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text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c015 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c016 { font-size: 1.8em; } - .c017 { font-size: 0.7em; } - .c018 { font-size: 1.4em; } - .c019 { font-size: 2em; } - .c020 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 0.8em; - margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%; width: 30%; } - .c021 { margin-top: 8em; } - .c022 { margin-left: 1.39%; margin-top: 1em; font-size: 85%; } - .c023 { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - body {width:80%; margin:auto; } - h1 {font-size: 2.50em; text-align: center; } - h2 {font-size: 1.50em; text-align: center; } - body {font-size: 1.4em; } - .tnbox {background-color:#E3E4FA;border:1px solid silver;padding: 0.5em; - margin:2em 10% 0 10%; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The cats' Arabian nights, or, King Grimalkum, by Abby Morton Diaz</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The cats' Arabian nights, or, King Grimalkum</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Abby Morton Diaz</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrators: Francis</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em;'>Boz</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em;'>Palmer Cox</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 6, 2022 [eBook #69482]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Charlene Taylor, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATS' ARABIAN NIGHTS, OR, KING GRIMALKUM ***</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='sc'>When She Was Sewing I Jumped Upon Her Shoulder.</span> (<i>Page <a href='#p054'>54</a>.</i>)</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div> - <h1 class='c001'><span class='c002'>THE</span><br /><span class='c003'>CATS’ ARABIAN NIGHTS</span><br /><span class='c004'>OR</span><br />KING GRIMALKUM</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div class='c005'><span class='c006'>BY ABBY MORTON DIAZ</span></div> - <div class='c005'><span class='c007'><i>PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED</i></span></div> - <div><span class='c007'><i>BY FRANCIS, BOZ, PALMER COX, AND OTHERS</i></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/publogo.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>BOSTON</div> - <div><span class='c008'>D. LOTHROP COMPANY</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c009'> - <div><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1881,</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>by</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>D. Lothrop Company.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c009' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c010'>CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='85%' /> -<col width='14%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c011'> </td> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'><span class='xsmall'>Page.</span></span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>King Grimalkum and Pussyanita</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p009'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Story of Pinky-White</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p014'>14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Story of Black Velvet</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p044'>44</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>What Snowball told</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p067'>67</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Madame Pussy Hunter’s Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p071'>71</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Spry White Kitten’s Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p077'>77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Beulah Black’s Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p083'>83</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Tweedledum and Tweedledee</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p102'>102</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Story of Mistress Tabby Furpurr</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p119'>119</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Story of the Feeble Cat and her Nine Lives</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p141'>141</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Story of the two Charcoals and the four Spekkums</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p169'>169</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Story of the Janjibo and of the Frog and the Rat</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p190'>190</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>What the Mother Rat told</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p198'>198</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>A Spinning Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p214'>214</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Blind Mice Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p215'>215</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Air-Ball Story</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#p216'>216</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/i007.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='c013'>How It Happened.</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>One evening when a company of children and older people were -looking at funny cat-pictures and telling cat-stories, a little ten-year-old -girl asked: “Why can there not be a Cats’ Arabian Nights -Story Book?”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“There would have to be a Cat King, or Emperor, or Sultan,” -said her next older sister.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“And a Cat Queen, or Empress, or Sultaness,” said their cousin -Joe, the sailor.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“And she would have to go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, -and on, and on, telling stories in order to save her own life,” said -their cousin Lucia.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I propose,” said uncle Fred, “that cousin Lucia put together a -Cats’ Arabian Nights for little children, and have it ready to read -to our little children when they all shall come next summer with -their fathers and mothers.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Oh yes! Yes! Do! Pray do! Won’t you do it? Say you -will! Say you will!” cried many voices.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I think it will be fun to do it,” said cousin Lucia, “if you allow -me to put in some make believe and nonsense, if I want to.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Certainly!” was the cry. “Put in anything. Anything you -please!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>Cousin Lucia said she was willing to try, and thus it happened -that the summer-children and others got a story book beginning, -as all story books should begin, with—once upon a time.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div id='p009' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i009a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='c016'>King Grimalkum and Pussyanita;</span><br /><br /><span class='c017'>OR,</span><br /><br /><span class='c018'>The Cats’ Arabian Nights.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'> - <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i009b.jpg' width='200' height='200' alt='' /> -</div><p class='drop-capi1_2'> -ONCE upon a time the aged Tommobus, -King of the Cats, went forth a -hunting and returned with a wound -which caused his death. So Tommobus -died and Grimalkum the Powerful -became King in his stead.</p> - -<p class='c015'>King Grimalkum was of course jet black all over -without a single white hair, or he could not have been -made king, and his eyes were of the true royal yellow.</p> - -<p class='c015'>The first act of King Grimalkum’s reign was one of -cruelty. He sent forth an order declaring that black, -maltese, and gray, were the only colors to be allowed for -cats, and that all cats which were white or yellow, or -which had more white or yellow hairs than dark ones -should not be permitted to live. Judges were appointed -to measure the spots.</p> - -<p class='c015'>This order caused great affright among the lighter -cats. The wholly white and wholly yellow hid themselves -or fled to distant places, and the partly white and -partly yellow went in haste to have their dark spots -measured by the judges.</p> - -<p class='c015'>Among those who came before the judges was Pussyanita, -a beautiful creature just out of kittenhood. Her -playfulness and sweet disposition made her beloved by all.</p> - -<p class='c015'>Alas! it was soon made known by the judges that the -dark of Pussyanita measured many less hairs than her -white ones. This caused great sorrow, and King Grimalkum -was begged to spare her life.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Spare her life! Not if she were twenty Pussyanitas!” -cried the King; which was a foolish answer, -since she could not have been twenty Pussyanitas, or even -nineteen.</p> - -<p class='c015'>Now this sweet and gentle creature was so much -beloved, that no one could be found willing to hurt a -single hair of her. When King Grimalkum heard this -he became furious with anger, and commanded that she -be brought to him at once, saying that he himself would -attend to the business, and make quick work of it. So -the lovely Pussyanita was brought before the King.</p> - -<p class='c015'>Her loveliness did not soften his heart; on the contrary -he was made more furious than ever by seeing that she -sat licking her fur as quietly as if sitting in her own -sunny garden spot.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“What are you doing that for, you silly thing?” he -cried. “Don’t you know you have but a few moments -to live?”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Yes, your majesty,” replied the lovely Pussyanita, -“but I cannot endure a speck of dirt, and with good -reason, for in me you see a descendant, and great, great, -great, great, great, twenty-seven times great grandchild -of the unhappy and happy Pinky-white. Your majesty -must have heard of Pinky-white.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Never,” said the king, sternly. “But why do you call -her unhappy and happy? There is no sense in that.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She was not unhappy and happy at the same time,” -said Pussyanita. “She was first unhappy and afterwards -happy.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“How was that?” asked the king. “And supposing -you <i>are</i> the great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven -times great granddaughter of Pinky-white, what has that -to do with your being unable to endure a speck of dirt?”