And what’s the deal with Fern Forest, Miller, and Kat being so easily whooshed?
I have a faulty gene which compels me to explain all Far Sides. As a side effect I cannot discern between real requests and jokey ones.
It’s a curse.
I found the cartoon, and I have a new interpretation - one that I should have had in the first place.
The gypsy woman had prophesied that big things would soon come his way. 
That’s all. And there, coming around the corner, is a Big Thing.
I like that interpretation.
You ever see a whole series of his toons and not get them? I think I was 12 or 13 the first time I saw his toons, and it took me a good two years before I “got” that the things I thought were trees with rings around them in so many of his toons were in fact mushroom clouds(I’d seen pictures of real ones before seeing his work), which made much more sense. They still don’t look much like real mushroom clouds in my opinion, though.
I think that there are a lot of FS cartoons that aren’t supposed to be “got” in the traditional sense. More of a juxtaposition of normally unassociated things that cause you to say “there’s something worng with this picture.” Cow tools is definitely like that.
My favourite don’tgetit is one where a guy has just gone around the house with a tin of paint labelling everything, “the dog”, “the tree”, the door", etc. The caption says something along the lines of There, that ends that confusion.
I was stumped until a comment from one of my friends. I’ll put it in a spoiler box so that those who know the cartoon can consider their interpretation before reading.
What could possibly have preceded this event to create the confusion? The mind boggles.
There are some Larson 'toons that are silly just for the sake of being silly. Such as the western with a sheriff and a deputy staring at a bank robber taking off in the left hand corner. In the foreground are two HUGE horse legs. The Sheriff says to the deputy…“Don’t worry, We’ll take the big horse!”. Funny?? Yes. Does it make sense?? No.
As for the elephant with the pencil. Wasn’t there an elephant in Babar that had a pencil behind his ear??
This brings back memories… Back when I was in college, my mom’s coworker had a Far Side of the Day calendar. When there was one they didn’t get, and they didn’t get a lot of them, they would mail it to me, and then I’d have to call them to explain it. So, I’d be on the phone saying “See, the cows really like to stand around and chat. They just pretend to graze when people are watching!” And my mom would say “I understand that, but why is it funny?” Arrgh.
OK, here are two that I never got when they originally came out.
The first involves two cows apparently living as rich people. The female cow is standing at the window, wearing fine pearls, and saying “Wendell, I’m not content.” I mean, sure, it’s funny that cows would be living like millionaires, but I kept wondering if there is some expression that goes “content as a rich cow” of which I was previously unaware.
The other is a picture of a rhinocerous in a strange pose, with the caption “Rhino in Repose”. I’m guessing it’s referring to a famous painting (perhaps “Nude in Repose” by somebody?), but that’s just a guess.
I also have a vague memory of a cartoon featuring a bunch of insects (preying mantises?) staring into a victrola with no caption whatsoever, but I’m not sure about the details on that one.
Barry
For one thing, there’s the common impression that cows are always content. Content to graze in the fields, etc.
Now take that supposed contentedness and place it in another setting, that of rich humans. A staple of soap-opera and other dramatic plots is that the rich people, while having plenty of money, still aren’t happy. The cows, despite being cows (and therefore always content) and being rich, simply aren’t content.
It probably is a famous painting, but I just took it as a really goofy drawing. You can’t tell it’s a rhino from that angle and lighting, of course.
I don’t remember this one exactly, but I’m thinking they’re praying to it because it looks so much like them - they think it’s their god!
Hmmmm… I guess I never heard that before. Stupid, yes. But content? It never occurred to me. I guess I need to get out more.
Now, if it were a clam at high tide, well, that would be different…
I don’t remember this one, but possibly a take-off of RCA’s “his master’s voice” logo?
A dairy – Borden, I’m pretty sure – used to advertise that their milk came from “contented cows”. If you combine this with dantheman’s musings, you get the origin of the “discontented cow” comic.
What’s weird is I also can’t remember it and I just read through “The Complete Far Side” a few days ago. But in one of the introductions to one of the years he mentions it saying that what he had heard was that the mantis was the only insect that could cock its head like the dog from “His Master’s Voice.”