Toto's Merry Winter by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
CHAPTER X.
WHEN Toto came home, as he did just when night was closing in around thelittle cottage, he was whistling merrily, as usual; and the first soundof his clear and tuneful whistle brought Coon, Cracker, and Miss Maryall running to the door, to greet, to tell, and to warn him. The boylistened wide-eyed to the story of the attempted robbery, and at the endof it he drew a long breath of relief.
"I am _so_ glad you didn't let Granny know!" he cried. "That was cleverof you. She never would have slept quietly again. And, I say! what agood fellow you are, Coon! Shake paws, old boy! And Miss Mary, you are atrump, and I would give you a golden nose-ring like your Princess's ifyou had a nose to wear it on. To think of you two defending the castle,and putting the enemy to flight, horse, foot, and dragoons!"
"What is dragoons?" asked the parrot, gravely. "I don't think he had anyabout him, unless it was concealed. He had no horse, either; but he hadtwo feet,--and very ugly ones they were. He danced on them when thekettle poured hot water over his legs,--danced higher than ever you did,Toto."
"Did he?" laughed Toto, who was in high spirits. "Ha! ha! I am delightedto hear it. But," he added, "it is so dark that you do not see ourguest, whom I have brought home for a little visit. Where are you, JimCrow? Come here and be introduced to the family!"
Thus adjured, the crow hopped solemnly forward, and made his best bow tothe three inmates, who in turn saluted him, each after his or herfashion. The raccoon was gracious and condescending, the squirrelfamiliar and friendly, the parrot frigidly polite, though inwardlyresenting that a crow should be presented to her,--to _her_, thefavorite attendant of the late lamented Princess of CentralAfrica,--without her permission having been asked first. As for thecrow, he stood on one leg and blinked at them all in a manner whichmeant a great deal or nothing at all, just as you chose to take it.
"Distinguished persons!" he said, gravely, "it is with pleasure that Imake your acquaintance. May this day be the least happy of your lives!Lady Parrot," he added, addressing himself particularly to Miss Mary,"grant me the honor of leading you within. The evening air is chill forone so delicate and fragile."
Miss Mary, highly delighted at being addressed by such a stately titleas "Lady Parrot," relaxed at once the severity of her mien, andgracefully sidled into the house in company with the sable-cladstranger, while Toto and the two others followed, much amused.
After a hearty supper, in the course of which Toto related as much ofhis and Bruin's adventures in the hermit's cave as he thought proper,the whole family gathered around the blazing hearth. Toto brought thepan of apples and the dish of nuts; the grandmother took up herknitting, and said, with a smile: "And who will tell us a story, thisevening? We have had none for two evenings now, and it is high time thatwe heard something new. Cracker, my dear, is it not your turn?"
"I think it is," said the squirrel, hastily cramming a couple of verylarge nuts into his cheek-pouches, "and if you like, I will tell you astory that Mrs. Cow told me a day or two ago. It is about a cow thatjumped over the moon."
"What!" cried Toto. "Why, I've known that story ever since I was a baby!And it isn't a story, either, it's a rhyme,--
"Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow--"
"Yes, yes! I know, Toto," interrupted the squirrel. "She told me that,too, and said it was a pack of lies, and that people like you didn'tknow anything about the real truth of the matter. So now, if you willjust listen to me, I will tell you how it really happened."
THE MOON-CALF.
There once was a young cow, and she had a calf.
"And that's half!" said Toto, in rather a provoking manner.
"No, it isn't, it's only the beginning," said the little squirrel,indignantly; "and if you would rather tell the story yourself, Toto, youare welcome to do so."
"Beg pardon! Crackey," said Toto, apologetically. "Won't do so again,Crackey; go on, that's a dear!" and the squirrel, who never bore malicefor more than two minutes, put his little huff away, and continued:--
* * * * *
This young cow, you see, she was very fond of her calf,--very fondindeed she was,--and when they took it away from her, she was veryunhappy, and went about roaring all day long.
