“I hope that isn’t all of the story,—if you call it a story,” said Buster John.  
“Which?” remarked Mr. Thimblefinger, with an air of having forgotten the whole business.
 
“Why, that about throwing the gold ring from the window,” replied Buster John.
 
“Well, no,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, in an absent-minded way. “In a book, you know, you can read right on if you want to, or you can put the book down and rest yourself when you get tired. But when I’m telling a story, you must give me time to rest. I’m so little, you know, that it doesn’t take much to tire me. Of course, if you don’t like the story, I can stop any time. It’s no trouble at all to stop. Just wink¹ your eye at me twice, and I’m mum.”
 
“Oh, we don’t want you to stop,” said Sweetest Susan.
 
“No, don’t stop,” remarked Mr. Rabbit, drowsily², “because then everybody gets to talking, and I can’t doze³ comfortably. Your stories are as comforting to me as a feather-bed.”
 
“Then I’ll add a bolster⁴ to the bed,” exclaimed Mr. Thimblefinger. He hesitated a moment, and then went on with the story:—
 
“Of course, Eolen didn’t know what to do when her stepmother threw the gold ring from the window and pushed her from the room. She went back to her bed and lay down, but she couldn’t sleep. After a while daylight came, and then she dressed herself and went down into the garden to hunt for the ring. She searched everywhere, but the ring was not to be found.
 
“Now the ring could have been found very easily if it had been where it fell when Eolen’s stepmother threw it from the window. But that night a tame crow, belonging to the Prince of that country, was roosting in one of the trees in the garden.”
 
“Oh, was it a sure enough Prince?” asked Sweetest Susan.
 
“Why, certainly,” replied Mr. Thimblefinger, with great solemnity. “A make-believe Prince could never have reigned⁵ in that country. The people would have found him out, and he would have been put in the calaboose. Well, this tame crow that belonged to the Prince had wandered off over the fields, and had gone so far away from the palace that it was unable to get back before dark, and so it went to bed in one of the trees growing in the garden behind the house where Eolen lived.
 
“Of course, as soon as morning came, the crow was wide awake and ready for any mischief⁶ that might turn up. It flew to the ground, hoping to find something for breakfast, and hopped⁷ about, searching in the leaves and grass. Suddenly the crow saw the ring shining on the ground and picked it up and turned it over. What could it be? The crow’s curiosity was such that it forgot all about breakfast. It seized the ring in its beak⁸ and went flopping⁹ to the palace. It was so early in the morning that the palace was closed, but the crow flew straight to the Prince’s window and beat his wings against it until some of the attendants came and opened it, when the crow walked in with great dignity.
 
“The Prince had been awakened¹⁰ by the noise, but when he saw the bird stalking into the room as stiff as a major-general of militia¹¹, he fell back on his bed laughing. The crow hopped to the foot-board of the bed and stood there holding the gold ring in his beak, as much as to say, ‘Don’t you wish you were as rich as I am?’
 
“The Prince rose from his bed and took the ring from the crow, but it was so hot that he made haste to drop it in a basin of cold water. Then a curious thing happened. The ring seemed to expand in the basin until it was as large as the bottom, and within the circle it made the picture of a beautiful girl standing¹² by a milk-white cow. There were two peculiarities¹³ about the milk-white cow. Her ears were as black as jet, and her horns shone and glittered as if they were made of gold.
 
“The Prince was entranced. He gazed at the beautiful picture long and lovingly, and the crow sat on the rim¹⁴ of the basin and chuckled¹⁵ as proudly as if it had painted the picture. The girl was the loveliest the Prince had ever seen, and the cow was surely the most beautiful of her kind. The Prince’s attendants uttered exclamations¹⁶ of delight when they saw the picture, and his ministers, when they were sent for, were struck dumb with astonishment¹⁷.
 
“‘If this bird could only speak!’ cried the Prince.
 
“But the crow went chuckling¹⁸ about the room saying to itself, ‘What a fool a Prince must be who cannot understand my simple language!’
 