</p> - -<p class='c015'>Said the lovely Pussyanita, “It would give me pleasure, -your majesty, to explain why my great, great, great, great, -great, twenty-seven times great grandmother was first -unhappy, and why she was afterwards happy, also supposing -I <i>am</i> the great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven -times great granddaughter of Pinky-white, what that has -to do with my being unable to endure a speck of dirt; it -would give me pleasure, I say, to explain all this, but it -would take a longer time than I have to live.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Time shall be granted you,” said the king, “for I am -curious to know why your great, great, great, great, great, -twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white was -unhappy and why she was happy, and to know why your -being her great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven -times great granddaughter should be a reason why you -are unable to endure a speck of dirt.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“At your majesty’s request,” replied Pussyanita, “I -will tell you the story of my great, great, great, great, -great, twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white, -as she herself told it, when ordered to do so, at Lady -Yellow-paw’s famous party.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Stop!” cried the king. “Why was your great, great, -great, great, great, twenty-seven times great grandmother -Pinky-white ordered to tell her story at Lady Yellow-paw’s -famous party? Who was Lady Yellow-paw? Why was -her party famous?”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Please your majesty,” replied Pussyanita, “I shall be -happy to explain to your majesty who was Lady Yellow-paw, -and why her party was famous, and why my great, -great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great grandmother -Pinky-white was ordered to tell her story at that -party, but your majesty must perceive that to do all this -will require much time.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Begin then!” cried the king. “Begin with your -Lady Yellow-paw and her famous party, and then go on to -your twenty-seven times great grandmother; and do not -waste time waiting or waste words in the telling.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began with Lady -Yellow-paw and her famous party, and then went on to tell -the story of Pinky-white as told by herself at that famous -party.</p> -<div class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i013.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div id='p014' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i014.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='c019'>The Story of Pinky-White.</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“The first that I knew of myself, I found myself by -the side of my mother, among some hay in a basket -along with three other kittens of my own age and size. -Two of our number were quickly stolen from us. It will -thus be seen that I had scarcely begun to live before I -began to be unhappy. As I grew older I became more -and more unhappy, for the place was cold, the floor was -hard, our mother cuffed us, and girl-Mary, who owned -us, knew not the best way of stroking.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i015.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Girl-Jane and Girl-Mary.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day when girl-Mary sat by our basket, girl-Jane -came down there bringing her own cat and kittens. Girl-Jane -had called to see us many times, and I had been -pleased with the looks of her face, and the sounds of her -voice, and the touches of her fingers; and she knew the -best way of stroking. -“Girl-Jane was smaller than girl-Mary, but she knew -more. Girl-Jane said she wanted girl-Mary to change -kittens with her. She wanted me and Minnie because -we were whiter than her kittens.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘No, Jane,’ said girl-Mary, ‘I can’t change, for you -know mine are all named, and besides your cat would -not like it. She knows what we are talking about. -Don’t you see how anxious she looks?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It made me unhappy to hear this. I wanted to go -with girl-Jane, away from the cold place, and the hard -floor, and my cross mother and be stroked the best way. -Minnie too wished to go. She cried when girl-Mary -gave back the other kittens. As for me, I could only -turn away and hide my sorrowful face.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“My next unhappiness was the unhappiness of being -whipped with a rod. An old lady wished for a cat to -catch her mice and thought she would take a kitten -and teach it to behave well. I was carried to her home. -I had here a warm place, and a carpet, and the old lady -did not stroke at all, so that I was not made unhappy -by bad stroking. But my unhappiness was great, on -account of the rod. It was rod here and rod there; rod -on the pantry shelf and rod on the chair-cushion; rod -on the parlor sofa and rod on the best bed; rod at the -milk pitcher, and rod at the custard pie.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i018.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Well Made for Catching.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“A greater unhappiness must now be told. For this -greater unhappiness was the cause of another unhappiness -even greater than this—oh, very much greater! -It was the cause of a long and dreadful unhappiness in -which I nearly starved to death. It was something -which would make any and every cat unhappy. It -was this. I could not catch well. Mice, birds, moles, -bats, squirrels, rabbits, almost always got away from -me. I think I must have been born short-clawed.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“In a corner of the -garden was a chicken-coop. -This chicken-coop -was well made -for catching. It -would seem that all -a cat need do was -to lie quietly on top, -looking over the -edge, and when a -chicken popped out, -spring and catch it. Any other cat would have done -all this. The next house cat did do all this. I did not -do all this. I lay quietly on top of the chicken-coop. I -looked over the edge, and when a chicken popped out -I sprang. I did everything the next house cat did -<i>except</i> to catch the chicken.</p> - -<div class='figright id008'> -<img src='images/i019.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Did My Best.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I had the same luck in fishing. There was a stream -at the bottom of our garden and at its edge were large -mossy rocks on which -a cat might stretch -herself in the sun, or -if the day were hot -she might lie in their -cool shade. Trees -grew near by and any -other cat would have -often caught a bird -among their branches. -The next house cat -did this. I did not -do this. Any other -cat than myself would -have now and then -caught a fish in the stream at the foot of the rocks. The -next house cat did this. I did not do this. I often -lay close to the water—as shown how to do by the -next house cat, and watched the fishes as they glided -past. When one rose to the top I did my best to catch -it, but even did I have the luck to touch one, it was -sure to slip out and away. I used to think sometimes -that if fishes had not been made so slippery I could -have held on, but then the next house cat held on to -slippery fishes. I am almost sure I must have been -born short-clawed.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i020.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Bold Little Thing!</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c015'>“As for squirrels and rabbits, they seemed at last to -be not a bit afraid of me, even when I had become a -full-grown cat. One saucy squirrel used to tease me by -coming very near and then darting out of my reach. -This squirrel became very bold. He even popped -in at the doors and windows. One day when I was -asleep on the sofa -by the library window, -he ran as near -me as the back of -the sofa—bold little -thing! and by the -time I had turned -over he was out of -the window, and I -soon got sight of his -bushy tail whisking -through the tall tree-tops, -and of his little bright eyes looking down at me -through the leaves. He would not have got away so -easily from the next house cat. There can be no doubt -but that I must have been born short-clawed.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The next house cat caught mice. I did not. I might -have caught some had not the mouse-holes been made -so small. But then the next house cat had the same -kind of mouse-holes I had.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i021.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Next House Cat</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Sometimes I thought if I had been a Tabby I might -have caught as well as the next house cat. But then I -could not be a Tabby.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day—oh unhappy day! the next house cat’s mistress -came to see my mistress, and they talked of cats. -I lay outside under the open window and heard every -word, and understood. Mistresses, as you very well -know, dear Lady Yellow-paw—as all of you at this -famous party very well know—mistresses have no idea -how much their cats can understand.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Said my mistress, ‘Pinky-white is the neatest cat that -ever was seen. She will have no dirt on her fur. She -licks off every speck. She keeps herself snow white. -And I have taught her to behave well. I no longer -keep a rod. But she catches no mice.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘You feed her too well,’ said the next house cat’s -mistress. ‘Send her to Miss Rhody and get you a -mouser. Miss Rhody is out of a cat and is waiting to -find a neat one. Miss Rhody has managed cats these -forty years and knows how to do it. Miss Rhody never -feeds a cat. If it won’t catch mice she drowns it.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I will send Pinky-white to Miss Rhody to-morrow,’ -said my mistress.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“This frightened me. Oh what should I do? What -could I do? In my agony of distress I ran round and -round in a circle in the potato patch, tore up the squash -vines, and at last I sprang over the high wall, and in that -house and garden I was never seen more.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i023.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>But Alas! Three Others Were Gnawing the Bone.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Then began the terrible unhappiness of my life. No -tongue can tell what I suffered. Hiding behind fences, -under barns, in empty pig-styes, empty hen-houses; being -driven from back doors, hooted at by boys, barked at by -dogs, and hungry, hungry, hungry, oh so hungry!—for I -could not catch well—and always dirty! Ah! none -who have not felt it can know the unhappiness of a cat -without a home!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One night I thought surely I should taste a bit of meat. -A black-and-white kitten kindly told me of a large bone -she had seen in a yard, and we scampered to that yard. -But alas! three others were already gnawing the bone -and there was nothing on the bone, for a tommy cat had -kept the others away till he had eaten off all the meat -and then he sat seeing them gnaw the bare bone. I did -not gnaw. I did not wish to gnaw bare bone.