The One-Eyed Goat

One of the highlights of my trip to Germany was seeing the one-eyed goat.

My friends and I were driving in the German countryside, and I saw a fuzzy brown creature in a pasture as we drove by. Having been born and raised in NYC, I get excited seeing wild creatures that are not squirrels or pigeons. "Stop the car!" I screamed. "I think I see a three-headed goat!" Thomas promised we would stop on our way back.

We got back to the pasture and the kids and I scrambled out of the car. The pasture was closed off by a flimsy fence of wood and plastic. Off in the distance we saw the creature: not a three-headed goat, merely a one-headed goat with huge horns and a beautiful brown coat of fur.

The goat, who was munching on grass, stopped and looked up at us. It seemed to be thinking, "Hmm..who's that? Maybe I'll go check it out." He started ambling towards us, slowly at first. As he got closer, his steps got faster. He started trotting, and about three quarters of the way he sprang into a full run, until BAM! he ran right into the fence. We jumped back, of course, a little scared, but amused as well. The fence held tight.

He turned his head and bleated at us, and that's when we saw that not only did he have one head, he only had one eye. Where his right eye was supposed to be was a dent covered with fur. We fed him some grass and then he gave us one last bleat and dismissed us, walking back slowly to the pasture. He began munching grass again. We kept watching him, transfixed by this strange creature.

After a couple of minutes, the goat looked up at us again, with absolutely no recognition in his squinty goat eyes. Again, he seemed to be thinking, "Hmm...who's that? I'll go check it out." He went through the rountine exactly as he had done before: walking, trotting, running BAM! into the fence. Let's just say that particular strudel didn't have all the ingredients, if you know what I mean. Doesn't take much to entertain me.