Toads & Diamonds, Texas Style By Bobbee Pennington.

Toads & Diamonds, Texas Style

By Bobbee Pennington

Once upon a timeDeep in the heart of Texas, there lived two cowgirls:

Cowgirl Nice

and

Cowgirl Mean

They lived on a ranch in Hill Country.

Cowgirl nice was---Nice!

Cowgirl Mean was: ______?

Mean!

Every day, they had to mend the fence on the ranch, get water from the well, wash the clothes in the Guadalupe river, herd the cows to pasture, fix supper for the ranch hands and gather wood for the evening campfire.

Cowgirl nice said (nicely): “Time to get to work sister.”

Cowgirl Mean replied (meanly) “Do all the work yourself. I’m not helping!”

Cowgirl Nice mended the fence on the ranch, got water from the well, washed the clothes in the Guadalupe river, herded the cows to pasture, and fixed supper for the ranch hands

Then she climbed the hills to gather wood for the evening campfire.

In the woods, she met a very old woman who was bent down under a load of wood herself. “Will you please help me carry these sticks to my cabin up the hill?” said the old woman.

Cowgirl nice said (nicely) “Why yes Ma’am, I love to help.” Cowgirl Nice carried all of the sticks up to the old woman’s cabin and put them nicely down in a pile by the old woman’s door.

“Thank you very much!” said the old woman. Now, here is a little gift I would like to give you for helping me. It is a little jewel that shines so brightly in the sunlight.

“Oh, how nice!” said Cowgirl Nice. “Thank you kindly Ma’am.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Cowgirl Mean was waiting and waiting for Cowgirl Nice to come back and fix supper. Cowgirl Mean stomped around the kitchen,

banging pots and pans and throwing all the dishrags out the window! “Where is Cowgirl Nice? I’m so hungry!!!”

Cowgirl Nice came in the door. “Howdy sister!”

Cowgirl Mean said (meanly), “What took you so long!” Then she looked down at the floor and saw a pile of jewels shining in the afternoon sun, right where Cowgirl Nice was standing!

“Hey! Wait a minute!” yelled Cowgirl Mean. “What are those!” and Cowgirl Mean pointed to the jewels. Cowgirl Nice looked down at her feet. She saw the jewels! “Wow!” Suddenly as she spoke, one more jewel came tumbling from her mouth and landed in the pile of jewels at her feet!

Cowgirl Mean looked surprised! “Hey!” she said, “where did you get those jewels?” “I don’t know” said Cowgirl Nice. Suddenly three more jewels dropped from the mouth of Cowgirl Nice mouth onto the floor! Cowgirl Mean swooped upon the jewels and took them up in her apron and said, “Mine now!” “What?” said Cowgirl Nice, and of course, another beautiful jewel fell from her mouth.

“Are you hiding those jewels in your mouth?” said Cowgirl Mean. “No” said Cowgirl Nice and another jewel tumbled from her mouth. “So how come all those jewels keep falling from your mouth?”

So Cowgirl Nice told Cowgirl Mean how she helped an old woman in the hill country forest. Of course, every time Cowgirl Nice spoke, more jewels fell from her mouth. Cowgirl Mean just snatched up each jewel before they even hit the ground and took them for herself. Then, she ran to hide them all in a box in her room.

“You’ll never find them now!” said Cowgirl Mean. “Now I’m going to find that old women and get jewels to come out of MY mouth!” and Cowgirl Mean slammed the kitchen door and stomped off into the hill country forest to find that old woman.

The old woman was at the bank of the Guadalupe, with two heavy pails of water. When she saw Cowgirl Mean, she said, “Oh Cowgirl, will you please help me?

Cowgirl Mean turned around and said, “No! I don’t help anybody! Now give me the jewel that you gave my sister.” Then Cowgirl Mean put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot and said, “Now!”

The poor old woman’s hands were trembling. She handed over something that look shiny like a jewel.Then she struggled up the hill carrying the heavy pails of water. Cowgirl Mean shoved that shiny thing in her pocket and ran towards home.

She flew in the kitchen door, sat down with her feet up on the table and bragged: “Lookie what I got sister!”. Two things happened:

First, she took the shiny thing out of her pocket and…it was a beetle and crawled off!

Second, five (count them) FIVE! toads fell from her mouth in a pile and hopped off out the kitchen door. “Wait a minute” she screamed and three more toads came out of her mouth and hopped out the door.

“ Well, at least I have the box of jewels I took from Cowgirl Nice in my room!” and Cowgirl Mean ran into her room with her apron flying and 16 toads hopping behind her. She grabbed the box and opened it, but, instead of jewels, out jumped scorpions, snakes, and more toads and they all slithered, crawled and hopped and chased Cowgirl Mean out of the house and down the road .

Cowgirl Nice said, “Wait, sister!” and she ran after Cowgirl Mean. When cowg8irl nice got near the snakes, toads and scorpions, they jumped into her apron. But..when they landed in her apron, all the snakes, scorpions and toads turned back into jewels.

Suddenly the old woman appeared out of the cedar tree grove. She shook her finger at Cowgirl Mean and said: If only you would be kind, then you would have jewels like your sister! Cowgirl Mean sat down in the dusty road, threw her apron over her head and cried and cried. “Now are you gonna help your sister with the work and help little old grandmas when they need help and be kind now? Cowgirl Mean peeked out from under her apron and whispered, “Yes, Ma’am.”

After that, Cowgirl Mean changed her name to Cowgirl Kind.

Every day Cowgirl Kind helped Cowgirl Nice mend the fence on the ranch, get water from the well, wash the clothes in the Guadalupe river, herd the cows to pasture, fix supper for the ranch hands, and gather wood for the evening campfire.

Every time one spoke to the other, their words were nice and kind. Jewels dropped from their lips and they shared them all. They put every jewel in a large jar by the window. When the jar got full, they threw a party for all the neighbors near and far.

When the jar got full, they threw a party for all the neighbors near and far. The whole town came to the ranch that Saturday and they danced and ate and sang around the campfire and had a good time.

That very evening, Cowgirl Nice met Cowboy Sweet and Cowgirl Kind met Cowboy Good and a year later, they

had a double wedding. And they lived happily ever after.

The End