Beware Of Falling Cows (Animal Story 7)
By M.-L.
@MALUSE (69413)
Germany
October 26, 2016 1:02pm CST
When I taught English to (German) pupils, I always told them stories about animals which I had found in the newspaper. In my time, beginners were 10 years old (now they're younger). They loved them and they also loved that they could understand them. Understanding a foreign language is easier than speaking it. How does a teacher know that their pupils understand something if they can't express themselves? Oh, one notices it. The eyes sparkle, they laugh or make other appropriate noises at the right moment.
One such story was about an American woman who was driving her car through a narrow canyon. Obviously, nothing much was going on in this part of the country, so a nosy cow was standing at the edge of the rim watching the sparse traffic. The rock gave, they cow slipped and fell on the hood of the car. The car was smashed, the cow was severely injured and had to be shot, but the woman wasn't hurt.
I checked on the net if I could find the story and perhaps a photo as well and to my great surprise found a lot. Falling off cliffs seems to be a favourite pastime for cattle, not only in the US of A. A woman was sunbathing on a beach on the Isle of Wight (off the south coast of England). She got up, walked off to buy an ice-cream and at that moment a cow fell off the cliff above and landed on her towel. One doesn't want to imagine the scene, if the woman hadn't walked away!
What do we learn from this? Not only wild animals can be hazardous to your health.
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If you're interested in more animal stories, click on the green box above the title.
32 people like this
29 responses
@hora_fugit (5862)
• India
26 Oct 16
Would be good if some romeo catches the cow in his strong arms...
3 people like this
@hora_fugit (5862)
• India
28 Oct 16
@Daljinder The arms are 'strong'.... you missed that! 
That's the Power of Love. *Giving an other-worldly look* 
That's the Power of Love. *Giving an other-worldly look* 1 person likes this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
28 Oct 16
@Daljinder The Romeo here would have to be a bull.
2 people like this
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
28 Oct 16
@hora_fugit Although the arms or Romeo himself survives the incident or not is anyone's guess 
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
26 Oct 16
I am amazed that you managed to find an actual road sign warning of this (though the image is more reminiscent of a cat than a cow).
Of course, the Native Americans used to hunt bison by driving them over a cliff, so it is said, and I believe that there is evidence that this practice may have been a prehistoric method of filling the larder with the meat of large animals.
Of course, these days it only ordinarily seems to rain cats and dogs but I have heard of showers of frogs and fish as extraordinary events
3 people like this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
26 Oct 16
I would guess another lesson is don't put your towel at the bottom of a cliff!!
3 people like this
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
28 Oct 16
Moral of the story: Not only pigs can fly!
1 person likes this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
28 Oct 16
@hora_fugit You can now read a story about a tiny animal which also has a sad ending.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Oct 16
She would certainly know it if a cow fell on her while she was sunbathing!
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Oct 16
@MALUSE It would have been quite a horrible mess I should imagine. It would be quite ironic if the cow survived having its fall cushioned by that poor unfortunate woman.
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
27 Oct 16
You would think they'd have those kinds of areas fenced off @MALUSE .
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
27 Oct 16
@MALUSE Good point but at least I'd try to do the cliffs.
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
27 Oct 16
A lucky escape...who could have thought a cow can fall from the skies?
1 person likes this
@vaishu0106 (968)
•
20 Nov 16
The poor cow! Such a careless animal 
I have not come across such incident..And in India I have not seen this sign board ..Its a news for me :)
I have not come across such incident..And in India I have not seen this sign board ..Its a news for me :)
@GardenGerty (157562)
• United States
21 Nov 16
What a fun story. Sad for the cows in question, though. I like that you found an image of a sign, too. Yes, students love funny stories and jokes. I bet they remember you fondly.
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
20 Nov 16
@MALUSE - Friend M.-L. - That was a good story that you told to the kids and interesting to me, too. Back when I was in school I studied the German language. The teacher was "Clara V. Jones" from "Metropolis, Illinois." She instructed us to address her as "Fraulein Jones," which always made me smile to say it. -Gus-
By the way, when I got to serve for several years in west Germany, I discovered that most all Germans did not speak German as we were taught back in school. What astounded me was that many Germans did not understand what the others who did not reside close-by were saying - many dialects. I took a while before I understood many of them. -Gus-
@cintol (11261)
• United States
3 Sep 18
Thats crazy, you would think they would know better than to get that close to the edge. Good thing that woman got up from her towel!!
@JudyEv (325854)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 16
Haha. But where did your find the notice in the photo? Are they actually around the place? We were sad to see on the TV two days ago an aerial shot from the earthquake area of NZ of three cows on a tiny island of land high above the surrounding area. The little island had been pushed up by the quake. They said they'd been able to get the cows down safely.
