"Ha! ha!" the old black rascal laughed. "I see that you don't know what it's for.... It's to keep the Muley Cow from jumping the fence into the back pasture. Farmer Green put it around her neck this morning."
"Did you ever?" said Billy Woodchuck's mother.
"Well, I never!" said Aunt Polly.
"We expected to see a poke bonnet," they both told Mr. Crow.
That made him laugh again hoarsely.
"She wants to see you. The Muley Cow wants to talk with you," Aunt Polly Woodchuck informed him.
"Is she feeling pleasant?" he asked.
"No, I shouldn't say she was," Aunt Polly replied.
"Then I'll fly over and call on her a little later," he decided. "But first I must finish my breakfast." Thereupon he rose into the air and sailed away toward the cornfield, leaving two very puzzled Woodchuck ladies behind him.