# Nanina's Sheep explained — The Windfairies

> Chapter companion for The Windfairies by Mary De Morgan.

## What happens

Nanina, a young shepherdess, disobeys her master's warning and ventures to an old palace inhabited by fairies. There, she dances each night with a beautiful fairy shepherd and his black goats, losing her entire flock of sheep and lambs one by one. A beech tree she helps offers to hold her feet fast so she can resist the dance, and after enduring great pain, she recovers her sheep. She returns home lame but wiser, having learned the consequences of disobedience.

## Themes in this chapter

### Innocence and Temptation

Nanina's curiosity leads her to the forbidden palace, and she repeatedly succumbs to the temptation of dancing with the fairy shepherd despite knowing the consequences.

### Promises and Consequences

Nanina promises her master to care for the flock and avoid the palace, but her disobedience results in the loss of all her sheep and lasting physical pain.

### Transformation and Identity

The beech tree's roots hold Nanina's feet, causing her to walk lame, and scarlet flowers spring from her blood, marking her transformation and the lasting reminder of her lesson.

## Character check-ins

### Nanina

The young shepherdess who disobeys her master, dances with the fairy shepherd, loses her flock, and ultimately resists the fairy's dance with the help of a beech tree.

### The Old Schoolmaster

Referenced as the farmer/master who warns Nanina not to go near the old palace.

## Key lines

> Nanina, I’m going away to buy pigs at a market far off, and I shall be away one whole month, so be sure and take good care of the flock, and remember, there are six sheep and eight lambs, and I must find them safe when I return. And mind, Nanina, that whatever you do, you don’t go near the old palace on the other side of the hill, for it is filled with wicked fairies who might do you an ill turn.

Nanina's master instructs her to guard the flock and warns her to avoid the old palace because of dangerous fairies.

_Sets up the central conflict of obedience versus curiosity._

> If it is filled with fairies, it won’t hurt me just to look at it; I should like to see a fairy.

Nanina rationalizes that merely looking at the palace is harmless, driven by her desire to see a fairy.

_Highlights Nanina's temptation and initial disobedience._

> Bury your feet in the earth like my roots. Dig a hole deep down, and I will hold your feet so that you shall not move them, only you must bear the pain, and not mind if you walk lame afterwards, for I shall hold them very tight, and it will hurt you.

The beech tree advises Nanina to bury her feet in the ground so its roots can hold her still, warning that it will be painful and cause lameness.

_The tree's offer provides a means for Nanina to resist the fairy's dance, emphasizing sacrifice and endurance._

> Underneath the beech tree, where Nanina’s feet had bled among the earth, there sprang up pretty little scarlet flowers, and whenever she passed and saw them she remembered how she had been punished for disobeying her master, and made up her mind never to do so again.

Scarlet flowers grow where Nanina's blood fell, serving as a permanent reminder of her disobedience and her resolve to obey in the future.

_Symbolizes the lasting consequences of her actions and her moral growth._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_windfairies_se/chapters/nanina-s-sheep
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_windfairies_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_windfairies_se/chapters