When the procession reached the cow house there was again a sudden
silence. The cows, one and all, turned their heads toward the people as
they came in, and looked at them with large, expectant eyes.

The procession then divided into groups, and definite work was assigned
to each person. The head milkmaid was to unfasten the cows; Lisbeth and
the under-milkmaid and the housemaids, each with her stout stick, were
to steer the cows out through the door; the farm hands were to stand in
the cow lane to meet the creatures and guide them into the right road
(they were to be pastured up in the north meadow) and to separate those
who fought with each other; and Kjersti and Bearhunter were to watch
everything from the gateway.

All was ready. The moment for the start had come.

Kjersti went into the stall of the cow who was to wear the bell. The
cow straightened herself up, lifted her head as high as she could, and
then stood stock-still. She knew very well that she was the principal
cow of the herd, and that the first place when they went out and in
through the cow-house door belonged to her; but she knew also that even
she had to be on her best behavior when Kjersti, the mistress of the
whole farm, did her the honor of clasping around her neck the cow
collar with its bell,--emblem of dignity and power,--and of unfastening
the chain that held her in the stall. Kjersti clasped on the bell and
unloosed the chain, which fell rattling to the floor; and then the bell
cow swung slowly and deliberately out of the stall, like a big, heavy
ship out of its dock, and wended her way with solemn dignity toward the
door. She carried her head so high and so stiffly that you could not
see the least swaying of her horns, and her bell gave only a single
decided stroke at each step.

The next to be let out was the big bull. The head milkmaid unloosed
him, and he sailed out just as stiffly and heavily as the bell cow had
done, with horns so high that they nearly touched the cow-house roof,
and so wide apart that they seemed to stretch across the whole
passageway. Lisbeth had never realized before how large the bull was.

And then, one by one, in regular turn, the rest of the cows marched
out. They were Brindle, Morlik (which means "like its mother"), Goldie,
Speckle, Blackie, Pusher, Summer-Leaf, Darkey, Wee Bonny, Trot-About,
Wreathie, and Moolley.[7] Wreathie was so named because the white marks
on her hide looked something like a wreath.