Chapter 1

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SLEEPY-TIME TALES

(Trademark Registered.)

By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

AUTHOR OF THE TUCK-ME-IN TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES

=Colored Wrapper and Text Illustrations Drawn by HARRY L. SMITH=

This series of animal stories for children from three to eight years, tells of the adventures of the four-footed creatures of our American woods and fields in an amusing way, which delights small two-footed human beings.

THE TALE OF CUFFY BEAR THE TALE OF FRISKY SQUIRREL THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX THE TALE OF FATTY COON THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK THE TALE OF JIMMY RABBIT THE TALE OF PETER MINK THE TALE OF SANDY CHIPMUNK THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER THE TALE OF PADDY MUSKRAT THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG THE TALE OF DICKIE DEER MOUSE THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE THE TALE OF BENNY BADGER THE TALE OF MAJOR MONKEY THE TALE OF GRUMPY WEASEL THE TALE OF GRANDFATHER MOLE THE TALE OF MASTER MEADOW MOUSE

GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK

THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW

SLUMBER-TOWN TALES

(Trademark Registered)

BY

ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

AUTHOR OF

_SLEEPY-TIME TALES_

(Trademark Registered)

_TUCK-ME-IN TALES_

(Trademark Registered)

THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW

THE TALE OF OLD DOG SPOT

THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG

THE TALE OF HENRIETTA HEN

THE TALE OF TURKEY PROUDFOOT

THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS

THE TALE OF MISS KITTY CAT

SLUMBER-TOWN TALES (Trademark Registered)

THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW

BY ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

Author of "SLEEPY-TIME TALES" (Trademark Registered)

AND

"TUCK-ME-IN TALES" (Trademark Registered)

ILLUSTRATED BY HARRY L. SMITH

NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Made in the United States of America

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I JOHNNIE GREEN'S FAVORITE 1

II WHY JOHNNIE HURRIED 6

III WORKING FOR A PRIZE 11

IV OWNING A BOY 16

V THE FRIENDLY SCARECROW 21

VI BUFFALO HUNTS 26

VII A LITTLE SURPRISE 31

VIII IT WAS A BEAR 35

IX WEARING A POKE 39

X A SLIGHT MISTAKE 45

XI THE UNRULY MULEY 50

XII THE COWBIRDS 55

XIII TRUTH WILL OUT 59

XIV THE MUSKRATS' WARNING 65

XV CARRYING A MESSAGE 70

XVI CLOVER TOPS 75

XVII NO HELP FROM SPOT 80

XVIII ONE APPLE TOO MANY 84

XIX A QUESTION OF LUCK 88

XX GOOD CORN WASTED 92

XXI A BRAVE DEED 97

XXII TRYING TO BE FIERCE 101

XXIII THE VOW OF A COW 106

XXIV HUMBUGS 110

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"I HOPE YOU WON'T MIND," SAID THE MULEY COW _Frontispiece_

THE MULEY COW EXPLAINS WHAT A POKE IS 49

THE MULEY COW TRIES TO STOP BILL WOODCHUCK 80

THE MULEY COW UPSETS JACK O'LANTERN 96

THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW

I

JOHNNIE GREEN'S FAVORITE

A few of the farmyard folk were a bit jealous of the Muley Cow. The little red lady that stood on one side of her, in the barn, often said that Johnnie Green was wasting too many goodies on her. It seemed as if he never entered the cow barn without bringing some tidbit for old Muley, as her neighbors called her--behind her back. If it wasn't a potato that Johnnie fished out of his pocket it might be an apple or a carrot, or maybe a piece of pumpkin, or turnip, or beet.

At such times the little red cow would cast a knowing look at the big white person on the other side of the Muley Cow, as if to say, "There! He's at it again! Did you ever, in all your life?" And the big white cow would twist her head as far around as her stanchion would let her, and stretch her lean neck to the utmost, hoping for a share of the treat. She often told the little red cow, privately, that the delicious smell of such things as potatoes and apples was enough to drive anybody frantic.

They had agreed, long before, that it was very unpleasant to be stabled beside Johnnie Green's favorite. That was what they called the Muley Cow--"the Favorite" (when they didn't speak of her as "old Muley"). But when they spoke _to_ her they were as polite as you please, because she was the oldest cow on the farm and was an aunt to both of them.

