“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.”
[Illustration: Cow in field]
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.”
[Illustration: Two cows]
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.
Of course _we_ know that Pansy had never been out of her field
before, but Reddy thought she had travelled a great deal and followed
her humbly.
[Illustration: Two cows]
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.
[Illustration: Cow and bunny]
“Who are you?” she asked rather timidly, because although this
creature was so small it seemed very severe.
“Fancy having to ask who I am!” said the little creature, and sat
up on its hind legs proudly. “Why, I and my relations own the whole
wood, and could turn _you_ out in the bobbing of a tail.”
Of course, _we_ should have said “in the twinkling of an eye,” but
rabbits (you must have guessed that this little person was a rabbit)
don’t know anything about twinkling eyes and so they don’t talk about
them.
“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.
[Illustration: Two girls and a cow]
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.”
_Printed in Bavaria._