“You’ll be needing these to practise your herding skills Ben,” said Stephen, as he carried out three wooden hurdles from the wings and arranged them as a large rectangular enclosure on stage. “All we need now is a flock!”
The pair looked menacingly at the audience. Most onlookers slumped in their sets, afraid to catch the eyes of the magicians. There was no doubt remaining that these two possessed unheard-of magical powers and that no one in the room could be sure that he’d leave the show tent in the same shape that he arrived in. A few onlookers at the back were sneaking towards the door, hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed.
“Go boy, fetch!” The new sheepdog bounded off stage at Stephen’s command and made for the exit. Smartly he nipped the ankles of the first man leaving and snarled at the other two. One of them tried to kick the dog, to the obvious dismay of his companions, who realised that he had just sealed their fate.
“Heel, boy, to heel,” yelled Stephen, whistling and beating his thigh. “In the gates, up here.”
Clothes vanished from the three men as they collapsed onto all fours. With vacant stares into the crowd, the three hurried on their hands and feet up the aisle onto the stage as Ben bared his teeth and followed them.
“Good boy, good boy!” smiled Stephen appreciatively, patting Ben on the head as he chased the three men into the enclosure. “Sit, watch them boy.”
A wave from Madame Illusia and all three men were fully conscious again.
“Cowards, all of you,” spoke the Madame sternly. She addressed the man who had been the first to leave the tent. “What is your name, coward? Tell these people about who you are and why you don’t fight but run away.”
He glared back at her at the audience jeered. “My name is Robert Higson and I’m a state farm inspector. I was appalled that so many of this area’s farmworkers were spending time at this den of iniquity and evil when last year’s figures show that livestock output continues to decline and…”
“Not so much output, you say Mr Inspector. What do you suggest these hard-working folks should do about it?” The audience watched appreciatively, enjoying the way that Madame played along with this pompous government employee.
“There’s a real need for more animal throughput. My department considers that, for example, many animals could be reared more scientifically so that weight gain is faster and the slaughter date is brought forward.”
The old lady turned her attention to the other two men. “What about you two, tell me about why you tried to run away.”
The first man, barely out of teens, smiled nervously and stammered his answer. “Well, I saw this man going for it, and I thought that I would too.” The second man, older but no less nervous, merely nodded to show that he had been following Robert’s lead.
“So you two thought it would be a good idea to copy someone else. You are in mind what you soon will be in body. Men lead. Sheep follow blindly.
“And as for you Mr Inspector, I agree we need more younger livestock reared scientifically. You will of course be aware that the best meat is taken from young male lambs that have wasted no energy on breeding.”
At this, the audience gave a shocked gasp as three sets of male genitals and patches of pubic hair vanished, leaving the men with bare voids of skin between their legs.
“What you are doing here tonight lady is morally wrong and it’s also illegal,” cried out Robert, with more than a hint of desperation in his voice. “You have already violated my fundamental BAAAA… fundamental BAAAAAAAAA…” He trailed off, shocked, at his own bleating.
“Look Ben, you’ll soon have your own flock,” mocked Stephen as he stroked the dog’s head.
The men’s transformation were rapid. Their bodies shrank to a quarter of their original size as they flopped over onto their fronts. Robert was the first to get up on all fours. A fluffy white tail emerged at the base of his spine as he turned to face the audience. Wisps of white fur emerged all over his body, thickening up into a soft fleece. His toes and fingers fused into small hooves at the end of thin limbs which supported his fattening torso. The furry white human head looked ridiculous attached to a sheep’s body.
Ben barked loudly as Robert’s jaw reshaped and grew within his head, leaving him with teeth jutting out of his mouth. His ears slipped up his head and become longer and floppier as his nose pushed out and his face became longer.
Stephen moved the hurdles across the stage, leaving the three castrated male lambs milling about and staring with open woolly eyes into the crowd. With a whistle from Stephen, Ben leapt up and chased the sheep into the new enclosure. He waited proudly, his tail wagging and tongue hanging out, as Madame Illusia turned back to the hushed audience.
“Does anyone else want to leave the tent?” she asked.