There once was a cow called Muriel, who lived with a herd of other cows in a field next to a farm. Muriel and the cows would walk from the field to farm to be milked; this was the highlight of the day. While she didn’t mind the routine, and liked the farmer and his wife, Muriel longed to be different.
“If only I could stand out from the crowd!” she would say to the other cows.
“Don’t be silly Muriel” the farmer would reply. “You’re a cow and cows are supposed to be part of a herd. You are all meant to look the same.” The rest of cows would laugh at Muriel and her dreams of being different, which made Muriel sad.
Each night in the field Muriel would chat to her little friends, the harvest mice. “Good evening Muriel. How was your day today?” the mice would politely ask. She would tell them that she had walked to the farm and what had happened at milking that day. Then she would tell the mice how much she wanted to be different from the other cows. The mice would agree with her that it would be nice to stand out from the herd. Then one day, Molly mouse suggested that they should help Muriel.
A few days later, Muriel was standing in the field chewing on something tasty, when she looked over the fence to the corn growing in the next field something caught her eye. It was a hat-shaped object which appeared to be crawling slowly along the side of the cornfield. Muriel moved closer and realised that it was a beautiful straw hat, with a large flower bobbing on the brim as it moved. The hat appeared to have lots of little legs. The hat came nearer and nearer, until it stopped at Muriel’s feet. As the hat dropped to the floor, the tiny faces of twenty harvest mice scurried from underneath.
“We have brought you a present!” squeaked Molly mouse.
“We found it after the village fete” said another. “We think one of the ladies must have left it behind. It’s just what you need to help you stand out from the other cows.” Muriel was overjoyed and as the harvest mice helped her on with the hat, she was almost crying with happiness.
“This is the most beautiful gift,” said Muriel. “It will make me look different!”
The next day on the way to milking, the cows stared at Muriel wearing her lovely hat.
“What on earth is that?” said the cow next to her.
“It’s a hat,” said Muriel. “It was a present from the harvest mice, so I could look a little different to the rest of you.” The cows started to laugh.
“But, we’re supposed to be the same,” said a cow at the back of the crowd. “We’re a herd you silly Mu!”
“Moo!” said Muriel crossly.
The farmer agreed with the other cows that Muriel’s hat looked silly, and so did the farmer’s wife, but Muriel didn’t care, she loved the hat so much that she wore it every day. The harvest mice found her ribbons and flowers to decorate the brim, so it grew into the prettiest hat you have ever seen. Each evening the mice would chat with Muriel and ask her about her day.
“I’ve had a lovely day today” Muriel would say. “It was lovely because I could wear my beautiful hat.”
Then Muriel and the mice would sing songs in the moonlight, until the sun rose over the fields and it was time for milking once again.