Whenever Johnnie Green gave some dainty morsel to the Muley Cow he first cut it into medium sized pieces with his jackknife. There was a good reason why he did that, as you will learn later.

Merely feeding good things to her was not the only way in which Johnnie showed that the Muley Cow was his favorite. Next to the choice mouthfuls that he brought her, she liked to have him curry and brush her, just as he curried and brushed the ancient horse, Ebenezer. Especially in the winter, when she stood long hours in the barn with her neck in a stanchion, did the Muley Cow enjoy Johnnie's attentions with currycomb and brush.

In the summer, when she spent every day in the pasture, she was able to lick her back with her long, rough tongue whenever she pleased; and sometimes she would even get some friend to do it for her. But you may be sure she never sought such a favor of the little red cow, nor the big white one, either. Naturally they could scarcely have refused, had their aunt asked them. But the Muley Cow knew well enough that they would make disagreeable remarks afterward. So when she wanted help she usually turned to some cow whose place in the barn was a long way from her own. Somehow her best friends were those that didn't spend the winter near enough to her to notice whenever Johnnie Green gave her something good to eat.

Really it was not strange that Johnnie Green petted the Muley Cow. Farmer Green had given her to Johnnie. She belonged to him. But the Muley Cow never spoke of the matter in just that way. She preferred to say that Johnnie Green belonged to her.

II

WHY JOHNNIE HURRIED

It was a proud day for Johnnie Green when his father told him that he might have the Muley Cow for his very own. The moment he heard the news Johnnie couldn't help interrupting his father with a shout.

"Not so fast!" said Farmer Green, with what Johnnie knew was only a "pretend" frown. "She's not yours--yet. And when you learn what you'll have to do to win her perhaps you won't want the old cow after all."

"Won't I?" cried Johnnie Green. "I'll do anything you ask of me!"

"When you've learned to milk her, she'll be yours," his father said.

It was noon on a summer day when all this happened. And Johnnie Green wanted to go to the pasture at once and drive the Muley Cow home to be milked. But his father wouldn't let him do that. He said Johnnie must wait until milking-time came, that evening.

Now, it had often happened, in the past, that Johnnie was late in driving the cows home. But on this day he started off for the pasture with old dog Spot a half hour earlier than usual. Any cows that lingered to snatch a mouthful of tempting grass by the wayside found themselves rudely urged along toward the barn.

There was some grumbling among them. And the Muley Cow told her companions that if she had known Johnnie Green was going to be in such a hurry she would have jumped the fence into the back pasture and stayed there as long as she pleased.

They had not been in the barn a great while before the Muley Cow had a surprise. Johnnie Green, carrying a three-legged stool in one hand and a milk pail in the other, stepped alongside her, on her left.

"If I were you, I'd get on the other side," said his father with a grin, "unless you want her to kick you and teach you better."

Johnnie Green couldn't help looking sheepish. If his father hadn't cautioned him he would have tried to milk the Muley Cow on the wrong side. He was so eager to learn to milk her, and to win her for a prize, that he scarcely knew what he was doing.

There was a stir among the cows nearby. They talked in a rumbling undertone, telling one another that Farmer Green's boy was going to learn to milk the Muley Cow and saying they were glad it was not themselves that Johnnie was going to try to milk.

"No boy shall ever milk me!" the little red cow muttered to the Muley Cow. "If I were you I'd give him a good kick."

"Oh! I can't do that," the Muley Cow told her. "Farmer Green has always treated me well. I don't want to hurt his boy."

"I'd give him a good fright, at least," the big white cow advised her. "I'd put my foot in the pail, if he tried to milk me."

But the Muley Cow said that she would stand as still as she could and give down her milk just as she always did for Farmer Green himself.

And everybody told her that she was making a big mistake.

III

WORKING FOR A PRIZE

Of course Johnnie Green was very slow the first time he milked the Muley Cow. For a few minutes his father stood beside him and told him a few things that he needed to know. And then Farmer Green went away and left Johnnie to do his best all alone.

"Now's your chance!" the little red cow said to the Muley Cow. "Upset the boy before Farmer Green comes back!"

