Read Ebook: Moo cow tales by Bland Rosamund E Nesbit Rosamund Edith Nesbit Hardy E Stuart Illustrator

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Ebook has 1701 lines and 63248 words, and 35 pages

"Sacred Bull, indeed! sacred cabbage-stalks. Lie down and go to sleep, Daisy, and mind you don't fill your sister's head with any nonsense about Sacred Bulls!"

Daisy did as she was told, but just as she was dropping off to sleep, she gave a little shake of joy. "Why," she said, "I don't mind! I don't believe any calf ever had such an adventure before."

And I am sure she was right.

OUR COW'S COW FIGHT.

It was our Sussex brown cow who told me all this, so I am sure it is true. If you had ever seen our Sussex brown you would know how very truthful she is. I used sometimes to go to her house, and sit by the door in the evening, after milking-time, and listen to the stories she would tell me. She knew many very different stories but she was most fond of this one. I will tell it to you just as she used to tell it to me.

"You know, my dear," she would begin, "I did not always live at this farm. I used to belong to a very rich farmer, who had a large farm in Sussex. I was born and bred in Sussex--the best place for a cow to be born in, I can tell you--and it was only three or four years ago that I came to live here. Well, we used to be driven into one field in the morning and taken back to our houses in the evening, and in that field there was an old black horse. I believe he stayed there night and day, for I never saw him taken into a stable. He was very black and had no doubt been handsome in his day, but he was getting very old, although he always pretended to be as young and gay as ever. He would come up to us when we were grazing and start clearing his throat. Did I hear you laugh, my dear?" she said suddenly looking at me rather sadly out of her velvety-brown eyes. "Horses, like men, clear their throats to draw attention when they are going to speak."

"What did the horse do when he had cleared his throat?" I asked.

"Oh," he said--'Excuse me, ladies, but did I ever tell you that I come of a very ancient Spanish stock?'

"Generally we just said 'Yes, and went on eating, but it didn't stop his talk.'

"'Oh, those were good old days!' he would say. 'I was ridden by a toreador in those days.' If there were a calf in the field the silly little thing would say 'What is a Toreador?' and that was just what the old horse wanted to be asked.

"Oh, no, Brownie!" I said, "there really are bull-fights you know."

"Well, perhaps we shouldn't have minded so much if the old horse had only told us this once, but he did it every day and we got tired of him.

"So, one day, before he had come up to us, I said to the others, 'Look here! Let's see if he is as brave and as quick at bull-fights as he says. We can't give him a bull-fight but we can show him what cows can do. In his bull-fights there were always a lot of horses and only one bull. Well, in our cow fight there will be only one horse and a great many cows. Now, all of you, when he comes to speak to us this morning, put down your horns and run at him!'"

"Oh, Brownie, Brownie!" I said, "I thought you were always kind and gentle. Poor old horse!"

"Have you ever heard a cow laugh? If ever you do I am sure you will laugh too, because it is much funnier than most things.

"At last," Brownie went on, "when I had got my breath and was able to stop laughing, I said, 'You must promise never to talk of bull-fights again. We are thoroughly tired of your boasting stories, and we know just how brave you are now. If you can't win a cow-fight I'm sure you could never get the better of a bull.'

"'I promise,' said the old horse, 'but you ought to have seen our toreador when the bull was dead and they--'

"'Get up!' I called to the others, 'he is ready for another cow-fight. Down with your horns, my friends!'

PANSY'S FORTUNE.

"I'm not going to stay in this field any longer," said Pansy the spotted cow to old Mrs. Spot, her aunt. "Nothing ever happens here--it's so dull. I shall go out into the world."

"Don't talk stuff and nonsense!" said Mrs. Spot. "Whoever heard of a cow being dull? It's not a cow's business to be anything else? Come now, you're behaving as if you were a young calf. There's a nice patch of buttercups over there. Go and eat them and you'll feel better. It's only the weather that's making you feel like this."

Well, Pansy walked away and ate the buttercups but she didn't feel better. "I knew I shouldn't," she said to herself. "I shall go and seek my fortune."

Now it happened that Jim, the stable boy, had left the gate of the field open, and Pansy slipped through without anyone seeing her.

"I can't go alone," she said; "I must find some other cow to go with me."

