Once in a far away land on a tiny grassy knoll, surrounded by birds and animals within a deep dark
forest lived the little town of Tritown.
There, lived a little grey sheep called holy moly. She wasn't a very happy sheep, as since birth she claimed to have been cursed by a strange invisible goblin who put a spell on her when she only a wee lamb.
The spell caused her to yell HOLY MOLY COW!! every time the strange invisible goblin would apparently poke her from behind.
This curse caused holy moly to feel she was disliked by all the other sheep, as each time they would begin a conversation with her, she would spontaneously yell HOLY MOLY COW!!. Holy moly thought that this caused the other sheep to think that she was just being conceited yelling about herself, and of course insulting by wishing to be a cow!
And of course, when all the people of Tritown wanted to buy a sheep, they always overlooked poor holy moly. This angered her so, as year after year she would watch as each sheep would be sold except her.
And so after gruelling years of being known as the mad sheep who yells HOLY MOLY COW spontaneously, holy moly left Tritown to make something better of herself.
On her travels, holy moly met a dark figure on an old and rickety horse and cart. He wore a strange shadowy cloak and a peculiar hood that covered his face. holy moly felt frightened but decided to stop the figure and ask for food and water as her journey had been long and tiresome from Tritown.
"Oi!" piped up holy moly, "I'm so dreadfully hungry, do you have any food?"
The figure drew the reigns on his horses, and his cart came to a sudden halt. Holy moly had forgotten to say please. The hooded figure raised his head, and within the hood Holy moly could see a dark and disturbing creature. She gasped and out came... HOLY MOLY COW!! . The figure smiled, but there was something magical about his smile that Holy moly didn't seem to see.
"Oh you poor little grey sheep" came the withered voice of the hooded figure. “Come sit in my horse and cart”. Holy moly felt no longer scared and came and sat in the horse and cart with the hooded figure. They rode on, far and wide throughout the country talking of this and talking of that, for a day and a night, with Holy moly randomly yelling out HOLY MOLY COW!! from time to time.
"I have searched far and wide for a creature such as you" said the withered voice of the hooded figure. “And as we have talked for a day and a night, I feel I have learnt a lot about the type of sheep you are.”
"Someone who searches but seldom does find
People who listen to the words said behind
The curses and riddles and sorrows she holds
The reasons and answers that never are told”
And holy moly looked queerly at the hooded figure. He continued:
“A strangéd curse put on upon thee
That only wicked eyes can see
And when you wake from slumbered sleep
A wish to make and yours to keep
But wish be careful
The future can’t be seen
Things are not always as they seem”
At this, holy moly began to feel very sleepy. And sooner than she knew she fell into a deep deep slumber….
When she woke, holy moly found herself on a little grassy knoll, surrounded by birds and animals in a deep dark forest. She was back in Tritown.
After waking from her daze and remembering where she was, she began to think of the figure on the horse and cart with the dark hooded face.
“The wish!” she cried, “I get one wish!!” and with that, she began to think hard about what to wish for… Suddenly it came to her: “I’ll wish for 4 more wishes!”
And so she did.
Firstly, she wished to have this dreaded curse lifted from her. And just like that the strange invisible goblin disappeared.
Secondly, she wished that all the other sheep of Tritown who disliked her so would drown in a huge flood. And just like that it began to rain...
It was Christmas in Tritown, and as she looked over the grassy knoll at all the people of Tritown putting decorations on the Town’s tree, holy moly began to rub her paws together and think of the years she’d spent watching every other sheep being bought by the people of Tritown, except her.
Holy moly began to laugh, and laugh, and laugh, and laugh hysterically as she thought of a wish to make them all pay.
Thirdly, she wished to become The Queen of Xmas. She would take it upon herself to steal all of the Christmas joy away from the people of Tritown. And just like that holy moly began to transform…
Her black, furry face became pale, white skin and her nose became long a crooked.
Her chubby, fluffy body became tall and thin with a long black silk gown to cover it.
Her four legs malformed into two arms and two legs and she stood up.
She wore a crown on her head and a stifled, wicked smile on her haggard face.
Holy moly had become The Queen of Xmas.
Over the weeks Tritown changed vividly. The streets were no longer filled with bustle, but slow, unhappy people trudging in mud as though they were zombies. An eerie silence had descended over the land. The grass on the knoll had long died, and the trees of the deep dark forest had lost the will to grow, and so drooped haggardly, entrapping the birds and animals within its gloomy existence.
The Queen of Xmas’s reign over Tritown had killed each and every spirit and she loved it.
“At last!” she gleamed , “they know what it feels like to be joyless, just as I used to be!”
A year went by and the atmosphere in Tritown never changed. Each dreary day went by followed by the eerie evilness of night.
Until one day, a traveller passed within the town. He rode wearily on an old and rickety horse and cart right up to The Queen of Xmas’s castle door. He hobbled down from his seat and knocked gently on the door.
“I am a traveller, and have travelled far and wide
My horses are exhausted and can no longer ride
My journey has been long
I’m too tired to go on
Won’t you please let me rest in your Castle?”
The Queen of Xmas turned her nose up at the man at the door.
“What a terrible rhyme, a sob story if I ever heard one. Get away with you haggard old man, I will show you nothing of my fortune! Peasant!”
“Very well” replied the man, and slowly he took down his black hood. The Queen of Xmas gasped.
“I was the hooded figure on your travels that day.
In the hot sun I shaded you with my cloak
I fed you with the little food I had and gave you my supply of water
so that I could give you the strength to wish the world a better place.
When I heard your curse, I could see it had made you bitter.
I gave you the one wish to rid you of your curse, so that your bitterness to the world would be no more.
And yet you became greedy.
You wished for more wishes and punished the world for your own misfortune.”
“I have but one more wish!” pleaded The Queen of Xmas. “I will wish the world a better place.”
And still the hooded figure continued in his withered voice.
“You killed your friends the sheep, when they done nothing wrong but spoke to you when you seemed down, and begged their owners to buy you so that you might not be lonely.
You drowned them.
How can you blame the innocent for you own misfortune?”
The Queen of Xmas grew angry. “I wish I had never met you!” she screamed.
“Very well” and the figure raised his hood once more.
The world grew black and The Queen of Xmas gasped for breath “I can’t see…” everything began to spin “what’s happening?” and The Queen of Xmas saw her world fall, everything began to grow above her and the hooded figure disappeared.
And there she stood. Black, furry face, white chubby fluffy body and four legs. There on the grassy knoll of Tritown, it was Christmas once more and holy moly was hoping to be bought by a nice farmer of Tritown. But all she could think of when she saw each sheep go by was…
HOLY
MOLY
COW