The above made me write the below. I'm surprised at the lack of response by us - the masses - and the lack of understanding shown by them - our patrons.

Once, in Ferghana Valley, there lived a flock of sheep. Cute, white and fluffy, they ate all day long. They grazed upon the fresh wet grass, drank the cool clean waters of Syr River and inhaled the air swept down from the Pamir Mountains. Thus, they became cuter, whiter, fluffier.

The sheep lived their life without a care in the world. Every morning, the air carried with it the perfume of moist soil and chlorophyll from the cut grass. Every night, there was the warm safe sanctuary of a pen. Life was good and simple.

The sheep were led, not surprisingly, by a sheepdog, who was answerable to a human. Every morning, the dog would wake up and run around the sheep, barking orders for them to move here and move there.

It was one such day when a curious baby lamb asked his elder brother:

?Why do we take orders from him, the one with four legs and a horrible bark??

?Because he is our leader,? said brother proudly. ?And what a leader he is: that growl, that shiny black coat and those fearsome canines. Wow.?

?Oh,? said the baby lamb. ?But why does he look so different from us??

?Because he is a dog and we are sheep,? instructed brother.

The little lamb grew silent. Growing older, a question came into his confused mind which he posed to his mother:

?Why must we take orders from a dog?

?Because we need him to lead us.? Mother said straightforwardly.

?Does that mean we don?t know how to lead our own lives?? asked the little lamb.

?We are sheep and he is a dog,? is all that the mother said. ?It has always been that way.?

The little lamb grew quieter until he entered youth. The youth knew much more of the sheep?s life. He knew now that there was another animal, a Human, who had installed the dog to lead the sheep. But the youth still could not understand why they had to be led by a dog ? an animal he had come to hate. The irritated adolescent approached his father:

?I will not take orders from someone who does not know us!?

?You will disobey an ancient tradition?? his father said disbelievingly.

The youth bleated. ?He is a dog; we are sheep. He has canines; we have molars. He eats meat; we eat grass. He barks; we bleat. He has a coat; we have wool.? Steam was rising through the young blood?s nostrils. ?How can we follow someone who doesn?t come from us ? someone who doesn?t understand us??

The father was furious to hear that the youth had spoken against an old tradition. He scolded the young son who walked away brooding.

Not very far from the valley was a jungle. Here, a pack of travelling wolves had convened to discuss their next meal. One by one, they discussed the lands they had travelled to and the animals they had met.

Said the eldest wolf: ?My native land has plenty of moose and they are big and ugly and with horns that are twice our length. I am too old to kill one on my own, but with team work and with good directions from the leader, they can be brought down.?

The deputy wolf then spoke of his journey: ?On my travels to Africa, I saw many animals that ate grass. But they lived in big families helped by their leaders. And there were many predators too: Cousin coyote, Nephew fox and Uncle cat.?

One by one, they described their journeys into the different continents and icy wastelands and deserts and forests and those strange places called cities occupied by humans.

Throughout the meeting, the youngest wolf had had on him a smirk. Now that it was his turn to speak, he burst out laughing:

?I know you wolves are older than myself. And compared to you lot, what I know is only the tip of the iceberg.? Here he broke off into another bout of laughter. ?But you?re not going to believe what I?ve seen.?

The pack raised its ears.

?I?ve seen some pretty weird animals and hunted some crazy ones too but I?ve never seen an animal more stupid than a sheep.? He howled.

?A what? Why is this sheep animal stupid??

?Uncle Wolf,? the young wolf addressed a grey-haired animal. ?You?ve seen buffaloes and they are ruled by a buffalo. You?ve seen Zebras and they are led by a Zebra. The deer are led by the deer. The elephants are led by the elephant. Grandpa,? the youngster now turned his attention to the chief wolf. ?The moose; who leads and protects them? The moose of course. But guess what; these sheep are led by a dog!?

?Cousin Dog! Argh ha ha ha ha harrrr.? The entire night, the forest was filled with howles. That night they decided that they would feast upon these sheep. An animal so stupid deserved to die. The mission was given to the youngest wolf who decided to replace the dog. After all, who could disguise better as a dog, but a wolf.

One night, when the sheep had gone inside their shelters, the wolf snuck behind the dog and killed him. From now on, he would observe, and like a true predator wait for the right time to come.

By now the adolescent lamb had grown into a strong muscular Ram. His thick, intimidating horns curled twice before jutting forward. He had become openly rebellious too, something he came to clash over with the entire flock.

?You are stubborn and strong-headed,? they bleated.

?I recognise authority and I?m willing to obey but how can I take orders from an animal who doesn?t understand who I am??

?But the dog is a good leader.?

?The dog is a dictator who was installed by the Human. He barks and pushes us around. He is not one of us. How can we put our trust within him? Do we not have any pride or intelligence to govern ourselves??

The flock was aghast to hear that. ?For generations,? said the ewes and the rams, ?we have been happy the way we have been living. Nothing has ever happened to us. The human is benign and the dog has protected us. Just look at our plump bodies and our thick wool.?

The ram stomped the ground like a bull. ?You are all slaves! The human is not benign. Did he cut grass for our sustenance or plant trees for our shade? Did he carve out the river for our nourishment? Did he sculpt the mountains for us to marvel at? Did he perfume the fresh air for us to breathe? This land always belonged to all of us. He just happened to put a fence around it. We are his prostitutes! The human needs us; that?s why he keeps us alive! What good is it to have dead sheep??

?Why don?t you leave us alone? We are happy to be the way we are??

?You are happy to live in a dream because you think that that dream will last your lifetime. But we have become weak. Tomorrow, if that dog,? the ram sneered at the wolf-in- disguise, ?or that Human was to turn on us, we would not be able to do anything.?

This was the truth and the flock knew it. But they were reluctant to accept the painful reality, so they chose to live in a fairytale. In unison, they all turned their backs to the rebel. The Ram was shocked. His eyes welled up with tears. He had been rejected by his own ? including his family ? and told to leave the flock forever.

Slowly and painfully, he turned around. Something told him he would never see his family again. He walked away from the pen and disappeared into the valley to live a new life. He never came back.

The few days the young wolf had spent living his life in disguise were educational. He had learnt the mentality of the sheep. The wolf was bigger than the dog, his fangs longer, his ?bark? more of a growl, yet the sheep never noticed. And how could they? If the dog could not understand the nature of those he ordered around, then the sheep also could not understand the real nature of the animal they took orders from.

If ever the wolf had any remorse for those cuddly white dumplings on four legs, it was not there any longer. Indeed, such stupid animals had existed throughout time only to be eaten. Fearsome as he was, however, the young wolf had feared the rebellious ram ? even respected him.

Now that the Ram had left the flock to live a new life, the wolf was free to do as he wished. One night, he returned to the forest and informed his pack to prepare for an ambush.

The next morning, the ewes and rams had come out, doing what they had always done. Swiftly, the wolf led them out of the pen, then gathered them into a new formation and steered them into a new direction. Before long, the wolf was leading them away from the areas where they normally grazed.

They were headed towards the forest.

The sheep didn?t seem to mind. They didn?t know any better. Bleating merrily along their way, they happily followed the wolf.

That day, the forest shook frighteningly and the valley echoed with growls and bleats. No sheep ever returned from the forest.

Umer M.