Chapter 6 Chapter 5 The Dancing Cow

Jane's ears hurt, and she was lying on the bed with Aunt Mary's floral handkerchief wrapped around her head. "What do you think?" Michael wondered. "Bang bang in the head," said Jane. "Like firing a cannon?" "No, like firing a toy gun." "Oh," said Michael.He also felt that his ears hurt when he heard it.This is so charming. "Do you want me to tell you a story in a book?" Michael said, going to the bookshelf to get the book. "No, I can't bear it." Jane put her hand over one ear. 'How about I sit at the window and tell you what's going on outside? "

"Yes, that's all right," said Jane. So Michael sat at the window all afternoon and told her what he had seen in the alley.Sometimes what he said was boring and sometimes very exciting. "Admiral Boom!" he said once. "He came out of his yard door and hurried down the alley. Here he came. His nose was redder than usual, and he wore a top hat. Now he passed the next door..." "Did he say 'damn'?" Jane asked. "I can't hear you. I think he said it. One of Miss Rucker's maids was in Miss Rucker's garden. Robinson Eyre was sweeping leaves in my garden. But all eyes were on her over the fence. He Now sit down and rest."

"He has a weak heart," said Jane. "how do you know?" "He said it himself. He said the doctor told him to do as little as possible. I heard from papa that if he did what the doctor said he'd have to let him go. Oh, the ears are banging so badly!" said Jane again. Cover her ear. "Hello!" said Michael enthusiastically from the window. ． "What's the matter?" Jane sat up and cried, "Tell me quickly." "A rare thing. A cow came down the alley," Michael said, jumping up and down on the window seat. "A cow? A real cow...in the city? How funny!

Aunt Mary," said Jane," and Michael said there was a cow in the alley. " "Yes, he walked very slowly, sticking his head into every yard gate, looking around as if he had lost something." "I should like to see it with my own eyes," said Jane sadly. "Look!" Aunt Mary went to the window and Michael pointed down. "A cow, isn't it funny?" Aunt Mary took a quick look down the alley.She was surprised. "Of course not," she said, turning to Jane and Michael. "It's not funny at all. I know that one. It's a good friend of my mother's, please be gentle with it." She smoothed her apron and looked at them both seriously.

"Did you know him long ago?" Michael asked politely, thinking that by begging her so extra politely, he would be able to hear more about the cow. "He knew him before he saw the King," said Aunt Mary. "How wonderful is that?" Jane encouraged her to continue with a gentle tone. Aunt Mary fixed her eyes on something in the sky that they couldn't see. Jane and Michael waited with bated breath. "That was a long time ago," said Aunt Mary, in a deep storytelling voice.She paused, as if recalling what happened hundreds of years ago.Then she went on dreamily, her eyes still fixed on something in the room, but they could see nothing.

The Red Cow, that's the name of the cow that went by, and she was amazing and lucky (my mother said so).He lived in one of the nicest fields in the district--a huge field full of buttercups the size of saucers and dandelions bigger than brooms.Buttercups and dandelions covered the whole field like an army, and it looked pale yellow and gold.Every time it bites off the head of a soldier, another soldier grows soon, wearing a green uniform and a yellow high military cap. It has always lived there, and often told my mother that it doesn't remember when or where it stayed.Its world was surrounded by green bays and sky, and it knew nothing of what else.

The Red Cow was very stately, and moved like a noble lady who knew what to do.To it, things are either black or white—nothing gray or pink.People are either good or bad, and there is nothing either good or bad.Dandelion is either sweet or bitter, nothing is neither sweet nor bitter. It's been a stressful day.Every morning he taught his daughter Red Calf lessons, and in the afternoon he taught her all the behaviors and names a well-bred calf should know.Then they had their supper, and the red cow taught the red calf how to choose good grass to eat.At night, when its child is asleep, it goes to the end of the field to chew the cud and think about its thoughts quietly.

Its days are the same.One red calf grew up and went away, and another red calf took his place.So naturally the Red Cow thought her life was going to go on like this.To be honest, it felt that this kind of life that was the same every day was very good, until one day something happened that ended this kind of life. It's thinking about its own mind, like it told my mother later that something amazing is about to happen.It happened at night.The stars are like a field of dandelions in the sky, and the moon among the stars is like a big daisy. At this time, the red calf had already fallen asleep, and the red cow suddenly stood up and danced, dancing wildly and beautifully, and very rhythmically, although there was no music at all.Now it dances a polcacho, now a Scottish highland dance, and now it dances a strange dance of its own imagination.When changing a dance, it always bows its knees and bows its head to touch the surrounding dandelions.

