The Beautiful Cow

The Beautiful Cow

CHILDREN'S STORIES

One day the maker of cows made a beautiful white cow. It was called Rapala. Rapala was so beautiful that when he passed by all the other cows stopped grazing and started gazing. They would gaze and wonder as to how he became so beautiful. Beauty is a feast for the eyes, but Rapala was not only a feast for the eyes, he was a feast for your thoughts too. The other cows couldn't stop talking about his beauty. He was really beautiful.

Rapalas' nose was smooth. His horns were perfectly shaped. The magnificent hump on his back was carved with muscles that made music as he walked with graceful pride. Rapala, in short, was beautiful. He had a skin so smooth that he did not need oil to keep it soft. Rapala was like graceful music, song and dance all at once.

Rapalas only weakness, was  a hole in his eyes that went all the way down to his heart. You couldn't see it if you looked, because his eyes were flaming balls of desire. He could not manage his desire for everything. When he did not get what he wanted he became furious and refused to eat like spoilt child.

All the cows on earth had a grazing ground on which they all ate and slept. They were safe from harm in the warm valley and ate green grass on the warm hillsides during the day. They never wandered far off because the maker of cows had made this place especially for them. He had warned them they must stay here because there were kingdoms for other animals in other places and this was their kingdom. But one day Rapala sneaked of to another valley. When the other cows asked him where he had been, his only answer was "I have been to the land of truly beautiful people"

As days went by a burning desire developed in Rapala to visit the cow maker on top of the hill. He said to him "I have seen another animal that told me its name was leopard and I want its colored skin". The maker said "but Rapala where have you been, you are beautiful as you are, don't you like your skin?" Rapala said "I like it just fine, but I want those spots on my skin". The maker of cows said very seriously "okay but, I must let you know that once I put on these spots you, you can't change them back". Rapala said "that is fine just do it".

When Rapala went back down to the other cows, everyone was surprised but, no one asked him where he got the skin rash. All the cows assumed that Rapala knew what he was doing. Rapala stayed around for a few days then set out again. This time he went north and found a land with tall animals. When he returned he made his way to the makers house again and demanded to have his neck made longer. Again the maker said "Rapala you are the most beautiful cow of all. Don't you like being a cow?" Rapala said "I like it just fine, but make my neck a little longer like a giraffe".

When Rapala came down, only a few animals looked up, while others began to whisper that the maker must be going mad. How could he do such a thing to anybody? But one wise cow whispered "I don't think this is a maker is a problem, I think it is a Rapala problem". Of course Rapala had not consulted anybody because he thought they were all jealous of his beauty to have any good ideas about anything. Soon Rapala was off again to the plains to see how the small antelopes bounded swiftly across the savannah.

This time Rapala wasted no time at all and did not even go back to the cow herd, but went straight to the maker and said "you have made me too big" make me small with little behind legs so I can run as fast as an antelope. The maker closed his eyes and removed Rapalas hind legs and replaced them with smaller ones and a smaller body. When Rapala came down from the mountain, nobody noticed that he was there. He was too small to be seen. Everyone was taking about him as if he wasn't there because nobody could see him in the herd. They were all saying what a wonderful fool he was because he was beginning to look like they could not describe. This annoyed Rapala very much and so he went off to the west to look for a voice.

He walked through many kingdoms until he came to the land of monkeys. The monkeys were making so much noise and laughing so loudly in the trees that you could not help noticing them however hard you tried. "That is exactly what I need" thought Rapala and again made straight for the makers house once more.

This time the maker said. "Rapala you have changed your body so many times that you are no longer a cow, if you change your voice everyone will run away from you and I will not be able to give you a place in any kingdom" but Rapala answered and said "Mr. Maker are you a maker or is it that you cannot change my voice. I have told you I am fine with the way I look. I am Rapala the beautiful, all I need now is a little attention, it is the other cows that have a problem not me".

Rapala insisted and finally the maker gave in and gave him a voice like chattering monkeys and released him back into the valley. But as soon as he opened his mouth all the cows looked up and wondered where the sound was coming from.  When Rapala saw that the cows looked up to him he was very glad he had caught their attention. When the cows realized that the sound was coming from Rapala they ran off to hide in a cave.

They all wondered what animal was that was calling out to them. After a long discussion, they decided they must give it a name and stop calling it that thing. One little cow said that thing makes me so scared it must be the hyena my mother tells me stories about. Let's call it a hyena then. The next thing they decided to do was to get rid of it because it was so ugly to listen to all the time. Since it is not a cow, they all agreed, we cannot live with it here. So all the cows came out and chased Rapala, I mean the Hyena, over the hill and out of their kingdom.

Wherever Rapala went, I mean the hyena, went, it was chased away until it found itself without a kingdom to live in. From that day, the hyena has no place to stay and scavenges for food from all the other animal kingdoms to this day.  "Oh" said Rapala, the beautiful one, when he came to his senses, "be careful my ugly ones, if you want everything, you will end up with nothing like me.