Willow

Willow is the flock’s second most silent sheep, a reserved ewe whose rare interventions carry unusual weight. Her defining appearances join two forms of restraint: she speaks sparingly, but when she does speak, she challenges the flock’s assumptions about possession and openly corrects her daughter, Heather.

Identity and Temperament

Willow’s quietness is familiar enough that the flock does not mind it. The account of her character suggests that her silence has sometimes been mistaken for simple lack of opinion: the only reason she had not spoken against Heather before, the other sheep think, is that she hardly talks at all. Her last remark before the events in the hay barn came just after Heather’s birth, when she made a casual but disproportionately pessimistic comment about the weather.

The flock also associates Willow with a notoriously bad temper. Sheep say she must have grazed an entire bed of bitter sorrel when she was young, as if that could explain her disposition. The explanation is sheepish gossip rather than a confirmed cause, but it helps establish how thoroughly the others expect her to be disagreeable—and how startling it is when she finally speaks at length.

Willow and Heather

Willow’s most conspicuous intervention comes in the hay barn, where she stands in the shadows behind the empty hayrack. After Sir Ritchfield speaks about the value of what is alive and the flock’s duty to stay together, Willow cuts across the discussion with a blunt judgment: “Having is bad,” and “Having Things is bad.” The words make Heather lower her head; she recognizes the speaker as her mother and murmurs, “Mummy!”

The moment violates the flock’s ordinary expectations of family conduct. Mother ewes and lambs usually stay close, and a mother publicly scolding her own offspring is described as unheard of. Willow’s rebuke therefore breaks not only her personal silence but also the usual privacy of maternal correction. The scene presents her reserve as no guarantee of indulgence: when she does step forward, she is prepared to oppose Heather in front of everyone.

Things and the Limits of Possession

Willow returns to the same principle during the flock’s dispute over a Thing. When Heather complains that Miss Maple has her Thing, Willow answers with a terse “Bad!”—an unusual burst of loquacity from the second-silent sheep. Her intervention aligns with her earlier rejection of having Things, rather than with Heather’s sense of personal claim. In a flock where human objects are difficult to understand and can become grounds for conflict, Willow’s few words offer a consistent counterpoint: possession itself is suspect, even when the object matters to her daughter.

That consistency gives Willow’s silence a distinct narrative function. She is not a frequent commentator, and the evidence offers no extended account of her thoughts; instead, the flock hears her chiefly at moments when its attachment to Things or its expectations of family conduct are under pressure. Her sharp, economical judgments make her reserve expressive: the contrast between long silence and sudden speech turns each intervention into a rebuke the others cannot easily dismiss.