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day a dreadful thing happened to me. It was -when I was hungrier than I had ever been before, though -I had been very hungry. I was so hungry I thought I -could not live, and I went into the fields to try to catch -something. It was a silly thing for me to try to catch a -rat when I was short-clawed.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I did. A great rat went into a field and I thought, oh if -I could only get that rat! I <i>must</i> have that rat! I <i>must</i>!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I put myself down flat and crept behind that rat. -He went creeping through some wheat and corn and -I crept behind, quicker than he, for I could creep quicker. -He went up a large stalk to his nest. I sprang up and -grabbed him, but alas! I could not take good hold and -he got away and sprang at me and the mother rat sprang -out at me and they bit me, and would have killed me, but -I got away and ran with all my might, and lay down -under some bushes, and pretty soon that same black and -white kitten came and licked the blood off me and -brought me a mole to eat, or I never should have -stirred from that spot.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As the weather grew colder I suffered more and -more. I longed for a home.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Often at evening I ran behind persons hoping to be -invited to their houses, but they always drove me back.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“During all this time I was obliged to endure the distress -of knowing that my fur was not perfectly clean.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When winter came my unhappiness was greater than -it had ever been before, though it had already been very -great.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But one day, oh joyful day! my unhappiness came to -an end, oh joyful end! I will tell how this happened.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i027.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>He Went Up a Large Stalk to His Nest.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i029.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Kind Maiden.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The ground was covered with snow, slosh and mud. -I had been running hither and thither, under barns, in -coal cellars, and in other places trying to catch something, -but having had the misfortune, as I have already -told your ladyship, the misfortune of being born short-clawed, -I had caught nothing. Begrimed with dirt, -hungry, cold, forlorn, -I was on my -way to my jumping -spot. This was -the corner of a wall -near a back door. -It was also near to -some bushes and -trees all snugly -fenced in, and under -these I had often -hid myself and -tried to clean my -fur and watched -for the back door -to open. I called it -my jumping spot -because sometimes -I jumped -from that spot and -got in at the back -door and snatched -a bit from the -plate of the cat which belonged to the house. Sometimes a -kind maiden had thrown me scraps from one of the windows.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Now just as I was to jump from my jumping -spot I saw this kind maiden coming down the steps. -She had her pet kitten in her arms and was tending -it with care. ‘Oh pet kitten! pet kitten!’ I -mewed to it. ‘How little you know the unhappiness of a -cat without a home!’ Mewing this, I hung my tail and -was slinking out of sight when I heard these words.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Puss! Puss! Pussy! Pussy! Puss!’ How I wished -I could think they were spoken to me! ‘Pussy! Poor -Pussy! Here Pussy!’ I turned my head, but kept -moving. ‘Pussy! Pussy! Pussy! Puss! Poor Pussy! -Pussy! Pussy! Here Pussy! Poor Pussy!’ I stopped.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Pussy! Here Pussy! come Pussy!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Yes! they were—they were spoken to me! She was -looking at me! ‘Good old Pussy! come here, good -old Pussy!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She held out her hand. I dared not go. She went in -and placed a saucer of milk on the kitchen hearth, called -me and left the door open, and went to another room. I -crept in to the hearth, and lapped, lapped, lapped, oh how -I did lap! No tongue can tell the sweetness of that milk!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i031.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>She Took Me Up.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“As soon as I had eaten the milk I examined the -things in the room, then I rolled over and over on the -door mat to get the coal dust off, then I sat on the hearth -and licked myself clean. The cook came in and shook -the broom at me and cried: ‘Scat! Scat!’ Just then -the kind maiden showed her face at the door. ‘Here’s a -strange cat!’ the cook said to her. ‘We don’t want -another cat!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Why! how white and clean she has made herself,’ -said the maiden. ‘She is a neat cat. I have often seen -her cleaning herself out under the bushes. I mean to -keep her. She is just the cat for poor Ellen.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I went and rubbed against her clothes, rubbed hard, and -tried to purr loud enough to make her understand that I -said in purr language, ‘I love you, love you. Don’t send -me away!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Oh the happiness of a cat with a good home! I had -now a good home. I was held in laps, stroked well, -talked to, even kissed. I had warm milk, meat scraps, -and plenty of fish. I was not expected to catch. I wonder -why cats are almost always expected to catch.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I went every day to see poor Ellen. I used to go up -after breakfast and scratch the door and get myself let -in. When she combed her hair I sat close to her looking-glass, -and looked at her while she combed her hair, and -when she sat down to rest I lay on the floor and waited, -and when she put on her shoes I kept at her feet, and -rubbed her feet, and then I rubbed against her a good -deal and purred to be taken up, and she took me up. -Poor Ellen could not walk much but she could hold me. -She liked me because I kept myself so clean and white.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i034.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Hen’s Lesson in Neatness.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The maiden said she never before saw a cat which -could not endure a speck of dirt. She said she believed -I taught her other cats to be neat. This might not -have been true, but it was certainly true that while I was -with them the other cats were very careful to clean -themselves after eating. One day she called the family -to see us. ‘Look!’ she cried. ‘Look at my cat that -cannot endure a speck of dirt! I do believe that rooster -has brought his hen to make her take a lesson in -neatness.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“This might not have been true, either. He might -have brought her to make her take a lesson in neatness, -or he might have brought her for the scraps we often left.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Speaking of hens, a chicken made something happen -to me which does not often happen to a cat. Our hen -hatched out a brood of chickens and while they were -little she was carried off by a fox. All the chickens died -except two, and one of these had a weak throat. When -the fox carried off the hen he stepped on that little -chicken’s neck and it had a weak throat ever after. One -day when I was in a far corner of the garden I heard a -curious noise like a choking, or a peeping, but more like -a choking than a peeping. I watched, and presently that -little chicken came out of the grass. I should have -sprung upon it if I had not seen that it was in distress -and was coming to me for help. It had got a bug stuck -in its throat. It came close to me and I licked it, and -purred to it and tried to cover it over with myself just as -its own mother used to. Pretty soon it swallowed that -bug.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“After this it often came to me to be licked and -purred to when it had a bug or a worm stuck in its -throat, and at last it brought the other chicken, and I -tried to be a mother to them both, for my dear little -kittens had all been sent away. The other chicken -grew faster than the -first one; it had a strong -throat to swallow with. -I took great care of -them both and licked -them clean, for I could -not bear a speck of dirt -on them any more than if they had been my kittens.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i036.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Tried to Be a Mother to Them Both.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Now when the maiden saw me doing this she told -her brother that if I could live peaceably with chickens I -could with birds, and that she meant to try me. She -first fed me well then brought to me a tame bird. Its -wings had been clipped so that it could not fly and it was -very hungry. It was afraid of me and it hopped round -crying its bird kind of cry. But I did not touch it and -when it saw me licking the chicken it hopped near me to -get some rice which both the chickens were eating. In -a few days the bird and I were good friends. He let me -lick him and he used to sit on my head and sing, and we -all ate our meals together until the chickens died. The -first one died of its weak throat and the other died of the -bite of a cat. One day a girl brought her cat to see us. -She kept her up high on her shoulders, away from us, but -when that other chicken put its head out to pick up a -bug, that cat jumped down quick and caught that chicken -by the head, and it died afterwards.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i037.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Happy Family.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“But before these died the maiden and her brother -tamed some young guinea pigs and some young white -mice, and made them grow up friends. They stayed in a -pen close to ours until we all became acquainted with -each other and then the slats between the pens were -taken off, and the two pens were made into one and we -all lived together. I must own that at first I did wish to -catch a mouse just for the sake of catching one, and -though born short-clawed I could no doubt have caught -one in a pen, but the maiden thought I might have such -a wish and pared my claws. I was very happy with my -new friends. After I knew the little mice I had no wish -to catch them. I played with them and let them run -over my back. When one comes to know mice, one -likes their company and finds them very agreeable and -playful and lively.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The maiden’s brother said they might as well have a -Happy Family, and he trained some big birds and other -birds and they came to live with us and we were a very -Happy Family.