Photo- Meg with Emily in her well-decorated new barn.

With one big leap for bovinekind, Emily fled her fate as a roast to become a meatless role model

If it were a children's story, it would stretch credibility. But occasionally, fairy tales do come true. This one began in November 1995, when a seemingly ordinary cow was lined up outside A. Arena & Sons, a Hopkinton, Mass., slaughterhouse. In a gravity-defying bid to escape, the 1,400-pound heifer jumped a five-foot fence and headed for the woods. To the bemusement of townfolk and the chagrin of the company and the constabulary, she eluded capture, living hoof-to-mouth for more than a month. Eventually, ardent vegetarians Meg and Lewis Randa, who run a small school for children with special needs, bought the cow called Emily for $1 and lured her to safety with buckets of grain.

Emily, 4, now lives high on the hay on the Randas' school grounds in Sherborn, Mass. A celebrity of sorts, she is, says Meg, 40 "an ambassador of compassion for animals." Emily frequently receives mail from fans who say, "I used to eat meat, but because of you, I don't anymore." A group of Hindu priests from India, believing she is perhaps the reincarnation of a sacred cow, paused in their recent tour of the U.S. to place a red caste mark on her forehead. She's also a hot Hollywood property. Producer Ellen Little of First Look Pictures bought the film rights to Emily's saga for a sum Randa estimates "will provide Emily with food, veterinary care, housing and companionship for the rest of her life." Little also donated $10,000 for a new barn, which includes an attached educational center chock-full of books and other information about vegetarianism and animal rights. Not a bad deal considering Emily won't have to lift a hoof in the planned feature. As befits a star of her, um, magnitude, she will have a body double.

"She's Probably the most well-known cow in the world," says owner Meg Randa