The Hedley Kow: from Jacob’s More English Folk and Fairy Tales.

There once was an old woman who earned a poor living by doing errands and such like, for the farmers’ wives, round about the village where she lived. It wasn’t much she earned by it, but with a plate of meat at one house and a cup of tea at another, she made shift to get on somehow, and always looked cheerful as if she hadn’t a want in the world

One summer evening as she was trotting away homewards, she came upon a big black pot lying at the side of the road. “Now that,” said she, stopping to look at it, “would be just the very thing for me if I had anything to put into it! But who can have left it here?” She looked round about, as if the person it belonged to must not be far off, but she could see no one.

“Maybe it’ll have a hole in it,” she said thoughtfully. “Ay, that’ll be how they’ve left it lying, hinny. But then it’ll do fine to put a flower in for the window. I’m thinking I’ll just take it home.” She bent her stiff old back and lifted the lid to look inside.

“Mercy me!” she cried, and jumped back to the other side of the road, “if it isn’t brim full o’ gold pieces!” For a while, she could do nothing but walk round and round her treasure, admiring the yellow gold and wondering at her good luck, and saying to herself every two minutes, “Well, I do be feeling rich and grand!” But presently, she began to think how she could best take it home with her, and she couldn’t see any other way than by fastening one end of her shawl to it and dragging it after her along the road.

“It’ll certainly be soon dark,” she said to herself, “and folk’ll not see what I’m bringing home with me and so I’ll have all night to myself to think what I’ll do with it. I could buy a grand house and all and live like the Queen priest to keep for me, and get a piece as I’m wanting; or maybe I’ll just bury it in a hole at the garden-foot, and put a bit on the chimney, between the chiney teapot and the spoons – for ornament like. Ah! I feel so grand. I don’t know myself rightly!”

By this time, being already rather tired with dragging such a heavy weight after her, she stopped to rest for a minute, turning to make sure her treasure was safe. But when she looked at it, it wasn’t a pot of gold at all, but rather a great lump of shining silver! She stared at it and rubbed her eyes and stared at it again. She couldn’t make it look like anything but a great lump of silver. “I’d have sworn it was a pot of gold,” she said at last, “but I reckon I must have been dreaming. Ay, now, that’s a change for the better! It’ll be far less trouble to look after and none so easy stolen. Yon gold pieces would have been a sight of bother to keep ‘em safe. Ay, I’m well quit of them and with my bonny lump, I’m as rich as rich!”

She set off homewards again, cheerfully planning all the grand things she was going to do with her money. It wasn’t long, however, before she got tired again and stopped once more to rest for a minute or two. Again, she turned to look at her treasure and as soon as she set eyes on it, she cried out in astonishment, “Oh, my!” said she. “Now it’s a lump of iron! Well, that beats all, and it’s just real convenient! I can sell it easy as easy and get a lot o’ penny pieces for it. Ay, hinny, an’ it’s much handier than a lot o’yer gold and silver, as’d have kept me from sleeping o’ nights thinking the neighbors were robbing me – an’ it’s a real good thing to have by you in a house, ye never can tell what ye mightn’t use it for; an’ it’ll sell – ay, for a real lot. Rich? I’ll be just rolling!”

And on she trotted, chuckling to herself on her good luck, till presently she glanced over her shoulder, “just to make sure it was there still,” as she said to herself. “Eh, my!” she cried as soon as she saw it. “If it hasn’t gone and turned itself into a great stone this time! Now, how could it have known that I was just terrible wanting something to hold my door open with? Ay, if that isn’t a good change! Hinny, it’s a fine thing to have such good luck.”

All in a hurry to see how the stone would look in its corner by her door, she trotted off down the hill and stopped at the foot, beside her own little gate. When she had unlatched it, she turned to unfasten her shawl from the stone, which this time seemed to lie unchanged and peaceably on the path beside her. There was still plenty of light, and she could see the stone quite plainly as she bent her stiff back over it to untie the shawl end, when, all of a sudden, it seemed to give a jump and a squeal, and grew in a moment as big as a great horse! Then it threw down four lanky legs and shook out two long ears, flourished a tail and went off kicking its feet into the air and laughing like a naughty, mocking boy.

The  old woman stared after it till it was fairly out of sight. “Well!” she said at last. “I do be the luckiest body hereabouts! Fancy me seeing the Hedley Kow all to myself, and making so free of it, too! I can tell you, I do feel that GRAND---“

And she went into the cottage and sat down by the fire to think over her good luck.

The gold in your gray cloud

There were only gray skies above. Clouds burgeoned with rain sailed boldly across my sky. As I watched them threaten, growing larger by the second, I saw a tiny shaft of gold peek around the edge before it darted away to hide, like a nugget shifting in the sand, among the puffs of gray above.
As my eyes searched for the tiny glint of gold, I was sure it would show itself again. I just had to wait and be patient. So, while I waited, I let my imagination fly up into the sky and sail around the peaks and puffs, my eyes sharp to catch all the ridges and valleys, the swells and dips, until suddenly the gray deepened and pushed me back to earth.
With my feet firmly planted on the ground and the vista of sky before me, I watched as the golden hue tinged the outer layers of clouds and grew until the whole sky lit up, bright with a shiny glare.

A gift just for me to prove that gray skies must sometimes be endured, but if we are patient, they will not only go away, but will be replaced with such a splendid vision of beauty and wealth that it will steal our breath away. So generous and beautiful is the world around us.
Always look for the gold in your dark clouds. Never miss an opportunity to revel in the glory of precious moments that wait patiently for you to notice. They beckon us often, and yet, how easily we ignore the small reminders of all the beauty that awaits us.
© 2014 Linda Gatewood