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When the maiden and her brother went away to live -in another place they sold us to a showman to put in his -show. The showman travels about the country showing -his show. A few days ago the wagon we were in upset -and our door came open. The birds flew away, the mice -hid under a rock and the guinea pigs ran into the woods. -I am on my way back home, and I shall stay in this place -only long enough to attend your ladyship’s famous party.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Said Lady Yellow-paw to my great, great, great, great, -great, twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white, -when she had ended her story, said Lady Yellow-paw: -‘Pinky-white, you do not speak of having a dog in your -Happy Family.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id010'> -<img src='images/i040.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Used to Play With a Dog’s Tail!</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“She had hardly said this before a tittering, chuckling, -clicking noise was heard and out spoke a pert little -spotted black-and-white kitten and -said, ‘Te! he! he! I used to play -with a dog’s tail! A black, peeked-nosed -dog’s tail, and his name was -Trippy; and he was good to me. -He had a curly tail.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Silence!’ cried the spotted black-and-white -kitten’s mother. ‘Don’t -you know better than to speak up at -a famous party—a little thing like you? Silence!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Trippy liked me after you went away,’ cried another -kitten; a white one. ‘He liked me better than he liked -you. He let me play with his ears, and sleep on his -neck, and he cried for me when I -was out of his sight. When somebody -threw me in the water, Trippy -took me out with his mouth.’</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/i041.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>He Took Me Out.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“This kitten’s mother was not at -the party, but its snappish old aunt, -Black Velvet, was there and she gave -it a smart box on the ear. ‘It is a -pity,’ said she, ‘if at a famous party like this we -older ones cannot be heard for the noise of these -pert little minxes. I myself could tell a strange -story; a story stranger far than even the one just heard -from that very neat puss, Pinky-white, with her Happy -and her Unhappy, and her Not a Speck of Dirt! Was -she blown off a tree in a whirlwind? Answer me that; or -did she go to sea in a baby’s crib? Answer me that.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Said Lady Yellow-paw to Black Velvet, ‘Let me hear -your strange story, how you were blown off a tree in a -whirlwind, and how you came to go to sea in a baby’s -crib.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Here the cat that hadn’t common sense rushed -round the ring and stood on her head and said, ‘I can -tell the strangest story of all, for I can tell why I haven’t -got common sense.’”</p> - -<p class='c015'>When the lovely Pussyanita had told thus far she -stopped suddenly and said to King Grimalkum, “I beg -your majesty’s pardon. Oh King Grimalkum, you -only wished to hear the story of my great, great, -great, great, great, twenty-seven times great grandmother -Pinky-white, and I have told, besides this, of the spotted -black-and-white kitten who played with the peeked-nosed -little black dog’s tail, and of the white kitten he took out -of the water, and have also spoken of Black Velvet who -was blown off a tree in a whirlwind and afterwards went -to sea in a baby’s crib, and of the cat who hadn’t common -sense—I will say no more.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“You shall say more,” said King Grimalkum, sternly. -“I can never close my eyes to slumber until I know how -it happened that Black Velvet was blown off a tree in -a whirlwind and afterwards went to sea in a baby’s -crib.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A baby’s crib is a strange thing to go to sea in; why -not in a boat? or in a tub? or even on a board? Why -go to sea at all, when there is plenty of ground, and -when cats hate water? And as for that other cat, why -had she not common sense? She needed common sense. -Every cat needs common sense.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I can tell your majesty in a few words why the -cat that hadn’t common sense hadn’t common sense,” -replied Pussyanita. “It was because she lost it. -Do you ask how? I answer by a looking-glass and a -clock.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When quite young she looked in a looking-glass -and saw herself there, and thought it was another cat -staring at her, and got mad at that other cat, and flew at -it, and broke the glass, and frightened herself so that she -ran all over the house and when she came to the -clock the clock door was open and she jumped in. The -clock door got shut and she had long to stay there, and -the noises in the clock almost made her crazy, and she -never had common sense afterwards. This tells why the -cat that hadn’t common sense hadn’t common sense,” -continued Pussyanita; “but to tell all about Black Velvet, -and how it happened that she was blown off a tree in -a whirlwind, why she went to sea at all when there was -plenty of ground and cats hate water, will take a longer -time than I have to live.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Time shall be granted you,” cried King Grimalkum. -“Go on! go on at once!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>The lovely Pussyanita then went on, and went on -at once, to tell the Story of Black Velvet as told by -herself at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div id='p044' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i044.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Story of Black Velvet.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“I was born in a barn. My brothers and sisters were -born in the same place. There were four of us, all of the -same age and size. As soon as we could run our mother -took us all over the great barn-country. She did everything -for our good. She showed us the holes and told -us which were mouse-holes and which were rat-holes. -She showed us how to spring and how to catch, and how -to hold. She brought us many kinds of eatable bugs -and taught us to snap at flies and to beware of wasps. -At night she went forth to hunt for us the slippery mole -which slips so swiftly through the grass. At day she -purred us sweetly to sleep, or sometimes she let us go -with her to the wheatfields and get a peep at the moles -and watch the field mice running up and down the -wheat stalks.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i045a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Moles.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c015'>“We lived in the hayloft and oh what frolics we used -to have! What frolics! What frolics! We raced, we -scampered, we skipped, we hopped, we tumbled over each -other, we tumbled -over ourselves, we -chased each others’ -tails, we chased our -own tails, we played -hide-and-seek in the -hay, we scrambled up -the beams, we ran -along the rafters, we -peeped down, we took -turns sitting in our -sunbeam—I speak -now of a sunbeam which shone through a knot-hole.</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/i045b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>With Her Eyes Half Shut.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Our mother liked to curl herself up and sit with her -eyes half shut watching our -sports. She would sit a long, -long time, scarcely moving, -except to stir the end of her tail. -We were happy to have her -near us. She was gentle in her -manners, though of course -when she was watching, or catching, or holding, she looked -fierce. Any cat would do so. She was not one of the cross -kind, always cuffing and boxing and snapping and -growling and spitting. She never punished us but once -and that was when we were very little. We fell down -the crooked stairs which led up to our home. She had -always made us keep away from the small ends of the -crooked stairs -because there -was no room -there to put -our paws.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i046.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Watching a Mouse.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day our -mother had -been watching -a mouse -at the bottom -of the crooked -stairs while we -played at the -top. I hopped -too near the -small ends and -peeped down and my brothers and sisters hopped at me, -and down we all went, heels over head. Our mother was -angry, for she lost the mouse. We went without our dinner -and had other punishment which I need not mention.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i047.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>White Satin at Home.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Now the noise we made in falling down and in being -punished was heard by some girls playing on the barn -floor and they scrambled up a ladder to find out what was -the matter. When one of the girls who climbed up the -ladder saw me she said, ‘Oh! oh! A black kitten! Do -give it to me! She will make three! Then I shall have -three black ones and three white ones!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Yes! do take her!’ said the other girl. ‘If you -don’t take her she will be drowned.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The next day I was put in a box with holes in the -cover and carried a long, long way to a strange place. -This made me sorrowful, but still I was glad not to be -drowned, and after the first day the five other kittens -began to be friendly, and the two black ones were glad I -came, for there were then as many black ones as white -ones. I was named Black Velvet to match White Velvet. -The others were Black Floss and White Floss and Black -Satin and White Satin.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“White Satin used to run away and go home to her -mother and her sisters. She had a gray mother and two -gray sisters. Sometimes we went with her. She liked -to play with her sisters and show them her ribbon. Our -mistress wished us not to go and tried to keep us in the -house. I did not like this, I wanted to scamper across -the garden, or down to the river, or across a field to an -old barn. I peeped all about and found good places to -get out by. Then I used to coax White Velvet, and -White Floss, and White Satin, and Black Floss, and -Black Satin to go. I always went first and they followed.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i050.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>They Looked Down Upon Us.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“There were two gray kittens living in the barn, and -the first day we went there these two ran and jumped into -a wheelbarrow and -looked down upon -us. Pretty soon they -began to stretch out -their necks, and -shake their tails. -Then they crept -down, then they -crept towards us, and -began to glare and -spit, and sputter, and -their tails grew so -big we thought we -had better go home.