Jack and Zack and the Sickle and the Sieve
Last time Zack was dragging me off to see…of all things, old farm equipment; as if we hadn’t seen that sort of thing before, being born on a farm! BUT, some of this was really old -a wood thing with iron spikes sticking out- and used by early settlers to break up the soil. No, the thing he had spotted was a sickle in a tree – yes, really IN a tree..at some time a farmer had hung his sickle in a tree and forgotten it , leaving it there for years and years so that the tree grew round it. Wonder who he was and what made him do that?
Now here is a winnowing sieve with grain on it — perhaps if we lie on our back and balance the sieve on our hooves we…can…toss the grain so the chaff blows away and the grain falls back on the sieve….ouch….the grain has gone in my eyes and – everywhere I guess. What a mess – it’s scrunching under our hooves. There are some huge ox yokes – don’t know how they worked with that weight on their shoulders -poor creatures…(guess we are related to them). It is as much as we can do to push around a wooden, hand- made thing for sowing seeds – it’s a bit wooobbblllyyy -oops – oh well. Ah, here we go – it’s a thing for….winding wool? Anyway we can spin it round and round and round -yippee – oh, hmmm …it hit a stuffed lamb standing next to it, and the lamb has shot off and landed where we… can’t… reach…it… That’s going to puzzle someone – I expect…what’s that? We heard a voice…..coming from a dark area round the corner…there is not meant to be anyone here….I can feel Zack shaking and his hooves are clattering on the floor (mine aren’t of course)…we want to hide – he is trying to go one way but I have a better place…in with the fossil models – the ‘voice’ will think we are part of the display.
Silence! I think it is safe to move – carefully – shhhhhhh. We can creep toward the voice and the dark patch. I’m ashamed to say we feel a bit nervous…because there shouldn’t be anyone here…
“Hullo there…I’m Boiler Bob. I’ve lived behind ……” MooooOOOOOOOOO!