"Cows don't roar!" said Toto the irrepressible. "They _low_. There's apiece of poetry about it that I learned once:--
"'The lowing herd--'
do something or other, I don't remember what."
"'The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,'"
quoted the grandmother, softly.
"What do they wind?" asked the raccoon. "Yarn, or a chain-pump like theone in the yard, or what?"
"I don't know what you mean by _low_, Toto!" said the squirrel, withoutnoticing Coon's remarks. "Your cow roared so loud the other day that Ifell off her horn into the hay. I don't see anything _low_ in that."
"Why, Cracker, can't you understand?" cried Toto. "They _low_ when they_moo_! I don't mean that they moo _low_, but 'moo' _is_ 'low,' don't yousee?"
"No, I do _not_ see!" replied the squirrel, stoutly. "And I don'tbelieve there is anything _to_ see, I don't. So there, now!"
At this point Madam interfered, and with a few gentle words made thematter clear, and smoothed the ruffled feathers--or rather fur.
The raccoon, who had been listening with ears pricked up, and keen eyesglancing from one to the other of the disputants, now murmured, "Ah,yes! very explicit. Quite what I should have said myself!" and relapsedinto his former attitude of graceful and dignified ease.
The squirrel repeated to himself, "Moo! low! loo! mow! moo!" severaltimes, shook his head, refreshed himself with a nut, and finally, at thegeneral request, continued his story:
* * * * *
So, as I said, this young cow was very sad, and she looed--I meanmowed--all day to express her grief. And she thought, "If I could onlyknow where my calf is, it would not be quite so dreadfully bad. But theywould not tell me where they were taking him, though I asked thempolitely in seven different tones, which is more than any other cow herecan use."
Now, when she was thinking these thoughts it chanced that the maid cameto milk the cows, and with the maid came a young man, who was talkingvery earnestly to her.
"What is it, Molly?" says he. "Doesn't thee know me well enough?"
"I knows a moon-calf when I sees him!" says the maid; and with that sheboxed his ears, and sat down to milk the cow, and he went away in ahuff.
But the cow heard what the maid said, and began to wonder whatmoon-calves were, and whether they were anything like her calf.Presently, when the maid had gone away with the pail of milk, she saidto the Oldest Ox, who happened to be standing near,--
"Old Ox, pray tell me, what is a moon-calf?"
The Oldest Ox did not know anything about moon-calves, but he had noidea of betraying his ignorance to anybody, much less to a very youngcow; so he answered promptly, "It's a calf that lives in the moon, ofcourse."
"Is it--are they--like other calves?" inquired the cow, timidly, "or adifferent sort of animal?"
"When a creature is called a calf," replied the Ox, severely, "it _is_ acalf. If it were a cat, a hyena, or a toad with three tails, it would becalled by its own name. Now do you understand?"
Then he shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep, for he did not like toanswer questions on matters of which he knew nothing; it fatigued hisbrain, and oxen should always avoid fatigue of the brain.
But the young cow had one more question to ask, and could not rest tillit was answered; so mustering all her courage, she said, desperately,"Oh, Old Ox! before you go to sleep, please--_please_, tell me if peopleever take calves to the moon from here?"
"Frequently!" said the Oldest Ox. "I wish you were there, now. I amasleep. Good-night to you!" and in a few minutes he really was asleep.
But the young cow stood still, thinking. She thought so hard that whenthe farmer's boy came to drive the cattle into the barn, she hardly saww
"This cow is sick!" said the farmer's boy. "I must give her a warm mash,and cut an inch or two off her tail to-morrow."
Next day the cows were driven out into the pasture, for the weather waswarm, and they found it a pleasant change from the barn-yard. Theycropped the honey-clover, well seasoned with buttercups and with justenough dandelions scattered about to "give it character," as MotherBrindle said. They stood knee-deep in the cool, clear stream whichflowed under the willows, and lay down in the shade of the greatoak-tree, and altogether were as happy as cows can possibly be.