But the Muley Cow didn't even stop chewing her cud long enough to answer. She looked so mild and contented that no one would have guessed she was wishing more than ever that she had jumped the fence and lost herself in the back pasture. It seemed to her that Johnnie Green never would finish milking her.

"I hope he'll be done with me by dark," she said to herself. "I wouldn't like to lose any of my night's rest."

Yet she never let anybody know that she was impatient. She stood as still as she could, only lifting a foot and stamping now and then when some fly was too bothersome. And she never switched her tail except when a fly gave her an unusually hard bite. To be sure, once she brought the end of her tail _smack_ across Johnnie Green's cheek. But that was a mistake. Though it stung sharply, all Johnnie Green said was, "So, boss! So, boss!"

She was glad when Farmer Green came back at last, peeped into the pail that Johnnie was clutching between his knees, and said, "Well, you haven't done badly. But you'd better let me finish for you."

So Johnnie slipped off the three-legged stool and watched while his father sat down and got the rest of the Muley Cow's milk in no time.

"Farmer Green milked eight cows while that lazy boy was puttering with you," the little red cow said to the Muley Cow.

"Well, well! I suppose Farmer Green had to learn to milk when he was a boy," the Muley Cow replied, as she flicked a big fly off her back. "And this boy of his," she added, "he's going to be a good milker--once he gets the knack of it."

Just then Johnnie Green came trotting down the long passageway in front of the cows. He stopped in front of the Muley Cow and offered her a piece of an early apple--one of the first ripe ones of the summer.

She accepted the gift with much pleasure, while her neighbors on either side, stirred restlessly as she munched the apple. They said nothing just then. But anybody could see that they wished Johnnie Green would let them have a taste too.

"She earned it," the big white cow told the little red cow, later. "She had to stand still at least three-quarters of an hour, while that boy was trying to milk her."

The little red cow gave a slight sniff. "No doubt the apple was sour, anyhow," she muttered.

The Muley Cow couldn't help hearing what her two neighbors were saying. And although she was a well-mannered person and had a kindly disposition, she couldn't resist telling them that the apple was sweet and juicy.

"If you had had a taste of it you would agree with me," said the Muley Cow.

IV

OWNING A BOY

By the end of a week Johnnie Green was able to milk quite well. When he sat down beside the Muley Cow he could play a merry tune as he made the tiny streams of milk tinkle against the bottom of the milk pail. And he managed to milk the Muley Cow while his father was milking only three others.

"Don't you think," Johnnie asked his father, "that I ought to own the Muley Cow by this time?"

But Farmer Green thought that he mustn't make the prize too easy to win. He laughed and shook his head. "When you can milk half as fast as I can, I'll agree that she's yours," he promised.

Before a month had slipped by Johnnie Green raced with his father one night and finished milking the Muley Cow _before_ his father could milk the little red cow and the big white one.

"Hurrah!" Johnnie shouted, as he jumped up from his three-legged stool. "I've got a cow of my own!" But he didn't shout too loud, for he had learned that one ought not to be noisy around the cattle.

Somehow his father seemed almost as pleased as he was.

As for the Muley Cow herself, she didn't know just how to feel. She couldn't help hearing what was said. And her neighbors were craning their necks, for they couldn't help staring at her to see how she took the news.

It was just a bit uncomfortable for the Muley Cow, at first. But when Johnnie Green patted her and picked a prickly burr off her back she felt that matters might have been worse. And when he gave her a tender young beet as a special treat she began to think that matters couldn't have been better. She saw right away that being owned by a boy wasn't a bad thing, after all. It was the _sound_ of it that she didn't like.

Naturally there was a good deal of gossip among the cows. And the next day, in the pasture, one meddlesome creature went up to the Muley Cow and asked her _what she was going to do about it_.

"About what?" the Muley Cow inquired.

"About your being owned by Farmer Green's boy," the other explained. "Are you going to run away?"

Well, the Muley Cow laughed right in her face. It wasn't a thing she was used to doing. But the question seemed to her a very silly one.

"Run away!" she exclaimed. "Why should I run away? I've lived on the farm all my life and I wouldn't leave it for anything."

"But that boy! Surely, at your age, you can't enjoy belonging to anybody as young as he is!" the prying neighbor went on.

