One afternoon, a girl named Isabella lost her way as she was picking wildflowers to bring to her mother. As luck would have it, a golden sheep in the orchard where she was searching agreed to give her directions home in exchange for a bouquet of flowers. This seemed like a fair deal, since she already had most of the flowers she needed on hand. She could find a few more and split her gathering to make two bouquets, and although neither would be as beautiful or large as the one she had originally planned, at least she would find her way home. “I’ll bring the bouquet,” she told the golden sheep, and she roamed around the meadow, picking flowers of every color.
After an hour or so, Isabella felt she had collected enough flowers for two small bouquets and decided to bring them to the sheep in return for the advice he’d promised. When she handed the bouquet to him, he smiled and said, “follow your heart.” Puzzled, Isabella asked for clarification, and the sheep again replied with, “follow your heart.” Isabella continued to ask the sheep for directions home, but his answer remained the same–“follow your heart.” She pleaded and begged with him to hold up his end of the deal, but no matter what she said or did, the golden sheep would only reply, saying “follow your heart.”
Finally, Isabella grew frustrated and decided to give up on the sheep. She reasoned it might take her longer to find the way back on her own, but she could do anything on her own if she tried hard enough. As she walked away, she turned to give one last look at the sheep, and she couldn’t help but notice how the sunlight gave his white fur a golden glow.
Discussion Questions:
- What might the golden sheep symbolize?
- Was the deal between Isabella and the sheep fair? Why or why not?
- Did Isabella learn a lesson? If so, what did she learn?