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“We liked to go -to the barn on account -of the chances to catch mice. The gray kittens flew -at us every time we went, and at last one of them hit White -Velvet in the eye and made it bleed. Our mistress kept us -in the house after that, but we had fun racing over the beds -and playing in the curtains. We played in the curtains so -much that our claws had to be cut at the points. We -were almost as well treated as children. Our milk was -warmed, we had plenty of squash, and fish, and a good -deal of chicken meat. Catnip was brought for us. We -had each a basket to sleep in, and the baskets were -trimmed with ribbons and had cushions. We had -ribbons on our necks; the catnip was good.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But I did not like staying in the house all the time -and every chance there was I jumped out at an open window -or door, and White Velvet, White Floss, White Satin, -Black Floss and Black Satin all jumped and went wherever -I went. But after the Great Whirlwind, I was kept -in the house. I will now speak of the Great Whirlwind.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It was a cold day and it seemed as if a door never -would be left open, but one was left open at last, and out -I went, and out went White Velvet, White Floss, White -Satin, Black Floss and Black Satin after me. We raced -across the fields to the barn. The gray kittens were not -at home and we watched mouse-holes, and chased mice till -a man came and drove us out and shut the door tight.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i052.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>We Saw a Great Dog Coming.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The wind blew; the sky was dark; the sun did not -shine. We felt rain drops. This set us scampering. -When we were in the field we saw a great dog coming -and we ran to a tree and scampered up. I stopped to -spit at the dog and was the last one up. The sky grew -blacker, the wind blew harder -and harder. The dog lay -down on the ground and -howled. Not one of us durst -come down. The rain came -hard upon us. The tree -branches whirled round and -round. It was a great -wind. It was a whirlwind. -It blew off all the leaves -that had been left on and then -it blew us off. For it was a -great wind. Yes, a whirlwind. -A dreadful whirlwind. I hope, -dear Lady Yellow-paw, that -neither you nor any one at this -famous party will ever know the -feeling of being blown off a tree -in a whirlwind. I hope you nor -any one at this famous party will know the feeling of -being in a tree in a whirlwind with claws that have -been pared down at the points. None of our bones were -broken. How thankful we all ought to be that we are cats -and not children, for we have cushions on our feet, so that -we can be blown down without having any bones broken.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“None of our bones were broken but we were drenched -with the wet rain. We were almost dead with the fright -and the wet rain and we crawled all the way home.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i053.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Off a Tree in a Whirlwind.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Our mistress was looking -for us. She said, ‘Oh you -naughties, come in quick!’ -We crawled in and she wiped -us with a dry cloth and laid -us in a row in front of the -stove, and gave us a warm -supper and then some catnip.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“After this she kept me in -the house. Said she, ‘Black -Velvet, you put mischief into -the others’ heads and I will -keep you in. Black Satin, -Black Floss, White Velvet, -White Floss and White -Satin you may go. Black -Velvet shall stay with me.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It was hard to see Black -Floss, Black Satin, White -Velvet, White Floss and White Satin skipping in the -yard, over fences, up and down clothes-poles, and be -myself shut up indoors. But how little we know what is -best for us! One day those others did of themselves go -to a corn-house, and there they tasted bad meat which -had been put there to kill rats, and they all died! Every -one, Black Floss, Black Satin, White Velvet, White -Floss, White Satin, every one died. Oh how my mistress -did cry! And I too. Yes, I was sad and lonely. I went -crying round from room to room, calling for my lost -playmates. I looked in all their baskets.</p> - -<div id='p054' class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i055.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>My Mistress.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“My mistress seemed to love me more than ever. ‘I -have only you, now, Black Velvet,’ she would say. Then -she would hug me and hug me. She let me do what I -pleased. I had thick cream. When she was sewing I -jumped on her shoulder and played in her hair, and I -went to sleep in her hat, if I wanted to, and in her work-basket. -When she went out to walk she used to take me -with her and wrap me up in her apron, and talk to me. -But when I grew to be a cat she made me a blanket of -my own. It was a good one. It was my own blanket. -She loved me a great deal.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I said at the beginning of my story that it is a -wonderful story. You will say that this is true when -you hear what happened to me next.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i056.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Felt Safe.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day the river grew very big and spread up to the -houses, yes, up over -the windows of the -houses, and broke -the houses in pieces. -I was sleeping in a -rocking chair and -the water wet me -and waked me from -sleep and I sprang -up on top the rocking -chair back, and -the water swashed -and there was a great -noise and the rocking -chair went sailing -off and many -other things went, -and the chair began -to go down deeper -and then I jumped -off on to a bucket. -Something hit that -a knock and I had -only time to catch -hold of a box; a small one. There was just room to get -all my paws on and I had to stick my back up high. I -expected every moment to be drowned. I little -thought I should -live to tell the story. -But a piece of board -was knocked -against me. I -sprang upon that. -Then came a chair. -I sprang upon that. -Then came something -else; some -thing wonderful, -but I said at the -beginning that this -is a wonderful -story. This next -thing was a baby’s -crib with the baby -in it! The curtains -were open and the -baby was looking -out. I jumped from the chair to the cradle and lay down -on the baby. I was glad enough to get that resting place. I -felt safe with the baby. Somebody would come to get -the baby. The baby put out its hands and took -hold of me.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I don’t know what became of that poor baby. The -crib tipped over. I heard a man speak, and perhaps he -went and got the baby. I was lucky enough to jump on -to a firkin, and on this I floated down, down, down, down, -I don’t know where, but I cried, cried, cried, oh how I -cried!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I bumped against something hard, something very -big. I scrambled up. Men were on it, and a woman, -and a girl, and boys. They clapped and shouted and -laughed. Oh what a noise! Don’t people know that -loud noises make our ears ache? Don’t they know that -our ears are made to hear very little faint mouse-taps, -butterfly-wing noises, and we can’t bear loud noises? No, -they don’t know. But I must go on with my story.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i058.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Used to Get Into the Place Where the Girl Slept.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“That big hard thing was not a house nor a barn. It -moved over the water. You cats that have lived only on -ground cannot think how dreadful it is to stay in the -midst of water. Not a bit of ground! No grass to eat. -Oh I thought I should die for want of a bit of something -green! No trees to climb! But there were some very -high poles set for me to climb; poles taller than trees, -and ropes and everything handy fixed for me to hang on -by. I was treated well. The men fed me, the women -fed me, the girl fed me, the boys fed me. The cook -taught me some tricks which I shall be happy to show -to those present at this famous party, if I shall be properly -invited. A little girl held me and she put me around -her neck for a comforter. -I let her do -it. The cook hung -a bell round my -neck. The noise of -it pained my ears, -and I was glad when -the woman took it -off. She took it off -because I used to -get into the place -where the girl slept, -and wake her up.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Now when the -ship came to the -ground the cook put -me into a bag and -got into a cart. He -was going to give me away. Pretty soon I smelled grass. -Then I scratched and cried. Oh how I did want a piece of -something green and to roll in the grass! Every cat here -knows it would be a hard thing to live without something -green. I soon got something green, and plenty of it. The -cook opened the bag a little, to show me to another man and -I took a sudden spring and away I went, and the more he -called, ‘Puss! Puss! Puss!’ the faster I ran, and at last -I found myself all alone in the fields, in a strange country.</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i059.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Two Live Things Sitting Together.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I rolled over and over, and tore up the grass, and ran -up and down trees, and then I lay down behind a bush -and watched to see if there were any moles or field mice -in that country. Pretty soon I saw two live things -sitting together. They looked like rats, but they had -white on them. -They were sitting -in the sun. I was -going to spring at -them, but I stopped. -I was in a -strange country. -How did I know -if the creatures -were good to eat? -They might be -bad as that bad -meat which killed -poor White Velvet, White Satin, White Floss, Black -Satin, and Black Floss; or they might have dreadful -teeth, or dreadful claws.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“While I was waiting a minute to think about it, I -heard a sound in the grass; a creep, creep, creep, creeping -sound in the grass. It was a cat. But she did not -spring quick enough. They heard her and skipped out -of sight quicker than a wink.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As the cat sprang past me I could see that she had -no tail. ‘Poor thing,’ I said, ‘she has lost it in a trap!’ -Pretty soon I saw another cat without any tail. Then -some kittens without any tails. I thought that must be -a dreadful place for traps. I dared not step in the grass -to hunt.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I got very hungry keeping still without hunting for -mice and moles, and at last I went to a house. In the -yard of the house a black-and-white cat without a tail -stood and looked at me.