"Bless you!" cried the Muley Cow. "If he milks me, and takes me to the pasture and back, and gives me good things to eat, and brushes my coat for me, shouldn't you say that he belonged to me? It isn't every cow that has a boy like Johnnie Green to wait on her."

The meddlesome neighbor didn't quite know what answer to make. She was rather a stupid person, anyhow. Moreover, she was a great gossip. So she hurried off to tell all her friends that they were mistaken about Johnnie Green and the Muley Cow.

A good many of her friends admitted that there was something to be said on both sides of the question. And all of them agreed that the Muley Cow was certainly Johnnie Green's favorite.

V

THE FRIENDLY SCARECROW

Old Mr. Crow and all his cronies made fun of the scarecrow in the cornfield. They said that he was a great joke. "He doesn't know anything," they used to chuckle. "His head has nothing but straw inside it."

The Muley Cow had often heard the noisy crows laughing about the limp gentleman who hung on a long, upright stick beyond the pasture fence. She had paid little heed to him, herself, until one day she took a notion to jump the fence and taste the young shoots of corn. For they certainly did look tempting.

Being, generally, a well-mannered creature, the Muley Cow thought it only polite to speak to the scarecrow. So she lowed gently to attract his attention. And when he swung around, as he presently did, and faced her she bowed pleasantly and said, "I hope you won't mind if I sample the corn."

No one could have been more courteous than the scarecrow. To be sure, he _said_ nothing. But he waved an arm (as the breeze caught it) in a wide sweep.

"Surely," the Muley Cow thought, "he means that I'm to take all I want."

After thanking him she helped herself freely to the young corn. Indeed, she was almost greedy about it. Only the fact that the scarecrow seemed to throw a look at her now and then kept her from eating more. Somehow she couldn't forget that he acted very gentlemanly, though his clothes were tattered and torn. And she felt that she must do nothing to offend him.

"The corn is as good as any I've ever tasted," she assured him.

The scarecrow showed that he must have heard her, for he gave a sort of nod. And he tried his best to touch his hat. But the wind wasn't blowing quite hard enough to let him do that. "Poor fellow!" the Muley Cow thought. "He hasn't the entire use of his arms."

Then the scarecrow went through some odd motions. First he kicked backward with one leg; then he kicked forward with the other; and after that he whirled three times around the stake that supported him.

"Now, what can he mean by that?" the Muley Cow wondered. And then all at once she gave a silly sort of giggle. "I know!" she exclaimed. "He wants me to dance with him!"

For a moment the Muley Cow forgot that she was the oldest cow on the farm. She tossed her head, flirted her heels in the air, and cut a few clumsy capers around the scarecrow, who did his best to dance a jig--only the wind died down completely just as he was in the middle of it. And he hung from his pole in such a woebegone fashion that the Muley Cow began to feel uneasy about him.

"You're not ill, I hope?" she ventured, as she stopped her prancing.

He paid not the slightest heed to her. So with her nose the Muley Cow touched him where a knee would have been, had he had any. And even then he hung motionless.

The Muley Cow was alarmed. But she didn't linger to find out what was the matter with the scarecrow. She heard shouting. And she heard old dog Spot barking. And knowing at once that Farmer Green had caught her in the cornfield she turned and fled as fast as she could go.

"Something's wrong with that scarecrow," she muttered to herself as she lumbered along toward the barnyard. "He's so kind and gentlemanly he would surely have warned me if he had been able to. He would have let me know that Farmer Green was coming."

VI

BUFFALO HUNTS

Johnnie Green found, after a while, that owning a cow wasn't all fun. There were times when he would have been willing to let his father, or the hired man, milk the Muley Cow. For instance, a boy from a neighboring farm might come along about milking-time with a fine plan for play. Or someone driving past the house on his way to the village might ask Johnnie to go along too.

Once or twice, on such occasions, Johnnie tried to wriggle out of milking. But he soon learned better. His father told him that a duty was a duty.

And Johnnie knew exactly what he meant.

As for the Muley Cow, she went about her business as if no great change had come into her life. And if now and then she took a notion to look for better grass in the back pasture on the edge of the woods, she would jump the fence just as she always had and stray off among the clumps of trees and bushes.