She walked down the lane, stopping every now and then to nibble a twig from the hedge.

"Everything tastes much sweeter out here," she said. "I'm glad I came."

Presently she saw some more cows in a field, and she mooed to make them look at her.

"Will any of you come and seek your fortunes with me?" she called. None of them spoke, but a large old cow sitting under the hedge said sharply: "Cows don't have fortunes, so it's no use seeking them."

Pansy was walking away when she heard a soft voice say: "I will come with you," and, looking round, saw a brown cow, with short horns, following her. She was very glad to have someone to go with her; for to tell the truth she was feeling a little frightened and had already begun to want to go back to her own field.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Reddy," said the brown cow. "I have lived all my life in that field and I think I should like to see the world."

"Very well, then, follow me and I will show you many beautiful places," said Pansy, proudly.

They walked a long way down the lane until they came to the crossroads.

"Which way shall we go?" said Pansy; "you may choose."

"Let's go different ways," said Reddy. "I don't expect we shall find two fortunes growing on one tree, so it will be better to go different ways."

You see, Reddy and Pansy did not know at all what fortunes were. They had heard of people seeking their fortunes so they thought they were some special kind of flower or leaf to eat. Pansy was not frightened now so they agreed to part and Pansy went down the road to the right.

We won't say any more about Reddy in this story, only I will tell you that she went a little way and then felt lonely so she turned back and got safely home.

But Pansy was braver and went on and on until she came to a wood.

"The very thing to find a fortune in," she cried in delight, and went in. Perhaps you think a cow would get scratched by the brambles in a wood, because of course you know how one has to push one's way through a wood sometimes, but the wood was not a very thick one and Pansy was able to walk through without any trouble. Suddenly she heard a voice right at her feet say "Take care now, take care! Mind where you are putting your great paws!" and looking down, saw a funny little brown person, with long ears, just beside her front hoofs.

"Who are you?" she asked rather timidly, because although this creature was so small it seemed very severe.

"I won't do any harm to your wood," said Pansy; "I have only come to look for my fortune. Can you tell me where I could find it?"

"Well, there now!" said the rabbit quite kindly, "I'm sure I don't know, but if you walk through the gate at the end of the wood you may find something nice; many of my relations have been in there and they say that the most wonderful things grow on the other side of the gate, but one has to take care not to get caught. Still, you are so much larger than we are that I don't think there is any danger for you. Come, I will show you the way. But be careful not to step on me. You are a little clumsy about the paws, my dear, but I daresay it's not your fault."

The rabbit ran on in front of Pansy until they came to a little wicket-gate.

"There!" said the rabbit, "I quite forgot that you were so big; you see, our folk run underneath the gate, but I'm afraid you can't possibly do that."

"Perhaps I can open it," said Pansy, and pushed against it with her shoulder. It opened with a sharp click, and startled little Mrs. Bunny so much that she scuttled back into the wood, without once turning round to wave to Pansy.

Now, although Pansy did not know it, she had got into a garden, and it happened that on that day--the weather being warm and sunny--the lady who lived in the house had told her two little girls that they might have their tea in the garden with their dollies. So when Pansy walked up the path and on to the lawn she came right into the middle of the doll's tea-party.

She mooed gently, but both little girls jumped up and ran away screaming, which was very silly of them, because, of course, Pansy did not mean to hurt them. Then Pansy sniffed all round the tea-table and ate up the little cakes that were ready for the dolls' tea. She was just wondering whether those cakes were her fortune when she saw two red spiky things coming at her. They were really only two red sunshades, which the little girls were carrying in front of them, but Pansy had never seen anything so dreadful before and she ran down the path as hard as she could, through the gate into the wood, and through the wood into the lane, never looking back until she reached her own field. It was just milking time and Jim was driving the cows into the farmyard. She had not been missed. As she went past the door of the farm house, the farmer's baby, who was sitting on the step, stretched out its arms to her and screamed "Wuffy-Duff!"

"Oh!" said Pansy, "after all it is nice to be called a Wuffy-Duff by that dear baby, and so I'm not sorry I came home again, even if I haven't got a fortune."

Transcriber's Notes

pg 7 Changed: this little calf let his cousins eat all up to: this little calf let his cousins eat it all up

pg 14 Changed: rub his head head against it to: rub his head against it

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