Mary Poppins - the Complete Collection. P.L. Travers

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      “Tch, tch, tch!” said the King. “Secretary, look in the Encyclopædia and see what it says about cows with stars on their horns.”

      The Secretary knelt down and began to crawl under the throne. Presently he emerged, carrying a large green book which was always kept there in case the King wanted to know anything.

      He turned the pages.

      “There’s nothing at all, your Majesty, except the story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon, and you know all about that.”

      The King rubbed his chin, because that helped him to think.

      He sighed irritably and looked at the Red Cow.

      “All I can say,” he said, “is that you’d better try that too.”

      “Try what?” said the Red Cow.

      “Jumping over the moon. It might have an effect. Worth trying, anyway.”

      “Me?” said the Red Cow, with an outraged stare.

      “Yes, you – who else?” said the King impatiently. He was anxious to get to the Barber’s.

      “Sire,” said the Red Cow, “I beg you to remember that I am a decent respectable animal and have been taught from my infancy that jumping was no occupation for a lady.”

      The King stood up and shook his sceptre at her.

      “Madam,” he said, “you came here for my advice and I have given it to you. Do you want to go on dancing for ever? Do you want to go hungry for ever? Do you want to go sleepless for ever?”

      The Red Cow thought of the lush sweet taste of dandelions. She thought of meadow grass and how soft it was to lie on. She thought of her weary, capering legs and how nice it would be to rest them. And she said to herself: “Perhaps, just for once, it wouldn’t matter and nobody – except the King – need know.”

      “How high do you suppose it is?” she said aloud as she danced.

      The King looked up at the Moon.

      “At least a mile, I should think,” said he.

      The Red Cow nodded. She thought so, too. For a moment she considered, and then she made up her mind.

      “I never thought that I should come to this, your Majesty. Jumping – and over the moon at that. But – I’ll try it,” she said and curtseyed gracefully to the throne.

      “Good,” said the King pleasantly, realizing that he would be in time for the Barber, after all. “Follow me!”

      He led the way into the garden, and the Red Cow and the Courtiers followed him.

      “Now,” said the King, when he reached the open lawn, “when I blow the whistle – jump!”

      He took a large golden whistle from his waistcoat pocket and blew into it lightly to make sure there was no dust in it.

      The Red Cow danced at attention.

      “Now – one!” said the King.

      “Two!”

      “Three!”

      Then he blew the whistle.

      The Red Cow, drawing in her breath, gave one huge, tremendous jump and the earth fell away beneath her. She could see the figures of the King and the Courtiers growing smaller and smaller until they disappeared below. She herself shot upwards through the sky, with the stars spinning around her like great golden plates, and presently, in blinding light, she felt the cold rays of the moon upon her. She shut her eyes as she went over it, and as the dazzling gleam passed behind her and she bent her head towards the earth again, she felt the star slip down her horn. With a great rush it fell off and went rolling down the sky. And it seemed to her that as it disappeared into the darkness great chords of music came from it and echoed through the air.

      In another minute the Red Cow had landed on the earth again. To her great surprise she found that she was not in the King’s garden but in her own dandelion field.

      And she had stopped dancing! Her feet were as steady as though they were made of stone and she walked as sedately as any other respectable cow. Quietly and serenely she moved across the field, beheading her golden soldiers as she went to greet the Red Calf.

      “I’m so glad you’re back!” said the Red Calf. “I’ve been so lonely.”

      The Red Cow kissed it and fell to munching the meadow. It was her first good meal for a week. And by the time her hunger was satisfied she had eaten up several regiments. After that she felt better. She soon began to live her life just exactly as she had lived it before.

      At first she enjoyed her quiet regular habits very much, and was glad to be able to eat her breakfast without dancing and to lie down in the grass and sleep at night instead of curtseying to the moon until the morning.

      But after a little she began to feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied. Her dandelion field and her Red Calf were all very well, but she wanted something else and she couldn’t think what it was. At last she realized that she was missing her star. She had grown so used to dancing and to the happy feeling the star had given her that she wanted to do a Sailor’s Hornpipe and to have the star on her horn again.

      She fretted, she lost her appetite, her temper was atrocious. And she frequently burst into tears for no reason at all. Eventually, she went to my Mother and told her the whole story and asked her advice.

      “Good gracious, my dear!” my Mother said to her. “You don’t suppose that only one star ever fell out of the sky! Billions fall every night, I’m told. But they fall in different places, of course. You can’t expect two stars to drop in the same field in one lifetime.”

      “Then, you think – if I moved about a bit—?” the Red Cow began, a happy, eager look coming into her eyes.

      “If it were me,” said my Mother, “I’d go and look for one.”

      “I will,” said the Red Cow joyously. “I will indeed.”

      Mary Poppins paused.

      “And that, I suppose, is why she was walking down Cherry Tree Lane,” Jane prompted gently.

      “Yes,” whispered Michael, “she was looking for her star.”

      Mary Poppins sat up with a little start. The intent look had gone from her eyes and the stillness from her body.

      “Come down from that window at once, sir!” she said crossly. “I am going to turn on the lights.” And she hurried across the landing to the electric light switch.

      “Michael!” said Jane in a careful whisper. “Just have one look and see if the cow’s still there.”

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