Nan the Lamb
A Childhood Story from Elva White Grow Clark
Grandpa Corbitt hitched Kit to the buggy so he could carry the produce the six miles to Pearson, Georgia. I climbed aboard so he could take me back home after a week’s visit to the farm where Grandpa, Grandma, and their children lived.
On the way, I saw vultures circling around something by the side of the road. It was a dead sheep. Next to it a baby lamb stood bleating.
I begged and begged Grandpa Corbitt to pick up the lamb and take it in the buggy. But he explained that there was not enough room, with all the things we were carrying to town.
The whole way to town, I worried and worried that the vultures would kill the little lamb.
Grandpa Corbitt dropped me off at our house and went to the market. All the time, he also thought about the lamb and felt sorry for it. Grandpa was a gentle, kind-hearted man who could not stand to see anything suffer.
On the way back, Grandpa Corbitt searched and searched until he found the lamb, put it in the buggy with him, and took it to the farm.
Nan the lamb became a pet. I played with her whenever I went to see my Grandparents at the farm. Gladys and I made a collar for Nan with a little bell on it and wove flowers into Nan’s wool.
Nan the lamb lived to become the mother of a whole flock of sheep.
Recorded by Gerald Grow in 1996. Elva died in 2004.