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘What do you want -here?’ said she.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I want to go in the -house,’ said I.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Be off!’ said she.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I won’t!’ said I.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i060.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Black-And-White Cat.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Then she began to -spit, and she flew at me, and I flew at her. A woman -came running out and took me up. ‘Oh you beautiful -creature!’ she said. ‘You’ve got a tail! I’m so glad to -get a cat with a tail.’ I must tell you, dear Lady Yellow-paw -and all present at this famous party that the cats of -that strange place did not have any tails. ‘No tails!’ -cried Lady Yellow-paw and others. ‘How then do they -show when they are glad and when they are mad?’</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i062.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Mouse That Black Velvet Caught.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I said at the beginning, dear Lady Yellow-paw, that -this is a wonderful story. Let me tell you that the -cats of that place do not wish to have tails. ‘Not <i>wish</i> -to have tails?’ cried Lady Yellow-paw and others at the -famous party. No, your ladyship. But let us not be -conceited and think our own ways are always the best. -To be sure a tail does add to the good looks of a cat, -still we all know that a tail <i>is</i> a great care; always likely -to get rocked on, or stepped on, or pulled, and is sometimes -in the way when you want to sit down. That -no-tailed cat made my tail a way of hurting me. All -present must have seen that its tip is gone, though all -have been so polite as to seem not to notice this. It was -the doings of that jealous no-tailed cat. She was jealous -because so much notice was taken of me. She could not -bear me to come into the house. She clawed, and bit, -and spit at me so that my mistress had to let me sleep in -the room with herself and her little boy. One night I did -what pleased my mistress very much. One night a -mouse jumped on her boy’s bed, and waked him up, just -as I used to wake up that girl when I had that bell on -my neck. I caught this -mouse, and found him -quite as good as any -in our own country. -My mistress praised me -more than ever, after -this, and held me, and -stroked me a great deal, -but her doing so made -that other cat maul me -worse than ever, and -I should have run away if my mistress herself had -not come away. My mistress came to this country and -brought me with her. Here I am, out of reach of that -jealous cat’s teeth and claws. Here I am well-fed and -tended. Here I live an easy life. Yet still I am not -happy. Would you know the reason why? My mistress -has another cat, a partly white cat. People call -her a beautiful cat. So she may be to any one who -fancies white paws and white noses. I do not like to -see my mistress hold that cat and stroke her. I am -obliged to see it. I am obliged to see the boy like that -cat; hug that cat; I am even obliged to see her allowed -to jump up and eat milk from the same bowl with him, -something <i>I</i> have never been allowed to do!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i063.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Something Black Velvet Was Never, Never Allowed to Do.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“All this is hard to bear. I do not like to think about -it, and to keep myself from thinking about it I employ -myself in teaching the way of opening doors. Every cat -should know how to open doors. There may be times -in a cat’s life when she may save her life by knowing -how to open a door. There are times in every cat’s life -when she may get food by opening a door.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Here a number of cats sprang to their feet and began -to tell of particular times when they had saved themselves -and got food by knowing how to open doors. -Among them was the cat that hadn’t common sense. -‘One at a time, my dears,’ said Lady Yellow-paw. -‘Snowball, will you begin?’”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“But I humbly beg your Majesty’s pardon,” said the -lovely Pussyanita to the King. “The particular times -when all these saved themselves or got food by knowing -how to open doors were not in Black Velvet’s story. -You asked, oh King, for Black Velvet’s story. That is -ended, I am silent.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“You shall not be silent!” thundered King Grimalkum. -“Speak! As king of all the cats, I wish particularly to -know the particular times when all those saved themselves -and got food by knowing how to open doors. As king of -all the cats, I should be well informed on all such matters.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i066.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>She Used to Sit on a High Wall.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“To tell you what you ask,” answered the lovely -Pussyanita, “would take a longer time than I have to live.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Time shall be granted you,” said the king. “Begin -without delay to tell what Snowball told.”</p> - -<div id='p067' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i067.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>What Snowball Told.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When my sister Lily and myself were quite young, -but not very, the people who lived in the house began to -talk of drowning us. Now all present at this famous -party will agree with me that if we are to be drowned -at all we should be drowned when we are too young to -know anything about it. I suppose there is not one here -present who would not rather have been drowned when -she knew nothing about it, than to be drowned now.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When our mother heard drowning spoken of she took -us under the barn, and there we stayed a long time. We -lived under the barn. Our mother would not let us come -out. She used to sit on a high wall and we wanted to, -but she said dogs would get us and boys would scare us. -A small boy used to come out there with his books and -his slates and his other things, and this small boy crawled -under the barn and found us and dragged us out, and then -our mother moved back to the house to live. On the very -day we moved back, I was put into a covered basket and -sent away in a rattling thing called a carriage. The noise -it made frightened me almost to death. I scratched the basket -and clawed the cover, and stuck my paws through, and -mewed and cried, for I was dreadfully frightened at the -rattling! At last they put me in a house. I was afraid -to stay in that house. Everything in that house was -strange to me. The people were strangers. It seemed -like a dreadful place. The people put their own things -on all the good high places, and every time I jumped -on a good high place, -there would be a running -and a screaming -enough to scare you -out of your senses. -As if kittens would -knock things off! As -if kittens were clumsy -as people and could -not walk <i>between</i> -things! You know kittens, and cats too, need high -places to jump up to.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i068.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Just Right to Spring At.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“There was a small boy in the house and he had a -whip. I need say no more. You all know or can understand, -what it is to live in the house with a boy and a -whip. But I was going to say that even the oldest of -us have been kittens once and we know that a kitten -must spring at things a-moving. I did. The boy rode on a -wooden horse, and the horse had a tail just right to spring at. -It was placed behind the boy so that he could not see me. -But the people could, and they punished me for doing what -I could not help doing. A kitten would not be a kitten did -it hold back from springing at such a beautiful tail a-moving.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I was whipped and put down cellar a great many -times and even when I had grown quite large; for I -was always of a lively turn.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/i069.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Curled Up on the Best Rug.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Oh what fun I had with the people after I learned to -open the cellar door! Mornings they would say ‘I wonder -who let the cat up?’ Sometimes -just after I had been put -down cellar for meddling with -tassels or knitting work, they -would find me on the best bed -or in the best chair, or in the -best room curled up on the best -rug. At last these people took all their things and went -away and left me there with nothing to eat. Every day -I had to go forth to seek my food. Pinky-white has told -you something of what this means. Hanging around -back doors, kicked, starved, frozen, barked at by dogs, -chased by cruel boys! Oh tongue cannot tell what I -suffered from cruel boys! They yelled at me, they threw -stones, they tormented me in every way they could. -Just the sight of one would make me tremble. One -day when I was on a clothes-pole I saw two boys coming, -far away. They yelled at me and picked up stones. -I scrambled down. I ran toward the house. I heard -their shouts. I ran to the back door. The door was -shut. I sprang up, -caught the latch, the -door opened, I ran in to -a woman, looked in her -face and said, ‘Oh do -take care of me!’</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i070.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Rat Family.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The woman was so -much pleased with my -opening the door that -she invited me to live -in that house, and I was -glad enough to stay -for there is a meat-shop -in the house. I have lived there a very long time. I -make myself useful by driving off cats and dogs that -come to steal meat. Of course I never steal. I do not -need to. I am fed so well that I never know what it -is to be hungry, and have no wish for mouse-meat or -rat-meat. In fact the rats and I are such friends, I sit near -them in the garret and watch their goings on in their -families, and they never mind me at all.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“My good fortune came from knowing how to open -doors. I will say no more, for I know the company wish -to hear Madame Pussy Hunter’s story.”</p> - -<div id='p071' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i071.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Madame Pussy Hunter’s Story.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I am chiefly an out-doors cat. I like to catch moles -and field-mice and rabbits, and bugs, and butterflies. I -like butterflies almost as well as Pussy Gray did. Poor -Pussy Gray who was stung in the eye by a bumble-bee -while watching for butterflies and went crazy! I am -fond of birds too.