few weeks ago - were the last days of summer - I was walking in the Umbrian countryside in the late afternoon and I stopped to watch a flock of sheep grazing in the field that sloped from the road towards the valley.
I was in a raised position, then I had a good view over the whole area, and located close enough to snatch the details and far enough away not to encourage the sheepdog to be interested in me and given an opportunity to continue to do its job .
The herd moved slowly and compact, the sheep were looking more intent on grazing land and only and nothing outside attracted their attention. The melody of all the bells around her neck and that jingled with every step they took was for me a pleasant and relaxing sound and I think for them because they beat the rhythm of movement and even more isolated from the outside.
At one point, from the back of the flock, a lamb has suddenly dropped out of the group and began to run wildly away from it, more or less in the direction opposite to that held by all his fellow . The shepherd dog was turned away - the lamb must have considered this - and I do not think I've seen the scene, probably just a hunch: it was filmed shooting and started to run, without barking not to lose concentration in the action, to stop the flight of young sheep. Ears flattened, large strides with the belly almost to the ground, but nothing frenetic pace: the lamb he had the advantage of 30-40 meters due to the sudden sally the dog was unable to close completely.
Within seconds, reached the height of the hedgerow with another field, the lamb, quickly found a small gap in it (or perhaps had already studied all in a previous grazing in the area) with a jump almost "in the dark" has been thrown beyond the natural barrier and continued to race with all its young people trying to get away as forces possible to the forest that surrounds the camps. The dog got too close to the hedge, you are stuck with a powerful brake on the front legs and was a fraction of a second undecided about what to do: follow and recapture the fugitive or return to monitor the flock unprotected and maybe take some beating at least once by the pastor had noticed the absence of one member of the flock?
of all this, the other members of the flock had not noticed anything. O, I think, chose not to notice anything, avoiding the break down and continuing to do what they should do, grazing his head down silently.
The dog then launched some bark that call to the fugitive, for its part, continued to run without stopping and turning around, with some sudden gap in left and right, as do all prey on the run to confuse and sow the predator to hunt at their heels.
now been established that there was nothing to do and hoping for a voluntary return, the beautiful dog, not so much concerned about the fate of the young because of its likely before the wrath of the pastor, a bit 'shaken but with a firm step and authoritative like someone who has just suffered a defeat but does not want to show it outside to not "give his side" to other, returned back to the flock, for its part, and luckily the dog did not make a turn in front the incident and the choice of its youngest member, still moving and swaying to the rhythm of the silent melody of their bells.
I stopped again several minutes to reflect on what I saw happen.
I thought of the young lamb, and I think at times today, and what may have led to such an action: he wanted to do a simple "girl"? Make fun of the dog and the others? Or, he felt the scent of freedom? It was already dissatisfied with this life like all the others? He had dreams to realize and received no other prospects for him had he been there?
Then I stopped asking me questions his choice in an attempt to get the answers that would not exist simply satisfied my curiosity but did not have any influence on the incident.
I thought then that if it were not returned early in the group, died within a few days unable to live alone in an environment not suited to him, the woods.
But then I also thought that if he returned, he would die anyway, maybe not in a few days, probably weeks, but would have gone the way of all his other "family" (and, moreover, would suffer even some form of revenge by the dog with which he was mocked by his escape).
So at that point, unexpectedly, and after a moment's reflection, I felt a great sense of satisfaction, joy, realizing that, whatever the reason was that he had driven to do so, he had made to live to the full his life.
He probably made a choice that would have left to live only a few days but authentic.
would have been but one of the few days leading "lion" instead of the other hundred as a sheep.
Then, inside of me, I told him: "Run! Run!"
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