FARMER WILL AND THE FAIRY COW


There is a lot that people do not know about the tale of "Jack
and the Beanstalk". But the people in the village near the
cottage of Jack and his mother, know all about it. When Jack
traded his cow in for a handful of magic beans that became the
huge beanstalk, he had no idea what an extraordinary cow that
he was trading in. Of course, things wound up okay for Jack,
and he became wealthy and moved with his mother to a larger town.
So he probably never did know what became of their cow Sookie.

Farmer Will bought Sookie and took her home to his daughter Merrie.
Now, Merrie was a very happy girl until her mother took sick and
died. Ever since then, she did not live up to her name. The
corners of her mouth were always turned down and she sighed a lot.
Farmer Will thought that maybe it would cheer her up to have a cow,
so she could Churn butter and make cheese, and cook him more sweets
made with milk. (He never did figure out that loads of housework
didn't cheer her up).

Anyway, Merrie went out the next morning to milk Sookie, after
fixing her dad his breakfast and washing the dishes. She wound up
getting terribly Sore arms, because Sookie gave gallons and gallons
of milk. Finally, Merrie got so tired that she fainted, right there
in the barn, in the middle of A bunch of straw. At lunchtime, her
dad came in the house, all sweaty from plowing, and there was no
lunch on the table or bread baking in the oven. So he went to look
for Merrie. She was ordinarily very organized, and she had promised
to bake some pies that afternoon for the village Social. He went
looking in the barn (their farm was not very large so there weren't
that many places to look), and found her passed out on the straw,
with Sookie dripping milk.

When Farmer Will found out that Sookie had an almost unending supply
Of milk, along with a good disposition, he was thrilled. He hired
his niece Sadie to help out, and they were able to sell cheeses and
butter and whatever dairy products they could turn/churn out, at the
village market. After awhile, they wound up doing really well, and
Merrie and Sadie had enough for a good-sized dowries. Farmer Will
asked them to keep the secret about Sookie's milk, and to continue
to help. They also promised to keep it a secret until they were
married, and then swear their husbands to silence. They were able
to find nice, sturdy husbands in the village and get small properties
next to their dad's farm.

Sookie was a fairy cow, of course, and she stayed with Farmer Will
and the girls until they had enough money to stay permanently
prosperous. Then, when the girls were old women, Sookie disappeared.
Some of the children in the village said that they had seen Brownies
and Elves the day before the cow vanished, but the adults thought
they were just being imaginative. The little ones knew, though,
because the Brownies played with them some before they left,
leading Sookie away, with a rope around her neck. Sookie is probably
still giving milk for the Brownies and Elves, with other fairy cows
to keep her company...and living happily ever after.

© Copyright 10/18/06
Beth Johnson (Mystic Amazon)