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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Fairy Tale / Folk Tale
- Published: 11/22/2022
Betsy the Christmas Cow
Betsy believed that at her ripe old age of 8, she had seen just about anything a cow can see. These young ones couldn't even believe half of the things she told them. Just the other day, Damien that young pumped up bull, called her a liar to her face!
Simply because she told him she had at one time lived with a bull whose ball sacks had been cut off. And it was true, he was the biggest amicable animal she had ever seen. Damien apparently believed that’s where his life force came from.
She had lived too long that's for sure. But she was not complaining, her human owners where more capable and caring than most. Other than that son of theirs, that boy must have been bitten by ants when he was a calf. Or else how can you explain such viciousness in something so young. She hoped she didn't live to see him begin to draw milk as his father did every morning. She could just imagine the agony. It's good she had birthed her last calf and weaned him and he was doing well.
‘He will be a strong one, that Casius.’ She thought, ‘just like his father, cut from the same block those two: big, black, strong and moody. Just how she liked them,’ she couldn’t help the shiver as she continued to chew her grass languidly.
The other shiny humans came by too, but rarely disturbed her, or paid her any attention really, just how she wanted it. That is other than the other one, there was something about her, she gave Betsy a sense of home. She always tapped her nose playfully and Betsy enjoyed it, she didn’t mind it at all, matter of fact, she always looked forward to her coming. But the others...
‘Well, well look at that, there she was, talk of an angel or think of one and she appears.’ Betsy mooed happily at her neighbor.
But then Betsy noticed something unusual, her friend looked… worried? She was wondering why her friend looked so, when she realised that something was different. It was not just a feeling in the air. And that in itself was an understatement. She realised that something had been happening, it had been building in the air for some time, she just hadn't been paying attention. "Is it a storm?" she asked herself.
It was not so much the moving winds, she noticed, but the utter stillness in the air. As if everything was waiting for something, something big.
And then there was the shiny humans. She had seen some every season now and then, and of course her friend nearly every week.
But this evening they were everywhere...
A peep outside showed her, “the entire hillside is filled with them. What are they doing?" Betsy wondered out loud, "It's as if they are waiting for something to happen." she continued as she turned to Rita her neighbor, her very pregnant neighbor.
"It's me, they have come....munch, munch,… for me, you see...."
Betsy stopped listening. She could never understand how Rita managed to make everything about herself. She could come up with the most ridiculous ideas, like how the grass was green, because it was her favorite color. It had been a thorn in the hoof living next to her with her constant yammering that's for sure.
But so many shiny humans had her worried, ‘Nothing good comes from attention like that from humans, shiny or not. The next thing you know, you’re being taken out, followed by men with very sharp knives and then you are never seen again.’ She thought to herself. She had lost so many of her friends like that. Taken one morning, and never seen again. She knew her time was coming now that she was done birthing.
"Who is that?" Rita asked breaking Betsy from her rumination and she saw a couple, an oldish man maybe in his 10s, if humans count in the same way as cows, that is how many calves one has. And a young woman more pregnant than Rita, leaning on the man heavily.
They looked very tired and must have been walking a long way.
"The woman must be ready to calf, she keeps holding herself like she can't wait to sit down." Betsy imparted from her years of experience.
"I wonder what they are doing here." Rita asked.
But it looked obvious to Betsy, they were looking for a place to rest. And this was the only place for miles.
And before long she was proven right. They entered and looked as haggard as she had expected. The man immediately started preparing for her, but she could not let him do anything alone. Betsy was wondering where she was getting the energy to stand, let alone help set up a place, when she cried out for the first time.
They really were running out of time. He pulled a few bales of hay and she lay her cloak on top. It was dusty and a bit tattered but they didn’t seem to notice.
As she was preparing to lie down... Betsy noticed what had been holding Rita's attention all along.
All the shiny humans had come close, very close indeed. She could see the light playing on their skins. They had made an ever growing circle of human lanterns around the couple, they must have been in the hundreds and thousands or even more.
And she noticed something else, something gargantuan, the shiny humans all had wings!
Big light wings of all shades. It was like looking at a thousand sunsets and sunrises all at once. They were all moving in uniform leaving trails of light behind each flap like little streams of light.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing as more and more shiny humans appeared in the sky.
‘How can they not notice them, they are everywhere she wondered, unable to conceive such a magnificent, breath-stealing display of beauty.
The couple was completely oblivious to what was happening around them. They were setting up a birthing bed. The man looked positively out of his depth but the woman kept on encouraging him.
It did not take long. She brought forth a small human, a plump, pink, human baby boy. Betsy had never seen one before.
However what really truly stole her breath was what happened the minute the baby was born.
