“Well, perhaps we shouldn’t have minded so much if the old horse had only told us this once, but he did it every day and we got tired of him.
“So, one day, before he had come up to us, I said to the others, ‘Look here! Let’s see if he is as brave and as quick at bull-fights as he says. We can’t give him a bull-fight but we can show him what cows can do. In his bull-fights there were always a lot of horses and only one bull. Well, in our cow fight there will be only one horse and a great many cows. Now, all of you, when he comes to speak to us this morning, put down your horns and run at him!’”
“Oh, Brownie, Brownie!” I said, “I thought you were always kind and gentle. Poor old horse!”
“No, my dear, not poor old horse! We had had quite enough of that tiresome old creature and it was time we stopped his nonsense,” said Brownie. “The others all agreed to do as I had told them, and when the old horse came up to us we made a dash at him. He was dreadfully frightened and ran away, but we chased him and chased him, and wherever he turned he found a cow ready to try and toss him. Of course, we never really touched him, but he was just as frightened as if we had tossed him all to bits. At last, he began to beg us to stop, and I said, ‘We will stop, if you will promise us something.’
“‘Oh—anything,’ he said, and sank down on the grass. We all lay down around him and laughed and laughed. ‘Oh dear, oh dear!’ said our Sussex Brown, beginning to laugh at the thought of it.
“Have you ever heard a cow laugh? If ever you do I am sure you will laugh too, because it is much funnier than most things.
“At last,” Brownie went on, “when I had got my breath and was able to stop laughing, I said, ‘You must promise never to talk of bull-fights again. We are thoroughly tired of your boasting stories, and we know just how brave you are now. If you can’t win a cow-fight I’m sure you could never get the better of a bull.’
“‘I promise,’ said the old horse, ‘but you ought to have seen our toreador when the bull was dead and they—’