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“In this I am different from the renowned Tabby Furpurr, -who found out a way of not liking birds, and on -that account had her picture taken and put in a frame!</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i072.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Just Dropping Off to Sleep.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I was always a butterfly hunter, but not always a -mole hunter, a field-mouse -hunter and rabbit hunter. I -will tell you how I happened -to become a mole hunter, a -field-mouse hunter, and a -rabbit hunter.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day I went out -among some tall flower stalks -to catch butterflies, and got -very tired of jumping, and -lay down to take a nap under -the flower stalks. I was -just dropping off to sleep -when I heard a noise and -looked up and saw my sister -coming. She asked me to -go to her house and get some -cream. She knew where -there was a good deal of -cream in a good place. -She wanted me to open the -pantry door. As my sister -was anxious for me to go, I went, and we both -enjoyed a hearty meal. We crept out of the pantry and -then softly under chairs and tables to the passage-way. -In that passage-way was my sister’s kitten playing -with a ball of yarn. She pawed it, and clawed -it, and pushed it, and tumbled heels over head over -it, as kittens will do—ah, we were all kittens once! -and at last she pushed it into a room. We peeped -in at the door and saw the kitten leave the ball suddenly, -and pop behind the screen. Her tail was very -big, and her back was up, so we knew something had -frightened her, and crept in to see what had frightened her. -In the middle of the room was a great chair, and from -that chair was something hanging down, something -furry. We went near to see what it could be. It -looked like a dog’s head upside down. It was a dog’s -head upside down. Cats that have always seen dogs’ -heads upside up, have no idea how a dog’s head looks -upside down. This dog’s head was upside down and -the whole dog was upside down; upside down and -asleep.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i073.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Dog That Was Upside Down.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Both our tails began to grow big. We left the room -quickly, and softly as possible, and ran through a long -passage, then up-stairs, then through another long passage, -and <i>then</i> we heard the dog coming, barking! We -ran faster. We knew he was on the stairs; knew he -was after us. We got to the end of a long passage. -The bark of the dog sounded nearer and nearer. There -was no way out of the passage. Oh what a moment that -was! I saw a door. I sprang up twice, and opened it the -second time trying. I tremble, even now, to think what -might have become of us had not a window of that room -been open, or had I not known how to open a door. We -darted through that window, and went down by a water-spout. -The dog looked out and turned and ran down-stairs, -but by the time he was in the yard we were safe on a shed. -Oh how thankful we ought to be that dogs cannot climb!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I was saved, but in my haste I trod on a tack nail, -and it stuck in my paw and made my paw in great pain. -I went limping, and the pain of the paw made me sick. -My dear mistress! How good she was to me! She -took out the nail and bound up the sore place, and fed -me with warm sweetened milk and water, or if I was -thirsty, gave me cool, clear water to lap, and held me, -and made for me a soft bed, and talked to me, and <i>poored</i> -me. Oh how pleasant it is to be talked to and <i>poored</i>!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I felt so grateful to my dear mistress that as soon -as I was well I went out to catch everything I could -for her—rabbits, moles, field-mice. That was why I -became a hunter. Everything I could I brought in and -laid at her feet, because I wanted to please her. I -would not eat one of them until she told me I might. -I never ate even a mouse until I had shown it to her. -Sometimes I bring birds. She is not pleased with me, -then. She scolds me when I bring birds. I don’t know why -she scolds me for bringing birds. I should like to know -the renowned Tabby Furpurr way of not liking birds.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>Scarcely had Madame Pussy Hunter finished when -up sprang a Spry White Kitten and hopped out -on three paws, and said: ‘<i>I</i> can tell a story of -a door opening.’ Some of the older ones tried to hiss -her down. She was asked if her story would tell how -she lost her right fore paw. Upon learning that her -story would tell how she lost her right fore paw, they -asked to hear what the Spry White Kitten had to say.</p> - - -<div id='p077' class='figcenter id012'> -<img src='images/i077.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Spry White Kitten’s Story.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i078a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“It is a short story that I am going to tell, but I wish -to tell it. I wish to say that for my part I have never -found any good come from -knowing how to open doors. -Not that I know how, but -my mother does. She opened -a door the other day to show -me some cream. It was butter-cream -streaming down a -butter-churn. She told me -to jump up and lick, and I did, and a man -came and boxed -my ears and I have -not heard well -since.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/i078b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Another -time to -please -me, she -opened -a door -and let -me into a large dining-room -that had -long curtains just -right to scratch and -to climb up by, and a funny old feather hung over a funny -old clock. I could go up on those good curtains, and jump -to the clock and play with the feather. And one day I -meddled with the clock to find out where its noise came -from, and was caught and got the worst whipping I’ve -ever had yet.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i079.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Cat With Her Ears Tied Up.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Then here is my brother Bobby hiding yonder behind -Black Velvet. Why does he hide? His ears are tied up -with strings. Bobby likes work-baskets. He teased our -mother to let him into a room where there was a work-basket. -He played in it, and the girl tied his ears with strings, -and he ran round, and rolled, and could not get them -off, and ran into a coal-hole, and stayed till he was very -hungry, and when he went into the house he went to -a boy that was sitting on the floor eating milk. That -boy did not give him any milk. No. He took a great -cloth and tried to wash Bobby’s paws in the milk! -Bobby got away, and now he has come to this famous -party with his ears in strings. A pretty state he is in -to come to a famous party! We all know how dreadful -it is to have our ears meddled with.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i082.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>It Got Hold of My Leg.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c015'>“But all this is nothing to what happened afterwards. -My mother opened a door to let me into a room where -there was a mouse-hole. Now a boy had put in that room -a curious thing. I went close up to it to see what it was. -It was a crab, but I did not know that. I was young. -I never had seen a crab. I touched it to find what it -was made of, and it got hold of my leg just above my -paw. I never screamed so in all my life. Oh how I -did scream! And no wonder. My leg was broke. My -paw had to be taken off, and now I have to be three-pawed. -Now I have -to go limp, limp, hopperty -limp! Only three -paws to run away -from cruel boys with, -and barking dogs! -Only three paws to -climb with! Only -three paws to claw -with! No; as for me, -<i>I</i> have never seen much -good come from knowing -how to open -doors!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘You had better sit down, Miss,’ exclaimed Black Velvet. -‘Young people should be seen and not heard. We are -speaking at this famous party of the good of knowing how -to open doors—not of the bad. Mrs. Beulah Black is present, -and has something to relate which all will like to hear.’”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div id='p083' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i083.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Mrs. Beulah Black’s Story.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“In me, my dear Lady Yellow-paw, you see a child -of the unfortunate Pussy Gray who when watching for -butterflies was stung in the eye by a bumble-bee and -went crazy, and ran away. There were three of us born -on the same day, namely: Lily, Dinah Dusky and myself, -Beulah Black. Pussy Gray was one of the best of -mothers. She herself cared neither for rats, mice, nor -moles. She liked birds and bugs and was very fond of -butterflies. But she would sit long watching at a hole to -catch mice or moles for us, and then she would bring -them to us, and show us how to play with them, and -stand looking at us in her motherly way. She grew thin -from staying in to take care of us. We were a quarrelsome -set.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I don’t know what became of Lily, but Dinah Dusky -went when she was very young to live in a corn store. I -stayed at a house nearer my mother’s house, and it was -well that I did, for at the time she got stung in the eye -by a bumble-bee, she had another young family, and I -was able to go in and take care of them, and to punish -them when they needed punishment. I was then a mother -myself with my first little brood around me.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i084.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I remember the day well. My mother left the family -and went into the garden to catch butterflies. If she did -not see any butterflies it was her custom to stand still -and listen for the sound of their wings. She was doing -so when that sad thing happened to her. My sister, -Dinah Dusky, had come that day to see my dear little -beauties and we two went out together to catch bugs for -them. Our mother was in the garden not far from us. -She stood stock still. She had heard the sound of a butterfly’s -wings. An instant more and she would have -turned her head.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i085.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Then it was that the bumble-bee stung her eye. She -ran. We ran. We could not catch her. We could not -think what made her behave so. She ran this way and -that way, over fences, back again, through bushes, over -bushes, across fields, and at last away she went out of -sight and was never heard from afterwards. Every day -my sister Dinah Dusky and I went forth to look for our -mother, hoping to bring her home to her young -family.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It was when we had been in the fields looking for her -that we saved ourselves by my sister’s quickness in -opening a door. I will explain how this happened.