Head in the Clouds
have ten goats in total. Ten goats! That’s
Once upon a time, there was a man called
Dai who always had his head in the clouds.
While he daydreamed, he would walk into
walls, bump into people and break all kinds
of things. As a result, nobody wanted to
trust him with any real jobs and he was
quite poor.
One day, Dai received a gift from his sister:
it was a pot of lamp oil. Over the next few
weeks, as Dai used the pot, he noticed it had
a strange quality. No matter how much oil
he used, the pot was always full the next
day.
That night, Dai lay down in bed, but he was
so excited he could not sleep. He stared up
at the pot on his shelf and daydreamed.
‘Just think, think of what I could do!’ he
thought. ‘I could go out and sell the oil
every day. I reckon I could charge twenty
coins for that much oil, so in just five
days, I’d have a hundred coins! That would
be more than enough to buy a dog. No, not
a dog! I’ll get goats, a pair of them. Then,
even if there is a famine, I’ll have fresh
goat’s milk and goat’s cheese to eat. And
of course, I can breed them! They’ll have
kids every six months, I think. If they have
two kids each time, then in two years I’ll
a whole herd. I’ll be able to sell milk and
cheese to everyone, and I’d even be able to
buy a new roof. No, a new house! And why
stay with goats? I could trade the goats for
cattle, and then once the cows have had
babies, I could sell the calves. Then I’d
trade those for buffalo, and I’d trade the
buffalo for horses. Once the horses have
had children, I’ll have a whole herd of
them. I could stop selling milk and meat
and start an equestrian school, instead.
Then, when I have the fastest, strongest
horses in the land, I’ll sell them all! Oh,
just think of what I could buy with that!’
He daydreamed of castles, palaces, whole
villages to himself. But why would such a
rich, successful man wish to stay alone?
He jumped to his feet and walked around the
room as he continued his daydreaming, now
speaking out loud.
‘No, I would invite the most beautiful
women from all the world to compete for
my affections. I would make it a
competition, so that only she with the
greatest beauty, personality and
homemaking skills would be fit to marry
me! And of course, I’ll fall madly in love
with her, so impressed by her performance,
and we’ll have a gorgeous little boy
together. He’ll be called Billy, or
Bartholomew, or Fernandez or something
like that. And he’ll be big and strong, and
I’ll bounce him on my knee and read him
stories and tell him how I made my fortune,
and then he’ll learn to ride on my
horses—no, wait! I will have already sold
the horses! Fine then, I’ll buy more. And
my wife will say, “Oh, Dai, you can’t let
the boy learn to ride, he’s so young!” And
I’ll say, “Nonsense! Men of this family
are strong and smart, and there’s nothing
that can stop us!” ’
He thrust his hand in the air to illustrate
his point, slamming into the shelf beside
him. The pot of oil toppled over and
smashed on the floor, Dai’s dreams
leaking out onto his feet.
‘What are you talking about?’ said his
neighbour. ‘You don’t have a wife, a child,
a horse, and you certainly don’t have a
palace!’
‘Oh, but I did, I did…’ whimpered Dai. ‘You
wouldn’t understand. You’ve never had
those things.’
‘Well, I have a wife,’ said his neighbour,
‘and I must be happy with what I have. Now
stop shouting and go to bed, you silly man.’
Dai sighed and did as he was told. For now,
he would just have to keep living with his
head in the clouds.

‘No!’ screamed Dai. ‘It can’t be!’

By now, the neighbour had gotten quite

worried about Dai’s shouting. He rushed in
and said, ‘Whatever is the matter, man?’

‘My wife, my wife!’ cried Dai, kneeling

down over the puddle of oil. ‘My beautiful
son! My wonderful horses! My golden
palace!’