“Good night, Molly.”
“Tell me another story!”
“Tell me, huh? Not even ‘Will you tell me?' Sounds a little presumptuous to me”
“A little what?”
“Presumptuous. It means you just assume I’m going to tell you a story if you want me to.”
“But you have to! That’s your job! I go to bed, and you have to tell me a story!”
“Now you’re just being bossy. Tell you what. Tonight, I’ll pick the story. I’m going to tell you a story about Miss Moo.”
“OK! Sorry I was… per… “
“Presumptuous. That’s OK, little one. Now close your eyes while I tell you your story.”
Once upon a time, there was a cow named Miss Moo. Miss Moo lived in a paddock in Yorkshire, England.
“Where?”
“Yorkshire, England. It’s the biggest county in all of England, and its chock full of castles, and cathedrals and Vikings and dragons. It’s actually officially called the County of York, and it’s where New York gets its name.”
“I meant what’s a pad-whatever?”
“A paddock? That’s like field with a fence around it.”
“OK. Finish telling the story now.”
“Hmm. I think you’d better listen closely to this story, little one.”
Miss Moo lived in a Paddock in Yorkshire England, with three geese, a whole flock of chickens, two Billy goats and lots of other cows. Miss Moo was the oldest of the cows, and she thought she should be the boss. Every day, Miss Moo would tell everyone else where they should go to eat, when they should sleep, where and when the chickens should lay their eggs, and even when it was time to go back to visit the farmer to be milked.
When strangers would come to the yard, Miss Moo was always the one to go over first and start mooing and lowing, telling the stranger that she was in charge. Everyone did what Miss Moo told them to do, but they all thought she was too bossy, and they didn’t like her very much. They just didn’t want Miss Moo to be mad at them, so they just went along.
Miss Moo loved to be outside, especially in the sunny weather, which didn’t happen very often in Yorkshire. At the end of the day, when the farmer would ring the bell for the cows to come in, Miss Moo would only come in if she felt like it. Worse, she would tell the other cows they shouldn’t go in yet, either. Sometimes on those warm, sunny days, she refused to come in until it was very, very late. Of course, this was very uncomfortable for the other cows, because they wanted to get milked. But Miss Moo always insisted on being first back to the barn, and she didn’t care if it made the others uncomfortable.
Finally, on the very longest day of the year, which is called Midsummer’s Day in Yorkshire, it was a gloriously warm and sunny day, and when the farmer rang the bell, everyone knew Miss Moo would make them stay out longer. But on this day, she waited a very, very, long, long time, to the point when it was getting quite dark. Finally the other cows just couldn’t wait any more.
‘Miss Moo’, they said’, please can we go in now? Our udders are very full and uncomfortable, and we need to go in and get milked.’
‘No’, said Miss Moo. ‘I want to stay out a little longer.’
‘We can’t wait’, said one of the cows, and she started heading back to the barn.
Miss Moo was beside herself with frustration. ‘Well, just GO, then!’, she bellowed. I doubt you can even find your way back without me!’ which of course was just plain silly and mean.
The other cows went back, and got milked, and then the farmer shut down the barn and went to bed, leaving Miss Moo outside.
When Miss Moo was finally ready to go inside, she found the barn door locked, and she couldn’t get in. She mooed for the farmer, but he had gone away and wasn’t coming back before morning. All she could do was wait outside. OH! How she ached! By the time morning came, she was in terrible pain. The farmer milked her right away, but the pain didn’t go away completely for a very long time.
Everyone knew what happened to Miss Moo, but they didn’t talk about it, or laugh at her. In fact they were very kind. But they didn’t always do what she said they should do anymore, either. The geese and the chickens started going their own way. The goats gamboled off to their on part of the paddock, and the cows made up their own minds when it was time to go back to the barn to be milked. And as soon as Miss Moo stopped trying to boss everyone around, she found that she had more free time to herself, and could relax more. And everyone started liking her a lot more, too.
The end
A Geocache Notification Form has been filed with the Marathon County Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department.