Overlooking the open, green and water-rich polder landscape lived Jannes the shepherd with his faithful black-and-white border collie, Ian.
Ian was no ordinary sheepdog. He was fast and smart, and he understood his owner even before he had finished speaking. Every morning the two set out together to guide the flock through quiet nature reserves, along historic ditch banks and over green dikes.
One late morning in early spring, as Jannes walked across the grounds with his leather hat on, his wild beard, his high leather shoes, and his forked shepherd’s staff, he saw that something was wrong. One of the sheep was missing.
He counted again and came to ninety-nine once more.
‘Come on, Ian,’ said Jannes. ‘Let’s look for her.’
Ian pricked up his ears and shot off, past bushes and ditches and across open meadows. They searched all afternoon, but the missing sheep was nowhere to be found. When the sun was already beginning to set, Jannes’ stomach started to rumble, and it was slowly becoming time to return to the stable, Ian suddenly stopped. He tilted his head slightly and sniffed the air. Then he shot off.
‘Wait for me!’ shouted Jannes.
Ian disappeared into the distance. Jannes hurried after him, huffing and puffing. On the other side of the dike, he stopped in surprise.
The missing sheep stood in a shallow hollow in the grass, sheltered by some bushes. But she was not alone. Beside her lay a young lamb.
‘She lambed!’ Jannes shouted, laughing. ‘That’s why she strayed from the herd!’
Relieved, he sat down, while Ian carefully circled around the ewe and her little one, to protect them.
When they were rested, Jannes took the lamb in his arms and they walked back to the stable with the flock.
A few weeks later, the lamb was strong enough to join the flock with her mother. When they were in the field, something strange happened.
The young lamb, who had stayed close to Jannes and Ian with her mother, made a strange sound. It wasn’t bleating, but…
‘Are you trying to bark?’ laughed Jannes.
Ian raised his head. The lamb barked again.
When they walked back to the stable hours later, the little lamb constantly followed the sheepdog instead of her own mother. And when Ian ran, the lamb tried to run along.
In the weeks that followed, the lamb copied everything Ian did.
It crept across the ground, it chased leaves and it even tried to herd the other sheep.
One afternoon, Jannes discovered that Ian was resting in the shade of a tree, while the lamb proudly circled the flock all by herself.
‘I think you have trained an apprentice,’ Jannes laughed.