All the shiny humans, all thousands of them went down, they fell prostrate on the ground. Oh, what a sight, to see such magnificent creatures lying down as if in worship. She found she couldn’t help herself too, she found herself down on her belly, breathing in the muddy scent and dung but feeling completely elated with such joy she couldn't contain it even if she tried. She was mooing without any reason why, she felt ready to positively explode out and run around as if she was a mad cow. And looking at her side, she saw Rita too struggling with the same feelings. She was trying to lie down with her overgrown belly and mooing away as if it was her time.
And wonder of all wonders, all the sheep, donkeys and birds began too! Oh what a racket they caused, the couple was befuddled, they obviously didn’t know whether this was normal behavior. If only they knew, how mixed up Betsy was also about the whole thing too.
After an unknown period of time had passed but probably not that long. And Betsy felt more like herself again, all she could do is ask, "Who is this baby?”
"And look how oblivious the parents are." Rita added while leaning on the wall heavily.
The man was kneeling at the woman's side, his arm supporting her from the back. Both of them staring at the newborn baby with such love and devotion that it brought tears to their eyes.
And then, what Betsy felt the moment had been building up to, the baby's first cry cut out clear as a bell into the silent night. Then as if on cue, all the shiny humans sprung up into the heavens and crowded the sky, trilling out something indescribable.
Betsy suddenly felt something tug at her so hard she nearly fell back down. Music, such singing resonated with her very being, every fiber in her shivered. It was like she had known this music all her days. It brought such a strong sense of being known and treasured that she knew in the most inside part of her inside self that she had ever been part of all of this. She had been part of it for some time she didn’t even know or even remember.
"Was I too born to such music?" She questioned herself, “where have we been part, how do I know you?” She didn’t want it to stop.
The shiny humans spread out singing in their hauntingly familiar voices across the sky and sped off in different directions like they had the most wonderful news to spread to the whole world, someone has just been born, and everything has changed.
"Something has just happened," Rita whispered, "something... I don't know what; but, something has just happened."
Betsy could only nod her head in acceptance. Indeed, something had.
Betsy the Christmas Cow(AMANYIRE DANIEL)
Betsy the Christmas Cow
Betsy believed that at her ripe old age of 8, she had seen just about anything a cow can see. These young ones couldn't even believe half of the things she told them. Just the other day, Damien that young pumped up bull, called her a liar to her face!
Simply because she told him she had at one time lived with a bull whose ball sacks had been cut off. And it was true, he was the biggest amicable animal she had ever seen. Damien apparently believed that’s where his life force came from.
She had lived too long that's for sure. But she was not complaining, her human owners where more capable and caring than most. Other than that son of theirs, that boy must have been bitten by ants when he was a calf. Or else how can you explain such viciousness in something so young. She hoped she didn't live to see him begin to draw milk as his father did every morning. She could just imagine the agony. It's good she had birthed her last calf and weaned him and he was doing well.
‘He will be a strong one, that Casius.’ She thought, ‘just like his father, cut from the same block those two: big, black, strong and moody. Just how she liked them,’ she couldn’t help the shiver as she continued to chew her grass languidly.
The other shiny humans came by too, but rarely disturbed her, or paid her any attention really, just how she wanted it. That is other than the other one, there was something about her, she gave Betsy a sense of home. She always tapped her nose playfully and Betsy enjoyed it, she didn’t mind it at all, matter of fact, she always looked forward to her coming. But the others...
‘Well, well look at that, there she was, talk of an angel or think of one and she appears.’ Betsy mooed happily at her neighbor.
But then Betsy noticed something unusual, her friend looked… worried? She was wondering why her friend looked so, when she realised that something was different. It was not just a feeling in the air. And that in itself was an understatement. She realised that something had been happening, it had been building in the air for some time, she just hadn't been paying attention. "Is it a storm?" she asked herself.
It was not so much the moving winds, she noticed, but the utter stillness in the air. As if everything was waiting for something, something big.
And then there was the shiny humans. She had seen some every season now and then, and of course her friend nearly every week.
But this evening they were everywhere...
A peep outside showed her, “the entire hillside is filled with them. What are they doing?" Betsy wondered out loud, "It's as if they are waiting for something to happen." she continued as she turned to Rita her neighbor, her very pregnant neighbor.
"It's me, they have come....munch, munch,… for me, you see...."
Betsy stopped listening. She could never understand how Rita managed to make everything about herself. She could come up with the most ridiculous ideas, like how the grass was green, because it was her favorite color. It had been a thorn in the hoof living next to her with her constant yammering that's for sure.
