[There is] an experience that I had as a youth which helped to teach me an important lesson.  It occurred when I was quite young—to be more specific, a boy of 10 or 11.  I was herding our flock of sheep in the mountains of northern Utah to the east of East Garland.  My grandfather had entrusted me with the sheep as we were moving them up the mountain to the summer range.  I had just watered them in a small mountain stream and bedded them down for a short rest before going on.

While they were settled, I went about to explore the terrain and check the route ahead.  I was a couple of hundred yards up the canyon when I heard a sound that chilled me to the bone.  Once you have heard a rattlesnake, a very poisonous reptile, you’ll never forget the sound.

Cautiously, I moved toward that sound.  To my surprise I observed not one but three rattlers just a few yards away.  They were on a rocky knoll that had been warmed by the spring sun.  While the sight of three rattlers in a bunch intrigued me, because you seldom see more than one at a time, it also concerned me since the sheep would need to pass this way.

Before long the sheep roused and started moving up the canyon.  As they came closer, the snakes seemed to sense the intruders and slithered down the incline toward the creek.

Fearing the danger, I immediately turned my sheep up the hill away from the direction the snakes were moving.  I was successful for a time, but then a couple of sheep broke away from the flock.  As they did so, the entire flock seemed determined to follow those two errant old ewes, and there was no stopping them.  You may have heard the characterization, “They all followed like a bunch of sheep.”  Well, that’s what happened here.  To make matters worse, they were moving directly toward the location of the rattlers.

I had hoped that the natural instinct of the sheep would keep them at a safe distance.  But some of the flock were pushed directly into the path of the snakes.  And there was no escape for the unfortunate ones that sustained the strikes of those disturbed reptiles.

It was a sad young shepherd who had to report to his grandfather a short time later the loss of two of his prized ewes.  The experience of that day provided a very forceful illustration to me of what can happen when the sheep ignore their shepherd.

I was there as the shepherd.  I perceived the danger and was trying my best to protect my sheep.  But as a few started to go in the wrong direction, others were determined to follow.  Though only two of the flock were lost, it was a loss that need not have been.

As told by W. Eugene Hansen in general conference, April 1996.