All but the young red cow. She cared nothing for any of the pleasureswhich she had once enjoyed so keenly; she only walked up and down, upand down, thinking of her lost calf, and looking for the moon. For shehad fully made up her mind by this time that her darling Bossy had beentaken to the moon, and had become a moon-calf; and she was wonderingwhether she might not see or hear something of him when the moon rose.
The day passed, and when the evening was still all rosy in the west, agreat globe of shining silver rose up in the east. It was the full moon,coming to take the place of the sun, who had put on his nightcap andgone to bed. The young cow ran towards it, stretching out her neck, andcalling,--
"Bossy! Moo! moo! Bossy, are you there?"
Then she listened, and thought she heard a distant voice which said,"There!"
"I knew it!" she cried, frantically, "I knew it! Bossy is now amoon-calf. Something must be done about it at once, if I only knewwhat!"
And she ran to Mother Brindle, who was standing by the fence, talking tothe neighbor's black cow,--her with the spotted nose.
"Mother Brindle!" she cried. "Have you ever had a calf taken to themoon? My calf, my Bossy, is there, and is now a moon-calf. Tell me, oh!tell me, how to get at him, I beseech you!"
"What nonsense is this?" said Mother Brindle, severely. "Composeyourself! You are excited, and will injure your milk, and that wouldreflect upon the whole herd. As for your calf, why should you be betteroff than other people? I have lost ten calves, the finest that ever wereseen, and I never made half such a fuss about them as you make over thispuny little red creature."
"But he is _there_, in the moon!" cried the poor cow. "I must find himand get him down. I _must_, do you hear?"
"Decidedly, your wits must be in the moon, my dear," said the neighbor'sblack cow, not unkindly. "They certainly have left you. Who ever heardof calves in the moon? Not I, for one; and I am not more ignorant thanothers, perhaps."
The red cow was about to reply, when suddenly across the meadow cameringing the farm-boy's call, "Co, Boss! Co, Boss! Co, Boss!"
"Ah!" said Mother Brindle, "can it really be milking-time? What apleasant day this has been! Good-evening to you, neighbor. And you,child," she added, turning to the red cow, "come straight home with me.I heard James promise you a warm mash, and that will be the best thingfor you."
But at these words the young cow started, and with a wild bellow ran tothe farthest end of the pasture. "Bossy!" she cried, staring wildly upat the silver globe, which was rising steadily higher and higher in thesky, "you are going away from me! Jump down from the moon, and come toyour mother! Bossy! Bossy! _Come!_"
And then a distant voice, floating softly down through the air,answered, "Come! come!"
"He calls me!" cried the red cow. "My darling calls me, and I go. I willgo to the moon; I will be a moon-cow! Bossy, Bossy, I come!"
She ran forward like an antelope, gave a sudden leap into the air, andwent up, up, up,--over the haystacks, over the trees, over theclouds,--up among the stars.
But, alas! in her frantic desire to reach the moon she overshot themark; jumped clear over it, and went down on the other side, nobodyknows where, and she never was seen or heard of again.
And Mother Brindle, when she saw what had happened, ran straight homeand gobbled up the warm mash before any of the other cows could getthere, and ate so fast that she made herself ill.
* * * * *
"That is the whole story," said the squirrel, seriously; "and it seemedto me a very curious one, I confess."
"Very!" said Toto, dryly. "But there's nothing about the others init,--the cat and fiddle, and the little dog, you know."
"Well, they _weren't_ in it really, at all!" replied Cracker. "They wereall lies, Mrs. Cow says, every one of them."
"Humph!" said Toto "Well, Mrs. Cow ought to be a good judge of lies, Ishould say."
"What can be expected," said the raccoon loftily, "from a creature whoeats hay? Be good enough to hand me those nuts, Toto, will you? Thestory has positively made me hungry,--a thing that has not happened--"
"Since dinner-time!" said Toto. "Wonderful indeed, Coon! But I shallhand the nuts to Cracker first, for he has told us a very good story,whether it is true or not."