Читать книгу The Kind Cow. New fairy tales and fairy stories - Andrew Budhi - Страница 4

Once upon a time there was a cow. She had large round sides, large udders, a long tail, and kind eyes. The udder was filled with delicious milk twice a day, and the long tail helped to ward off midges and horseflies. The cow also had large horns, but this did not frighten anyone: the cow was very kind and butted only in extreme cases.

The cow was walking in the meadow and eating the juicy grass. One day she saw a small green frog in the grass.

«Who are you?» asked the cow.

«I am a little frog,» said the frog.

«What are you doing here?» asked the cow.

«I played, played, I jumped, jumped, and I got lost,» said the frog, and he began to cry.

«Don’t cry,» said the cow. Do you know where your home is?

«I don’t know,» said the frog, "it’s somewhere near the river… There are big reeds there…»

There was tall grass all around, and the buzzing and chattering of various insects made it difficult for the frog to see a familiar place and hear its native croaking.

The cow tilted her big-horned head and said:

«Get on my back, we’ll look for your house.»

The little frog was not afraid of the big horns, because he understood: the cow is kind. He jumped on the cow’s neck and then got on its back.

The cow’s back was very high above the ground, but the grass was also very high, and the frog could not see anything. The cow understood this and said:

«Get on my head: it’s even higher.»

The frog climbed on the cow’s head and sat down between the horns, and the cow began to turn her head in different directions. Now everything was visible, and the little frog noticed the familiar reeds.

The cow was big, and her steps were wide: the frog and the cow reached the place very quickly.

The cow tilted her head to the river, parted the reeds with her muzzle and saw a whole family of frogs on the leaves of water lilies. The frogs also saw a large cow’s muzzle, but they were not afraid: this muzzle was kind.

The little frog was delighted. It rolled down the cow’s head on the nearest water-lily, and the whole frog family, in gratitude to the cow, sang the evening song: «Croak-croak, croak-croak, croak-croak…»

The cow smiled and went home. At home fed she the calves and gave milk to the mistress for her little children and for the neighbor’s little children. There was always a lot of milk, because the cow was very kind.