When Johnnie went to drive the cows home at "cow-come-home time," as he used to call it when he was younger, he always looked first for the Muley Cow. And if he didn't see her he always knew what had happened.

"She's in the back pasture again!" Johnnie would exclaim--sometimes none too pleasantly. For the back pasture stretched way around a shoulder of the hill, and being half overgrown it offered a fine hiding place for the old cow. Sometimes it meant a good hour's search before Johnnie found her.

In days past Johnnie Green had been known to drive the herd home without noticing that the Muley Cow was missing. But now that she belonged to him such an oversight never happened. The Muley Cow soon noticed that Johnnie always came for her, no matter where she went.

"It won't hurt him to hunt for me now and then," she told herself. "A little work is good for a boy."

Somehow Johnnie Green did not feel just that way about work. He seemed to have an idea that work was a good thing for a boy to avoid. And if you couldn't escape it, then the wisest thing to do was to make play of it. By pretending hard enough, Johnnie had discovered that he could make a game of almost anything his father wanted him to do.

So it wasn't long before he was enjoying buffalo hunts in the back pasture. With old dog Spot along it was a lively game and most exciting.

The Muley Cow found it exciting too. The first time that Johnnie tried to lasso her with a length of his mother's clothesline she started for home on a lumbering gallop.

And Johnnie chased her until he remembered that it was bad for a cow to run. Besides, he was out of breath. So he whistled to old Spot, who had been barking just behind the Muley Cow's heels, and told him to come back and behave himself.

That night the Muley Cow wouldn't give down her milk for the longest time. And Johnnie Green knew right well that she was holding it back because he had teased her.

VII

A LITTLE SURPRISE

Little by little the Muley Cow learned not to be disturbed by Johnnie Green's clothesline lasso, when he swung it in wide circles about his head and then flung it at hers. She found that the rope did her no harm. Indeed, the more Johnnie practiced the more expert he became. Before a great while he could drop his noose over the Muley Cow's head almost every time he tried--when she stood still.

By that time Johnnie began to tire of the sport of buffalo hunting (with the Muley Cow for the buffalo). He wished he might try lassoing her from the back of the old horse Ebenezer. But he hardly thought his father would approve of the plan.

Well, Johnnie, the Muley Cow and Spot the dog were in the back pasture one day, where the Muley Cow had strayed. And as Johnnie paused to pick a few blackberries he thought what a humdrum place Pleasant Valley was, anyway, and how he would like to go off where there were real buffaloes, and Indians, and--

And just then old dog Spot began to growl. His hair bristled on his back. And Johnnie Green was sure that they had stumbled on game of some sort. He hoped it was at least a woodchuck.

"Sic him, Spot!" Johnnie cried.

But old Spot hung back, instead of dashing into the bushes toward which he was pointing. That wasn't at all like him. Johnnie Green couldn't understand it.

The Muley Cow, too, thought it very odd. "I declare," she said to herself, "I believe old Spot's afraid of something. I believe he's afraid of a woodchuck." And she gave a sort of chuckle, thinking it a great joke. Neither she nor her friends were any too fond of Spot. And she intended to tell the whole herd how he didn't dare chase a woodchuck.

Meanwhile Johnnie Green picked up a stone and threw it into the clump of bushes. And then he heard something that was between a growl and a grunt.

The Muley Cow heard it too. She knew that no woodchuck ever made a sound like that. And all at once she caught a whiff of the strangest, _wildest_ sort of scent.

It was enough for the Muley Cow. "My goodness!" she bellowed. "I'm going home!" And off she dashed down the hillside. She had forgotten all about the joke on old dog Spot.

Johnnie Green had not noticed that the Muley Cow had fled. He was running towards the hidden game, in the thicket, when that queer grunty growl made him stop short. The next moment, not ten feet in front of him a shaggy form rose up out of the tangle and glared straight at him.

It was a bear!

VIII

IT WAS A BEAR

When the bear rose out of the bushes and looked at him--and said "Woof!" too--Johnnie Green did not bellow as the Muley Cow had. But he turned and ran. Once he tripped on a root and fell headlong. But he was on his feet again in a jiffy and running faster than ever. And though he had only half as many legs as the Muley Cow, he reached the pasture fence not far behind her.