“Dangerous!” hooted Chirp. “A cow dangerous! Why, the only thing she’s dangerous to is a clover-top. That’s what she eats, and that’s why she smells of it.”
“But Silvertip was afraid of her.” Nibble was really puzzled.
“Silvertip? Oh, well. That’s another story,” said Chirp.
“Away back when the world was new—tell me about it.” Now Nibble was all pleased and excited.
CHAPTER VII
WHY THE COW GOT HER HORNS
“Exactly! Way back when the world was new,” began Chirp Sparrow. And then he stopped to squirm himself into a bunch of hay right beside Nibble Rabbit, so the wind wouldn’t muss his feathers, while he was talking. And Nibble crept to the very mouth of the hole in the bottom of the haystack where he was hiding, and sat on his toes and was very happy and comfortable.
“Away back when the world was new the cows and wolves began to have trouble.”
“Because the wolves chose to eat them, like the weasel chose to eat my great-great-grandfather?” interrupted Nibble excitedly.
“Not in the very first-off beginning,” said Chirp. “You see, the weasel was one of those who came up from under the Earth-that-was-common-to-all. He wasn’t one of Mother Nature’s own things. But the wolf was. He was just a little too clever, but she liked him and trusted him—more than most.
“Mother Nature had made a bargain with the plants. The beasts were to eat them. But she promised the plants that they wouldn’t die, but would spring up again stronger than ever. She would send the rain to keep them from getting thirsty, and they would put their roots into the Earth-that-was-common-to-all and get their food from it, and the winds were to keep their house swept clean and play with them, and the trees were to shade them from the hot sun and sing to them, so that they would be perfectly contented. And the beasts were to graze on them and the birds were to eat part of their seeds—but not all—so they were contented, too.