“‘Don’t “sister” me,’ moaned the cow. ‘I’m nearly famished, and that boy has nearly run me off my legs. Somebody that I couldn’t see caught me and tied me to a tree this morning, and there I’ve been all day. We’d better go away from here. That boy will find you out yet.’
“Then Johnny crept away, ate his supper, and went to bed. He slept late the next morning, but when he awoke he found that his father, instead of being at work, as was his habit, was smoking his pipe and talking to the woman, and both were smiling at each other very sweetly. That afternoon, Johnny went to bring the cow home before sundown, but he couldn’t find her. He hunted and hunted for her until long after dark, and then he went to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill, and said:—
“‘O Keeper of Cows that roam in the night,
Come over the hills and lend me your light!’
“Instantly Johnny heard a cow lowing in the valley, and saw a light glimmering faintly in the distance. In a little while he heard a tremendous clatter of hoofs up the hill, and the rushing of some large animal through the bushes. It seemed to have one eye only and that eye shone as fiercely as a flame of fire as its head swayed from side to side. It came rushing to the poplar-tree where Johnny stood, and stopped there. Johnny peeped from behind the tree and saw that the frightful animal was nothing more than his cow, with a tiny lantern hanging on her horn. She stood there panting and trembling. Johnny waited to see if the Keeper of Cows that roam in the night would make her appearance, but he waited in vain. Then he drove the cow home, turned her into the lot, and went in the house to get his supper. His father and the woman were sitting very close together.
“‘Have you brought the cow?’ the woman asked.
“‘She’s in the lot,’ replied Johnny.
“‘You are a smart boy,’ said the woman.
“‘Thanky, ma’am,’ exclaimed Johnny.
“So it went on day after day. The woman would make the cow wander farther and farther away from home, and Johnny would go to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill and call for the beautiful lady, the Keeper of the Cows that roam in the night, and soon the cow would come running and lowing. Then Johnny would drive her home by the light of his little lantern. This happened so often that the neighbors, and indeed the people in all that country, when they saw a light bobbing around at night, would shake their heads and say, ‘There goes Jack with his lantern,’ and then after a while they called him ‘Jack of the Lantern.’