“Oh, maybe I did!” the Soft-Voiced Cow replied. “Sometimes I do when I’m excited! Yes, here it is!” and with a contented sigh the Soft-Voiced Cow began chewing.
Johnny and Janey had stopped growing by this time and it was well they had, for their clothes were now so tight they were very uncomfortable.
“Now, everyone keep away from the wire!” Gran’pa advised, pointing to it with his stick. “Let us get away from here as fast as we can and watch our steps from now on!”
“It’s funny the Soft-Voiced Cow doesn’t grow taller!” Johnny said to Janey as they followed the others across the valley. “She hasn’t grown a bit!”
“I am glad she hasn’t,” Janey replied, “for it certainly is uncomfortable to be so tall!”
Janey was a head taller than Gran’ma, and Johnny was still taller than she was. Their stockings came nowhere near their knees.
“I thought I heard a bell tinkling when we touched the wire!” Gran’ma said as they walked along.
“So did I,” the Soft-Voiced Cow laughed. “When I did not have the wire fastened about my tail!”
As the travelers came around the bend of the mountain and left the little valley, they saw before them a little hut such as one sees at fair-grounds and pleasure resorts.
A queer little man wearing a stove pipe hat leaned over the counter at the front of the hut and smiled at them. “Was it you who rang the bell?” he inquired.