Little Goat Walks Over the Field

Xue Tao

Xue Tao is an author of Children’s literature. He has won the National Outstanding Children’s Literature Award， National Outstanding Chinese Award， "etc. His works have been translated into Japanese， Korean， Russian， English， Persian， Italian， Arabic， and other languages and published abroad.

Wang Xiaoxiao

Wang Xiaoxiao is an independent illustrator. She has won the Silver Award of the “Golden Pinwheel” Young Illustrator Competition， the Annual Laureate Children’s Book Award， and was shortlisted for annual children’s book works of the “Bookmaking Award”， etc.

This book is a collection of stories about the author’s genuine records of everything with his beloved little goat from his childhood. It tells the story of the boy， “I”， who accompanies a little goat on a field in Northeast China.

Little Goat Walks Over the Field

Authored by Xue Tao

Illustrated by Wang Xiaoxiao

Anhui Children’s Publishing House

December 2021

45.00 （CNY）

I wanted to build a house for the little goat to shelter from the storm and keep out the sly fox.

Building a house required stone， wood， and grass.

Stones were scattered all over the field. Every time I went out， I brought back a few stones. I could collect a dozen stones in a few days， and slowly the number increased to one hundred. I calculated that it would take three hundred and twenty stones for the four walls. Just for this， the little goat and I walked around on purpose， back and forth， until sufficient stones were collected.

There was a piece of papyrus by the river， which was beautiful and durable， and it was large enough to be used as the roof’s ridge board. Oh right， the roof ridge beam was not ready to be put up yet.

The ridge can be supported by a tree. There was an old elm tree on the east side of the field. The old elm tree said： “I am old， Please move me away， and it is not bad to turn me into a house.”

Stockade was essential. Of course， snow-white birch trunks are recommended. All I wanted was a birch stockade because fences made of other materials were not worthy of being called a stockade， but fences and guardrails. The leftover birch branches were also useful， which were just used to weave a door. It turned out to be a very beautiful door.

Be a taskmaster， little goat.

It followed me all the time， supervising every procedure. Every time a procedure was completed， the little goat bleated to show its satisfaction.

Therefore， I was highly motivated.