“The Prince gazed at the picture framed by the gold ring for a long time. At last he concluded to take it from the water. As he did so it shrunk to its natural size, and the picture of the beautiful girl and the Cow with the Golden Horns disappeared, and the ring no longer burnt his fingers. He dropped it in the basin once more, but it remained a simple gold ring and the picture failed to appear again.
 
“The Prince was disconsolate¹⁹. He remained in the palace and refused to go out. He moped and pined, until the family doctor was called in. The doctor fussed about and felt of the Prince’s pulse and looked at his tongue, and said that a change of air was necessary; but the Prince said he didn’t want any change of air and wouldn’t have it. In fact, he said he didn’t want any air at all, and he wouldn’t take any pills or powders, and he wouldn’t drink any sage²⁰ tea, and he wouldn’t have any mustard plaster put on him. He was in love, and he knew that the more medicine he took, the worse off he would be.”
 
“Well, a little sage tea ain’t bad when you are in love,” remarked Mrs. Meadows. “It’s mighty²¹ soothing²².”
 
“Maybe,” continued Mr. Thimblefinger, “but the Prince didn’t want it, and wouldn’t have it. He wanted the beautiful girl he had seen in the picture. He was in love with her, and he wanted to marry her. So his ministers consulted together and finally they sent around a bailiff”—
 
“Nonsense!” cried Mrs. Meadows.
 
“Tut—tut!” exclaimed Mr. Rabbit.
 
“Well,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, “he sent a crier around”—
 
“A herald²³, you mean,” suggested Buster John, who had read a good many story books.
 
“A bailiff could do the work just as well, but you can have it your way. Well,” continued Mr. Thimblefinger, “the Prince’s ministers sent a herald around to inquire at all the people’s houses if any of them had a Cow with Golden Horns, but nobody had such a cow, and everybody wondered what the herald meant. A Cow with Golden Horns! People went about asking one another if they had ever heard of such a thing before. Some said the throne was tottering²⁴. Others said the politicians were trying to work a scheme to increase taxation²⁵. Still others talked about the peril²⁶ of the nation. Everybody had some explanation, but nobody had the right one. The poor young Prince was nearly crazy to find the young girl whose picture he had seen in the basin of water.
 
“For a few days the people heard no more of the matter, but at the end of a week the herald went round the city again declaring that the Prince would marry any young lady who would bring as her marriage portion a Cow with Golden Horns. She need not have riches of any kind; all that was necessary was a Cow with Golden Horns. This word went around among the people and from city to city. Rich men with daughters tried everywhere to buy a Cow with Golden Horns, but all to no purpose.
 
“The Prince waited and waited and pined and grew thinner. But just as matters were getting to be very serious indeed, an old man appeared in the palace park leading a beautiful white cow with jet black ears and golden horns. The servants set up such a shout when they saw the beautiful cow that everybody in the palace was aroused and all came out to see what caused the noise. Then the servants and attendants ran over one another in their efforts to reach the Prince, who was moping in his room. As they ran they cried:—
 
“‘The Cow with the Golden Horns has come! The Cow with the Golden Horns has come!’
 
“The Prince forgot his dignity and hurried out to see the Cow with the Golden Horns. The old man came leading her, and she was, indeed, a beautiful creature. Her head and limbs were almost as delicate as those of a deer, and her eyes were large and soft. Her body was as white as snow, her ears glistened²⁷ like black silk, and her golden horns shone in the sun. The old man bowed low as he led the beautiful cow forward.
 
“‘I wouldn’t make much of a bride myself, your Majesty²⁸,’ he said. ‘I have brought you the Cow with the Golden Horns. She might find you the bride that I failed to bring you.’
 
“‘I fear I shall have no such good fortune,’ replied the Prince. ‘But I think you have proved to me that I am not dreaming. How shall I reward you?’
 
“‘I ask no reward, your Majesty. I only ask the privilege of taking away my Cow with the Golden Horns when you have found your bride.’
 