"My God!" said the Red Cow to herself, as she did the sailor's bagpipe. "What a queer thing! I've always said it was bad dancing, but I danced myself, and you can't say bad dancing. For I'm a noble cow." It kept jumping, jumping happily.At last he was tired and felt that he had danced enough and it was time to go to bed.But the strange thing is that it can't stop.It went to the red calf and wanted to lie down, but its legs didn't work, it continued to jump and jump, and naturally took it away again.It turns around in the field, jumps, round dances and toe dances.

"My God! How strange!" During the interval.It kept mumbling in too loud a tone, but couldn't stop. He kept jumping till morning, and the Red Calf had to eat his own breakfast, eating dandelions, because the Red Cow couldn't stop to eat. All day long he jumped up and down and up and down the grass, and the red calf mooed pitifully behind him.It was still dancing at night and couldn't stop.It is getting more and more anxious, jumping down in a week, it is going crazy. "I have to go to the king about this matter." It shook its head and made up its mind. So he kissed the Red Calf, and told him to be good, and turned and danced away from the field, to the King.

It danced all the way, and when it passed the village, it nibbled on some leaves to satisfy its hunger. When people saw it, they were very surprised and their eyes were fixed on it.No one was more amazed than the red heifer's own eyes. At last he came to the palace, and rang the bell with his mouth, and when the gate was opened he danced in, and passed through the wide gardens, to the steps before the King's throne. The king is sitting on his throne busy making new laws.His secretary held a red book and recorded the laws that the king thought of one by one.Surrounded by courtiers and maids-of-waiting, all very richly dressed, chattering in a hurry. "How many laws have I made today?" asked the king, turning to his secretary.After hearing this, the secretary counted the things written down in the red notebook. "Seventy-two, Your Majesty," he said, bowing deeply, careful not to trip over his quill, which was huge. "Oh. It's not bad to be able to settle so much in an hour," the king looked very pleased with himself. "That's enough for today." He stood up and adjusted his ermine cloak carefully. "Call a cab. I'm going to get a haircut," he said solemnly. Just then he saw the Red Heifer coming.He sat down again and took up his scepter. "What have we got here, look!" he asked the Red Cow, dancing down the steps. "A cow, my lord!" it answered. "I can see that," said the king, "and I'm not blind. But what do you want? Come on, because I have an appointment with the barber at ten o'clock. I've got to get my hair cut. Good God." , please don't jump around like that, okay?" He added impatiently, "It makes me dizzy." "It makes people dizzy!" Some courtiers looked at it and said. "This is my trouble, Your Majesty. I can't stop!" said the Red Cow pitifully. "Can't stop? Nonsense!" The king was angry, "Stop immediately! King, I order you!" "Stop now! His Majesty orders you!" cried all the courtiers. The red cow tried desperately to stop, every muscle and every rib of her body stood out like mountains in order to exert herself, but it was useless.It still dances beneath the King's Steps. "I tried, Your Majesty, but I couldn't stop. I've danced like this for seven days and nights. I didn't go to bed, and I ate very little, except for a few leaves. So I come to beg you for an idea. " "Hoo...very strange," said the king, pushing the crown aside and scratching his head. "Very strange." The courtiers also scratched their heads and said. "How do you feel?" asked the king. "Funny," said the Red Cow, "and," it paused for the right word, "it still feels good. It's as if it's laughing inside itself." "Very rare," said the King, resting his chin on his hand, looking at the Red Heifer, and considering what to do. Suddenly he jumped up and said, "My God!" "What's the matter?" All the courtiers yelled and asked. "Why, don't you see?" said the king excitedly, and his scepter fell down. "How foolish I was to not have seen it. How foolish you are too!" He turned angrily to the courtiers. "Don't you see a falling star on one of its horns?" "That's right!" the courtiers exclaimed, as if they suddenly saw the star.Seeing the stars seem to be brighter. "That's the trouble!" said the King. "Now go and pluck it off so that this... oh... Mrs. Cow will stop dancing and have some breakfast. The stars make you dance, Mrs. Cow, ’ he said to the Red Cow. "Okay, you go pick it!" He pointed to the chief attendant.The chief attendant quickly ran to the red cow and began to pick the stars.But can't take it off.The courtiers added one after another, and finally turned into a long line, one hugged each other's waist, and the courtiers and Xingxing started a tug-of-war. "Watch out for my head!" begged the Red Heifer. "Pull!" the king yelled. They pulled harder, until their faces were as red as strawberries, until the strength was exhausted, and they couldn't pull it anymore, and one by one they fell backward on top of others.The stars were motionless, firmly embedded in the horns. "Shhhhhhh!" said the king, "Secretary, look up the encyclopedia and see what it says about cows with stars in their horns." The secretary ran down and crawled under the throne.Now he crawled out with a big green book.The book was always there for the king to look up something. He flipped the pages quickly. "Nothing is said about