Ukraine, my little goat!

The Daughter of the Servant

That day, Europe, a twelve-year-old girl, was quite saddened. She sat on a bench near the entrance of the large estate, her chin resting on her left hand.

She seemed deeply contemplative, having forgotten to eat the meager bread and cheese her mother, Mrs. Helen, had left for her.

Her mother arrived just in time to pull her out of her thoughts. "What's wrong, my little one? Why aren't you eating? Aren't you hungry?"

"I am, mother. But I'm thinking about the new masters who are coming today. What kind of people might they be, good or bad?"

"How can we know, my child, when none of us have met or seen them?"

"Yes. We don't know them, but the stablemen met them, the ones who arrived yesterday. And... they don't like them very much."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, while I was helping them organize their things, I overheard them discussing the masters. They said they don't treat animals with sensitivity and are ill-mannered. I even heard them talking about the little goats and how delicious their meat will be on the Christmas table that's coming."

"Good Lord! Mr. Dimitris had the little goats only for milk, and now that he sold the estate, the new owners will mistreat them."

"And to think that I lost Jacob, whom I played with all day."

"Oh, I have nothing to say about the master's son. What a mischievous child!"

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The Red Ribbon

In a few days, in the goat pen...

The little goat woke up very early, which wasn’t her habit. "The rooster is still asleep under the olive tree," her mother said. "The stars are still mapping out his future, and you are awake, my little goat?"

Ukraine approached and leaned against her mother. She continued, "Why are your neck earrings trembling? Why do you feel uneasy?"

"In my sleep, mother, I saw a stranger staring at me fiercely, and then he hung a red ribbon around my neck."

"My beautiful Ukraine, wait for the sun to warm up, and the dark-haired daughter of the servant of the lady will come with her apron full of clover."

"In my dream, mother, I saw the girl, and she didn’t bring wild clover. She just stared at my neck, lifted her apron, and burst into tears."

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A Bunch of Grapes

Years passed, and young Europe grew up, leaving the estate behind. She went to another land to forget the pain and the terrible behavior of the masters. She now lived in Agathovillage, a beautiful village where the inhabitants loved each other dearly. Her house, a two-story stone building on the slope of a mountain, overlooked the village with only a few neighbors. Her yard had some goats for grazing and various herbs to help during the cold winters.

She restored it with her husband, a skilled craftsman. One day, Pericles, her husband, returned with his donkey from another village, bringing a vine root that he planted in their yard. By August, the vine had its first bunch of grapes ready. Pericles cut it with joy, but before eating it with Europe, they thought, "Isn't it a shame to eat it alone when we can invite our neighbor to share it?"

So Pericles approached the fence and called out, "Neighbor, come share my grapes!"

Excitedly, the neighbor and his wife came, but before they began, the neighbor's wife said, "It's a pity to eat it alone. Let's invite the other neighbors who have a small child."

So the other neighbors arrived, and they, in turn, thought of their neighbors who had three children. They invited them, and the chain continued until the entire village gathered in Europe's yard.

As they began to share, there were as many people gathered as there were grape berries. Each person could only take one berry. However, as soon as Pericles cut the first one to offer to his good neighbor, the berry transformed into a whole bunch of grapes.

The same happened with the second, the third, and the fourth. The villagers were ecstatic! And when the last berry that Pericles kept for himself turned into a beautiful and large bunch of grapes, he thought, "It's better not to eat it. Let's turn it into wine."

So he pressed it well, filled a glassful, put it in a small barrel, and waited. When the wine was ready after a few days, he again called his neighbour to drink it together.

He remembered his neighbor's neighbor and invited him, who called another, and so slowly all the villagers gathered in Europe's and Pericles' yard to taste their wine. Yet again, the same thing happened as with the grape berries.

The barrel never emptied, no matter how much they drank. It was God's blessing, as good Pericles had said. He wanted to show them that whoever shares their blessings with others doesn't diminish them but makes them even greater.

Since then, the barrel with the sweet wine in Agathovillage has always remained full. Anyone who wants can go, drink, and it’s as sweet as any wine in the world.

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Doubts and Questions

Will our Europe manage to banish her painful past and share her joys among her villagers, or will her masters put her in the place of Ukraine the little goat and divide her forever?

Will her suitors help her prosper or will they go their own way, leaving her a widow?

Will the masters remain the same, reigning over the world, or will there be a turnaround in this never-ending feast?

Perhaps in the end, will we have a better fate than the little goats, or will we beg to enter the coop ourselves?