It would seem that a parish priest in the County Mayo was walking along a road  when he saw an angry-looking bull burst through a gap in a hedge and trot threateningly across the field where a peasant girl was milking a cow of a staid and venerable appearance.

The clergyman shouted a warning.

The girl glanced up, then calmly went on with her milking.

The bull continued to advance.

He snorted and pawed the earth and tossed his massive head.

The alarmed cleric called out again to the imperilled young woman, bidding her to run for safety.

She looked about, waved a hand reassuringly and bent again to her task.

Just as the distressed onlooker was preparing to risk his own life by distracting the animal from the reckless colleen, the bull gave a final snort, turned off and lumbered back to his pasture.

The good father vaulted the hedge and proceeded to lecture the girl on her foolhardiness in face of a great peril.

With an airy wave of her arm she interrupted him:"Shure, your riverince," she said, "I was in no danger whatsoever."

"What makes you say that, you foolish child?" he demanded. "With my own two eyes didn't I see him charging down upon you. It was only by the mercy of Providence and my own quick prayers for your deliverance that he didn't stick you with both those long horns of his."

"Beggin' your pardon, Father," she said, "but that wasn't it at all. All along, from the first, I knew he wouldn't dare come nearer toward me."

"Why wouldn't he then?"

"He wouldn't come by reason of this cow bein' here all the while."

"And what had that old cow to do with it?" asked the astonished priest.

"She's his mother-in-law."