I grew up on a farm surrounded by cows and calves. My daughter, Amy, is a dancer. Is it any surprise I wrote a story about a dancing cow? I never saw a dancing cow in our pasture, but I often helped my father call the cows in for milking. He sounded a lot like Farmer Gibson calling Rose, Lily, and the rest of the herd. “Come on in Rose. Milking Time!”

Growing up around the farm, I learned quite a bit about cows and dairying. When I was a teen, I was selected as a Kansas Dairy Princess. I didn’t realize knowing about cows could get you a crown, but it did.

My father, Eugene Willard Krehbiel, grew up in a family of Mennonite farmers. When he was a boy, his dream was to have a registered Ayrshire herd. Ayrshires are not a well-known breed, but Prince Charles of England thinks they are a tough and beautiful breed just as my father did. Prince Charles keeps a 180 cow herd on his Duchy Home Farm.

Lily fans may be surprised to learn that in the original story version, Lily did not end up as a Conga cow.

When I first sent Lily, the Dancing Bell Cow (That was the original title.) to my fantastic editor at Dial, Karen told me it was “a fun story with a “moovelous” main character.” (Karen has a sense of humor.) Then she added a “however.” (Sometimes I don’t like “howevers”, but this ended up being a good one.)

You see, I’d originally ended the story with Lily as a Morris dancer. “What’s a Morris dancer?” you ask. That’s exactly what Karen asked. She didn’t know what Morris dancing was; she had to look it up on the internet! She and another editor had the idea to change the dance to the conga. I’m glad I have great editors! Lily makes a perfect Conga Cow!

“But what is Morris dancing?” It’s a dance that originated in England. The dancers wear scores of bells on their legs and arms. I thought a dance with bells would be a perfect dance for a bell cow. What do you think?

I still love Morris dancing, but I’m glad Lily ended up as the “prancing, dancing Conga Cow.”

Researching the different world dances was one of the most enjoyable parts of writing Lily’s story. I had enough dances to fill an entire picture book, but I had to choose just a few. These are some that made the cut.

“Life is made up of individual dreams. I remember as a child we kids would play under the branches of two rows of cedar trees with our dreams. We’d stake out little farms and have great enjoyment. Lengths of corn cobs were the animals. Different pieces of metal from the junk pile were the machinery. Roller bearings were the milk cans.

In my high school days, I was on the livestock judging team and fell in love with the Ayrshire breed of cattle. Every so often I’d buy a cow and in time I had a very good start in registered Ayrshires. My folks kept these cattle while I was working at different jobs. All this time I longed for the farm and I joined the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association.

In 1951, the family made the move to an old house near the home place. I farmed in partnership with my dad and registered a farm name after a few years: Highland Ayr Registered Ayrshire Farm. With a great struggle, I purchased the home property and farm and farmed there for twenty-seven years. I did fulfill my dream. ”