Carrot Cake was enjoying herself so far. Asparagus was really good company; he was interesting yet not overbearing. Beanstalk was less timid than Garibaldi; he also told good jokes. She looked forward to meeting the flocks of Haweswater.
The sun shone down and glistened on the expanse of water as they arrived. They trecked up toward Small Water Tarn, revellingin the thousands of trickling waterthreads that weaved their way back down to the reservoir behind them: it cooled their hooves. Intriguingly, the singing of hymns greeted their ears. Seraphim saw them approach and beckoned them to one side.
“Join in?” she asked.
All three of them nodded and heartily joined in the latest chorus, then were enchanted by prayers.
“So what’s been happening up here lately? We’ve heard some rare old rumours,” Asparagus stated when the service had finished.
Gabriel shrugged her shoulders.
“It scares the youngsters,” she said. “So we take food half way up the mountain: that way, the apparition comes no further.”
“You call it an apparition,” stated Asparagus. “What exactly is it?”
Hosanna glanced at Ruth, then over at Gabriel and Gloria. They all lowered their eyes and no one seemed to know what to say.
“There’s only one way for you to find out,” a voice called. Deuteronomy was quite an elderly sheep. He knew he had led a fairly sheltered existence amongst the monks and quiet hills but he also knew he had lived long enough to have seen most things.
“I think it’s fair for me to say that I have never seen anything like it in all my life,” he continued. “Stay tonight and have a look yourselves and see what you think,” he suggested.
Now it was Asparagus and Beanstalk who glanced at each other with a worried look in their eyes.