But so many shiny humans had her worried, ‘Nothing good comes from attention like that from humans, shiny or not. The next thing you know, you’re being taken out, followed by men with very sharp knives and then you are never seen again.’ She thought to herself. She had lost so many of her friends like that. Taken one morning, and never seen again. She knew her time was coming now that she was done birthing.
"Who is that?" Rita asked breaking Betsy from her rumination and she saw a couple, an oldish man maybe in his 10s, if humans count in the same way as cows, that is how many calves one has. And a young woman more pregnant than Rita, leaning on the man heavily.
They looked very tired and must have been walking a long way.
"The woman must be ready to calf, she keeps holding herself like she can't wait to sit down." Betsy imparted from her years of experience.
"I wonder what they are doing here." Rita asked.
But it looked obvious to Betsy, they were looking for a place to rest. And this was the only place for miles.
And before long she was proven right. They entered and looked as haggard as she had expected. The man immediately started preparing for her, but she could not let him do anything alone. Betsy was wondering where she was getting the energy to stand, let alone help set up a place, when she cried out for the first time.
They really were running out of time. He pulled a few bales of hay and she lay her cloak on top. It was dusty and a bit tattered but they didn’t seem to notice.
As she was preparing to lie down... Betsy noticed what had been holding Rita's attention all along.
All the shiny humans had come close, very close indeed. She could see the light playing on their skins. They had made an ever growing circle of human lanterns around the couple, they must have been in the hundreds and thousands or even more.
And she noticed something else, something gargantuan, the shiny humans all had wings!
Big light wings of all shades. It was like looking at a thousand sunsets and sunrises all at once. They were all moving in uniform leaving trails of light behind each flap like little streams of light.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing as more and more shiny humans appeared in the sky.
‘How can they not notice them, they are everywhere she wondered, unable to conceive such a magnificent, breath-stealing display of beauty.
The couple was completely oblivious to what was happening around them. They were setting up a birthing bed. The man looked positively out of his depth but the woman kept on encouraging him.
It did not take long. She brought forth a small human, a plump, pink, human baby boy. Betsy had never seen one before.
However what really truly stole her breath was what happened the minute the baby was born.
All the shiny humans, all thousands of them went down, they fell prostrate on the ground. Oh, what a sight, to see such magnificent creatures lying down as if in worship. She found she couldn’t help herself too, she found herself down on her belly, breathing in the muddy scent and dung but feeling completely elated with such joy she couldn't contain it even if she tried. She was mooing without any reason why, she felt ready to positively explode out and run around as if she was a mad cow. And looking at her side, she saw Rita too struggling with the same feelings. She was trying to lie down with her overgrown belly and mooing away as if it was her time.
And wonder of all wonders, all the sheep, donkeys and birds began too! Oh what a racket they caused, the couple was befuddled, they obviously didn’t know whether this was normal behavior. If only they knew, how mixed up Betsy was also about the whole thing too.
After an unknown period of time had passed but probably not that long. And Betsy felt more like herself again, all she could do is ask, "Who is this baby?”
"And look how oblivious the parents are." Rita added while leaning on the wall heavily.
The man was kneeling at the woman's side, his arm supporting her from the back. Both of them staring at the newborn baby with such love and devotion that it brought tears to their eyes.
And then, what Betsy felt the moment had been building up to, the baby's first cry cut out clear as a bell into the silent night. Then as if on cue, all the shiny humans sprung up into the heavens and crowded the sky, trilling out something indescribable.
Betsy suddenly felt something tug at her so hard she nearly fell back down. Music, such singing resonated with her very being, every fiber in her shivered. It was like she had known this music all her days. It brought such a strong sense of being known and treasured that she knew in the most inside part of her inside self that she had ever been part of all of this. She had been part of it for some time she didn’t even know or even remember.
"Was I too born to such music?" She questioned herself, “where have we been part, how do I know you?” She didn’t want it to stop.
The shiny humans spread out singing in their hauntingly familiar voices across the sky and sped off in different directions like they had the most wonderful news to spread to the whole world, someone has just been born, and everything has changed.
"Something has just happened," Rita whispered, "something... I don't know what; but, something has just happened."
Betsy could only nod her head in acceptance. Indeed, something had.
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Shirley Smothers
12/02/2022Wonderful story. Told from the view of the Cattle. Sweet story. Thank you for sharing this delightful tale.
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Lillian Kazmierczak
12/01/2022This was a wonderful story of Christ's birth. You wrote it so well and conveyed such feelings that I was shivering right along with Betsy. That is a great story for any age!
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Lillian Kazmierczak
12/01/2022This was a great Christmas story! Congratulations on short story star of the day!
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Shelly Garrod
11/23/2022Beautiful story Amanyire. I liked reading your story.
Blessings Shelly
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