A childhood belief about milk

I used to think that milking cows meant pouring milk over their backsides. After all, watering the garden means pouring water all over it. When we were on a country walk once, we saw some cows in a field and I asked my Mum if they wanted some milk. To which she answered that they had plenty of milk and wanted it taken out now. Thus, I associated cows with milk but didn’t think milk came from cows: I just thought it was a natural substance just like water.

I knew that you could milk cows but not bulls. The first time I knowingly saw bulls they were black all over. I associated white with milk, so I thought that was how you could identify bulls.
Similarly, I have heard of small children who think that if white cows give milk, brown cows give chocolate.