The farmer and the trees save the day
Tumelo Mathedimosa
Tumelo Mathedimosa

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Once upon a time there was a farmer, a dog and two farm animals who lived on a farm.

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The farmer trusted the dog so much, so he gave the dog instructions about how the farm animals should conduct themselves in his absence.

It was a hot day for the farmer, the dog and the two farm animals. The farmer placed the two farm animals in a small division of a farm before visiting his uncles for a week.

3

The farmer decided to leave the farm early in the morning and the farm animals and the dog were stuck together.

All the animals were tired after spending the day in the sun.

4

The tall trees started looking delicious to the two farm animals, but the dog warned them by barking three times saying "Woof, Woof, Woof'' when they got close to the trees.

The dog told the farm animals "the farmer said we should not eat tall trees because they will protect us".

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The farm animals responded angrily by saying "you are useless and what do you think you can do to stop us".

The cow's face became emotionless, and its bell stopped shining. The farm animals ate them all and the day ended badly for the dog because he was sad and disappointed at the behaviour of the farm animals.

6

Early in the morning on the second day, the farm animals and dog were still together. The farm animals were in a happy mood until it was afternoon.

The sun started getting hot. The farm animals looked for the shade but there was none, so they started crying. The dog saw this, held his laugh and ignored them.

7

The farm animals realized that the dog was right. The dog waited and waited until it got its apology. The dog accepted the apology with an open heart.

After seeing there is no one who could help them, they begged the dog to help them escape from the heat. The dog smiled and said, "I will help you guys''.

8

The dog escaped from a small opening on the fence and followed the farmers scent using its nose.

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The dog was tired and out of breath from traveling that long journey. Finally, it found the house and started barking. It barked four times saying "woof, woof, woof, woof !!!".

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The farmer knew his relatives had no dog, so he was surprised by the bark at that time of the night, so he went outside.

The dog started wagging its tail while approaching the farmer and the farmer was happy to see the dog too.

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The dog told the farmer what went down at the farm and the farmer panicked and shook his head. The farmer got worried and packed his belongings.

The dog and the farmer travelled back to the farm quickly.

12

The farm animals saw the dog and the farmer from a distance early in the morning and started jumping up and down with smiles on their faces. The cow said ''Moow, moow!!!'', and the goat said ''Mee, mee!!!''.

13

The farmer saw the state of the small farm division and it was damaged and in pieces.

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He moved the farm animals to another division. The farmer and the dog told the farm animals simultaneously "never do that again".

The new division was full of tall green trees and tall green grass and the farm animals were in it.

15

They looked at each other and said ''let's keep our promise, we have learnt our lesson''.

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As the sun was about to get hot, the farm animals were about to move under a tree and the dog looked at them with a smiley face.

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The farmer came to the site a few minutes later and looked at the trees providing shade to the animals and said ''where would I be if you were not here?, and where would my animals be if you were not here?''.

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You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
The farmer and the trees save the day
Author - Tumelo Mathedimosa
Illustration - Tumelo Mathedimosa
Language - English
Level - Longer paragraphs