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 abo