The Billy goat was grazing in the field. He was thinking to himself, will I ever get a partner? He had lots of friends: the old horse, who sometimes grazed in the field with him; the big herd of cows, who were also in the field; and of course the sheep. Daisy his favourite sheep always made a point of chatting to him. Then, in the farmyard, there were chickens and cockerels; there were the pigs in the sty, and they were quite friendly; but still it wasn’t the same. He wanted a partner all of his own, one he could tell his secrets to and cuddle up to, and the most important thing to have a family with. After all he was getting on a bit. Although he was still only three he wanted his partner and his family while he was still young enough to enjoy them. He didn’t want to be old and cranky, they wouldn’t like him then and he wouldn’t be able to frolic about in the field with his partner or his children.

Whenever the farmer went to market the Billy goat dreamed about the farmer bringing back a beautiful Nanny goat, but so far he never had. It was always chickens or pigs or horses, as if the farmer didn’t have enough of those kind of things. And yet poor Billy goat was the only goat on the farm. He thought to himself: ‘Why can’t that silly farmer just buy some more goats then I wouldn’t be lonely. I would have others of my own kind to talk to and play with.’ The farmer hadn’t even given him a proper name not like Daisy the chicken, and of course the cows and horses all had a proper name. Everybody just called him Billy goat, and that was not his name. ‘I know,’ he thought to himself, ‘if the farmer ever buys any other goats I will tell them my name is Philix, that sounds good and posh. They will respect me with a name like that.’

One day when Philix got up and had something to eat the farmer took him to the field with the horses, cows and sheep. Then he went to market, he was gone a long time. In the afternoon Philix heard a sound and thought: ‘That sounds just like me.’ Then he got on with his grazing and thought no more about it. When the farmer came to get him to put him in his pen for the night there was a beautiful young Nanny goat. He thought he was seeing things. He soared to heaven and back again. He just couldn’t believe his eyes. The little nanny goat was very shy and stood in the corner of the pen, but she did think to herself: ‘Well he’s quite handsome.’ Philix went over to her and said: ‘Hello I’m so glad you are here as I have been the only goat on this farm for ages. There are lots of animals but only one goat, now you are here we can be friends and I’ll never be lonely again.’ The little Nanny goat gave a lovely little tinkling laugh that made Philix pleased. In the morning after the two goats had rested for the night the farmer took them to the field, where they could run around and play. The Billy goat said to the Nanny goat: ‘My name is Philix.’ ‘Oh what a splendid name,’ she replied, ‘but I haven’t got a name, they just call me Nanny goat.’ ‘Well we’ll give you your own name then,’ Philix said, ‘what about Thelma, that sounds nice!’ ‘Yes,’ said the Nanny goat, ‘I like that name. It is just like yours, splendid.’ Philix was very pleased the Nanny goat liked the name he had chosen for her, so he introduced her to all the other animals on the farm saying: ‘Hello everyone, this is my new partner, Thelma.’ All the other animals chorused: ‘Hello Thelma, welcome to our farm.’

As the weeks went by Thelma told Philix that she was about to have some baby goats. She had twins, and both Thelma and Philix were over the moon. They called them Flame and Float. So now there are four goats on the farm and if Philix and Thelma have anything to do with it there will be a lot more. And they will be happy for the rest of their lives.

By Rita Joel.

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