterly discouraged.
She was beginning to cry again, when the same old woman she had before
met came hobbling to her side and asked,
"What are you doing with my cat tails?"
"Your cat tails!" replied Bo-Peep, in surprise; "what do you mean?"
"Why, these tails are all cut from white pussycats, and I put them on
the tree to dry. What are you doing with them?"
"I thought they belonged to my sheep," answered Bo-Peep, sorrowfully;
"but if they are really your pussy-cat tails, I must hunt until I find
those that belong to my sheep."
"My dear," said the old woman, "I have been deceiving you; you said
you knew all about your sheep, and I wanted to teach you a lesson.
For, however wise we may be, no one in this world knows all about
anything. Sheep do not have long tails--there is only a little stump
to answer for a tail. Neither do rabbits have tails, nor bears, nor
many other animals. And if you had been observing you would have known
all this when I said the sheep would be wagging their tails behind
them, and then you would not have passed all those days in searching
for what is not to be found.
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