Cattle used to live among people and they had human feet, not hooves.
A man wanted to kill a cow, so he pretended that his son was ill.
"I need milk-fat to cure my son," he said.
"You may milk me," the cow replied. "I'll recover."
Then the man said, "He's still ill. I need blood for medicine."
"Bleed me," the cow replied. "I'll recover."
Finally the man said, "I must give him marrow-fat."
"Slaughter me," the cow replied, "but I won't recover."
The man slaughtered the cow.
That is when cows changed: they grew hooves, and they stopped speaking.
Inspired by: "The Story of the Cattle" in The Nandi, their language and folk-lore by Alfred C. Hollis, 1909.
Notes: You can read the original story online.
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