“When the Prince had given his promise, the old man said, ‘You have a ring, your Majesty, that came to you in a curious way. Let this ring be placed on the left horn of the cow. The girl or woman that is able to remove this ring will be the bride you are wishing for. Every morning the Cow with the Golden Horns will appear here in the lawn and remain until night falls. Let it be announced, your Majesty, that whoever takes the ring from her shall be the Princess of the Realm.’”
 
“Huh!” exclaimed Drusilla suddenly. “He talk like he been ter college.”
 
“Will you hush²⁹?” cried Buster John. But Mr. Thimblefinger paid no attention to the interruption.
 
“‘But how do you know,’ asked the Prince, ‘that the right one will come to get the ring?’
 
“‘How do I know that your Majesty has the ring?’ the old man answered.
 
“This seemed to satisfy the Prince, who caused it to be announced all through his kingdom that he would choose for his bride the girl or woman who would take the ring from the golden horn of the Cow.
 
“Of course there was a great commotion³⁰ among the ladies when this announcement was made, and nearly all of them tried to take the ring from the golden horn of the Cow. Some said they tried it just for fun, and some said they tried it just out of curiosity; but all of them failed. Even Eolen’s stepmother tried, and then she made her daughter try, but when the daughter touched the ring it burnt her so that she screamed. And then some of those who had tried and failed turned up their noses and said it was a trick.
 
“Eolen had never thought of trying. She had seen the Prince and admired him, yet she had no idea of going up before all these people. But as soon as her stepmother started for the palace with her daughter, there came a knock at the door. Eolen opened it, and there, standing before her, was the old man who had carried her to the Thunder’s house, and to the Jumping-Off Place. She was very glad to see him, and told him so, and he was just as glad to see her.
 
“‘Why don’t you go and get your ring?’ he asked.
 
“‘It is lost,’ she answered.
 
“‘It is found,’ he said. ‘I have placed it on the golden horn of the Cow that stands near the palace door. You must go and get it.’
 
“‘I have nothing to wear,’ she replied.
 
“Then the old man tapped on the wall and called:—
 
“‘Sister Jane! Sister Jane! Where are you?’
 
“‘I am where I ought to be,’ was the reply. The wall opened and out stepped the old, old woman that Eolen had seen combing her hair by the Well at the End of the World.
 
“‘Clothe this child in silk and satin and comb her hair out fine, Sister Jane.’
 
“The old woman grumbled³¹ a little, but gave Eolen a touch here and there, and in a moment she was dressed as fine as the finest lady in the land.
 
“‘Now she is ready, brother,’ said the old, old woman, and then she disappeared in the wall, combing her long gray hair and smiling.
 
“‘Must I walk?’ asked Eolen, looking at her satin slippers³².
 
“‘Nonsense!’ exclaimed the old man. Then he tapped in another part of the wall. ‘Nephew! Nephew! Where are you?’
 
“‘Wherever you wish me to be,’ a voice replied, and then the wall opened, and out stepped the handsome stranger who had given Eolen the gold ring. ‘What do you want?’
 
“‘A carriage and horses,’ said the old man.
 
“‘They are at the door,’ was the reply, ‘and I’ll drive them myself.’
 
“Sure enough, there stood at the door a coach and four, and Eolen was carried to the palace in grand style. Liveried servants appeared and spread a strip of carpet before her, and the Cow with the Golden Horns came running to meet her, and in a moment she had the ring. Then the people set up a loud shout, crying:—
 
“‘The Princess! the Princess!’
 
“And then the Prince came out and went to her. She would have knelt, but he lifted her up and knelt himself before her, and kissed her hand, and smiled on her, for she was the lovely girl he had seen in the picture.”
 
“What is the moral of that?” inquired Mr. Rabbit, waking from his nap.
 
“Why, you didn’t even hear the story,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.
 
“That is the reason I want to hear the moral of it,” remarked Mr. Rabbit.
 
“There is no moral at all,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.
 
“Then I’m mighty glad I was asleep,” grumbled Mr. Rabbit.