it. Your Majesty, there is only a story about a cow jumping over the moon, and you know it all." The king wiped his chin, which helped him think. He sighed in distress, and looked at the red heifer. "All I can say," he said, "is that you'd better try it." "Try what to do?" said the Red Cow. "Jump over the moon, maybe it will work. Anyway, it's worth a try." "Tell me to dance?" said the Red Cow, looking a little annoyed at the King. "Yes, if I don't tell you to dance, who else will I tell you to dance?" the king said impatiently. He is in a hurry to get a haircut. "Your Majesty," said the Red Cow, "don't forget, I beg you, that I am a respectable cow, brought up from childhood; and ladies are not to dance." The king stood up and shook his scepter at it. "Mrs. Niu," he said, "you've come to ask me to make an idea, and I've already made an idea. Do you want to dance like this for the rest of your life? Do you want to starve for the rest of your life? Do you want to stay awake for the rest of your life?" The red cow thinks of the delicious and fragrant sweetness of dandelions, how soft it is to lie down on the grassland, and how nice it is to stop and rest for legs tired from jumping.It couldn't help saying to itself: "Perhaps just jump once, it doesn't matter, and no one knows except the king." "How high do you think it is?" it asked loudly as it jumped. The king looked at the moon in the sky. "I think it's a mile to say the least," he said. The Red Cow nodded.It thought so too; it considered it for a while, and made up its mind. "Your Majesty, I never thought of doing this, never thinking of jumping, and jumping over the moon. But I can try," it said, curtsying gracefully to the throne. "Very well," said the king cheerfully, thinking that at last he might be able to get to the barber in time. "follow me!" He led the way into the garden, followed by the Red Cow and the courtiers. "Well," said the King, coming to a meadow, "you will jump when I blow the whistle!" He took out a golden whistle from his vest pocket, and blew it lightly to see if there was any dust in it. "One!" said the King. "two" "three" He blew his whistle. The Red Cow took a deep breath, and with a jerk, was off the ground, and the King and his courtiers down below grew smaller and smaller until at last they were out of sight. It crossed the sky, and around it the stars swirled like pots of gold, and now in the blinding light it felt the chill of the moon above.It closed its eyes and jumped over the moon, and when the dazzling light fell behind, it turned its head down again, only to feel that the star slid down from its horns, and rolled down the sky like flying.It felt that the stars had fallen into the darkness and disappeared, but there was a loud music echoing in the sky. Then the red cow fell to the ground again.The strange thing is that it is not in the king's garden, but in his own dandelion field. It has stopped dancing!Si Tiao runs as steady as a rock and walks as dignifiedly as any other decent cow.He walked peacefully across the field to the Red Calf, biting off the heads of his golden soldiers along the way. "I'm so glad you're back!" said the Red Calf. "I'm so lonely." The red heifer kissed it and buried her head in the grass.This is the first meal in a week.When it was full, several regiments were eaten.It feels better now.Soon it was back to the same life as before. At first he was glad to have a peaceful normal life, to have a good breakfast without dancing, and to lie down on the grass and sleep at night without curtseying to the moon all night. But after a while, it began to feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied.His dandelion field and red calf were good, but he wanted something more, but couldn't think of what it was.At last she understood that without its star, which it had grown accustomed to dancing and the joy the star gave it, it wanted nothing more than to dance the bagpipes.Well and another star on its horn. It is very distressed and has a bad appetite.Grumpy.It often cries for no reason.It always finds my mother to find a way. "My God," my mother said to it, "you don't think there's only one star falling in the sky, do you? I've heard that thousands and thousands of stars fall every night. Of course, they fall in all directions. In your life You can't hope for two stars to fall on the same field." "What would you think if I moved my place?" said the Red Cow. There was a look of joy and longing in the eyes again. "If I were you," my mother said, "I'd find one." "I will go," said the Red Cow cheerfully, "I will go." Aunt Mary stopped. "It walks in Cherry Tree Alley, I think that's why," Jane said softly. "Yes," whispered Michael, "it's looking for stars." Aunt Mary sat up a little as if awakened with a start.Her fixed eyes were gone, and her body was not stiff and still. "Get off that window-sill at once, young master!" she said angrily. "I'll turn on the light." She quickly walked across the stairs to turn on the light. "Michael!" Jane whispered cautiously, "take another look and see if the cow is still there." Michael quickly stretched his head to look into the twilight. "Hurry up!" said Jane. "Aunt Mary will be right back. See the cow?" "No—yes," Michael said, looking out the window. "Not even a shadow. It's gone." "I wish it could find stars!" said Jane.She thought of the red heifer roaming the world just to find a star to nest in its horn. "Me too," Michael said.As soon as he heard the footsteps of Aunt Mary's return, he hurriedly lowered the blinds...