Mary had a little lamb and a drop of red wine. She ate until she was content, while sheep grazed in the fields outside her window, oblivious to the loss of one of their own.

“Mary had a little lamb” was a popular nursery rhyme among children when I was at school. As is the case with many rhymes, they can be susceptible to rewording by children (or possibly adults) and Mary’s lamb was no exception.

I can recall two different versions off the top of my head, one of which goes as follows:

“Mary had a little lamb,
His fleece was black as soot,
And everywhere that Mary went,
His sooty foot he put.”

I won’t recite the other one here, suffice to say that much like the drawing above, it didn’t bode well for Mary’s lamb.

For some reason Mary looks a little surprised as she is eating. She was meant to look happy, but maybe the lamb is so good she’s pleasantly surprised.

There is a little dish of mint sauce on the dining table for Mary, to go with the lamb. I thought I should point this out as it’s unlabelled and not so easy to distinguish without a shade of green, which hopefully will be added soon.

(I meant no offence to vegetarians, vegans or other adorers of sheep with this cartoon.)