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id013'> -<img src='images/i087.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Cat That Was Stealing Milk.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“My sister and I went into a swamp to look for our -mother, and we caught sight of a rabbit there. We lay -down close to the ground, and crept, crept, crept, softly -along, not making a bit of noise. Sometimes we -stopped creeping; then we crept; then we stopped; then -we crept, getting all the time nearer and nearer. The -rabbit was asleep part way under a log. We had crept -very near when all at once we heard the bark of a dog. -Dreadful sound! In an instant we were on our feet and -running. We ran towards a house. At first the dog did -not see us. Then he saw us and ran after us, barking. Oh -how frightened we were! We ran faster but he ran -faster than we. He came near us, barking, barking, -barking, oh it was terrible! For he came so close to me -that I felt his breath. He caught me by the back of the -neck, and just then a boy called him off, and he dropped -me and went to the boy. I ran on. My sister had gone -far ahead. We ran towards the back of the house. The -dog came again. We heard him coming afar off. He -would not stay with the boy. I almost died with fright. -There wasn’t a tree nor a clothes-pole near. But there -was a door that my sister had opened before at times -when it was necessary that she should get something to -eat without being seen. She opened this door now, and -frightened a cat that was there stealing milk out of -a pitcher, and made her tip over the pitcher.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“We went in and ran through a back shed to the barn. -I sprang up on a hay rack, and my sister—all at this -famous party will be surprised to hear what my sister -did. My sister sprang up on the horse’s back!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“We were not a minute too quick. We just saved -ourselves. The dog was close behind. But he could not -get at us and he had to go away.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I have more to tell. That horse and my sister -became friends. When he stayed in the barn she used -to stay on his back. He liked to have her stay there. -He could not bear to be without her. He was not easy -unless she came and stayed on his back.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The man said it would not do. He said it would -hurt the horse and they carried him far away.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Now comes the sorrowful part. My sister mourned -so for the horse that she would not eat. She would only -lap a little water sometimes. She grew weak and thin. -She did not clean her fur. She would stay in the barn -and lie down on the spot where the horse used to stand. -At last she was seen no more and after a long time she -was found, dead, high up on a haymow in a far -corner!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i089.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>My Sister Sprang Up on the Horse’s Back!</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“This is all I have to say, your ladyship, but my -younger brother David is here. Though now bigger than -I, he was once smaller. He was one of the young kittens -our mother left when she went out to catch butterflies -and was stung in the eye by a bumble-bee. David will -tell you of a time when he opened a door and ran away, -and why he ran away.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>All present said they would like to hear David’s Story, -and he began as follows:</p> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i091.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>David’s Story.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“I was one of the young kittens Pussy Gray left when -she went out to catch butterflies. My sister Beulah -Black has told you what happened to Pussy Gray, how -she went crazy and went nobody knew where, and was -never heard from afterwards.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“My Sister Beulah Black had a young family of her -own, and one day she tried to carry us to her house, in -order that she might not have to be all the time running -back and forth. It happened that I dropped into a hole, -and she could not get me out. She had to leave me. -Now this was lucky for me, for the others of my mother’s -young family, and all but one of my sister Beulah -Black’s young family were sent away and lost. I have -often wondered why it is that so many little kittens are -sent away and lost.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i092.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>She Took Turns Rocking Me and Her Dolly.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Only for falling in that hole I might not be here. But -I came near dying there. When taken out I was almost -starved to death. I could not move; I could not make a -sound. Girl-Nellie took me out and kept me for her -own. She made me a cotton-wool bed in a cricket, she -covered me over -with silk, she fed -me with a spoon, -she held me just -as if I had been a -baby. And when -I grew larger she -used to rock me -in the baby’s cradle -and sing to me. -She took turns -rocking me and -her dolly, and when dolly was being rocked I sat -and waited for my turn to be rocked and sung -to. Oh, how I did love my little mistress! I wanted to -sit on her lap. I wanted to be with her a great deal. I -told her all this, though perhaps she never understood -what I said. I knew the time for her to come home -from school, and went always to meet her. She did not -know how I knew the time. People do not know how -cats know things. My dear mistress would not let boy-John -torment me. Boy-John was not cruel, but he -wished me to sit up on my hind legs, and to hold a -stick, and to jump through a hoop. It was easy enough -to do such things but I -did not like to do them. -Boy-John used to say to -the baby, ‘Come Baby, -bring David!’ I was so -big then that baby could -hardly lift me, but he -would drag me, and push -me, and try to lift me.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i093.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Could Hardly Lift Me.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Many at this famous -party have spoken -of what they have suffered -from cruel boys and from dogs, but nobody -as yet has spoken of a baby. Tongue cannot tell what -I suffered from that baby. A baby will step on any part -of a cat. A baby will sit on a cat. A baby does not -mind what part of a cat it lifts up a cat by, whether by -the tail or by a leg, or by the head. A baby will pull -your ears, will stick its finger in your eyes, will even -meddle with your smellers, and you must keep from -touching it, because it is a baby.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I never did touch that baby to hurt it. I loved that -baby. I kept my claws way in out of sight, and if I ever -squealed it was sometimes when he sat down on me -hard, and squelched the squeal out of me before I knew -it.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I come now to something painful to speak of. You -will be surprised to learn that I ran away from that dear -Nellie mistress. This will now be explained.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Unhappily for me, I had great skill in charming -birds, and I was as fond of birds as my mother -Pussy Gray was of butterflies. I mean I was fond -of them as food, not as friends. There was no cat -anywhere around that could charm a bird as well as -I could. I used to stay under a tree and when a bird -came and sat on a bough I would look straight up at -him, and then he could not fly away. He would cry, -and flutter his wings, but he could not fly away. He -would have to drop.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i095.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Dropped the Bird.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I used to carry the birds to my dear mistress, for -I wanted to please her, and birds were the best things I -could get. But she was not pleased; she scolded me. -I could not understand why she praised me for catching -a mouse and scolded me for catching a bird. A bird is -better than a mouse. Pretty soon she began to do something -besides to scold. I was punished in the way cats -are punished. I need not tell. All at this famous party -know. After I had been punished a great deal I kept -away from trees. But one day I was in a window-seat, -asleep. The window was swung open, and I lay there to -enjoy the sunshine and fell asleep. The noise of a bird -woke me. I stretched myself out flat and looked up. -The bird was on a high window above. When I had -looked at it a little while it began to cry, and then it flew -down to the top of the window that was swung open. It -flew lower and lower, and I made a spring and caught it. -My mistress came in and I dropped the bird on the -window-seat, and jumped down and crept away. I felt -so ashamed I did not know what to do.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I was not whipped, but I was punished. I punished -myself. I left that pleasant home and my dear mistress. -You will understand why when I explain.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“That night my mistress’ mother said, ‘We cannot -have David killing so many birds. Something must be -done with him. I will get a boy to do something with -him early in the morning.’ I knew what she said. I -did not know by the way people know. I knew by the -cat-way of knowing, and not by the people-way. All -present at this famous party know how cats know what -people say. I understood what my mistress said, but -I kept still under a table, and when nobody was looking -I crept under the chairs out into the back room, and -opened two doors and ran away, far away, and for a long -time I lived the dreadful life of a cat without a home.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day a man invited me to go home with him. He -keeps a store. There are herring and eggs in the store. -I have lived there quite a long time. I want to go back -to my dear mistress, but I am afraid they will get a boy -to do something with me. I like to suck eggs, though -as my master keeps a stick I do not take any except the -broken ones he gives me. When I tease for herring he -gives me a piece. I watch people and if they touch -anything that belongs to my master I lay my paw on -them and speak.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Scarcely had David finished when out popped two -gray little kittens, twins, both named Kittywinks, saying:</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘We are the Kittywinkses, and we’ve come to this -famous party.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Lady Yellow-paw waved her paw and said: ‘One -Kittywinks at a time, my dears.’</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i099.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Good Child-Baby.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One Kittywinks then said: ‘David talked about a -child-baby. Call bad. Child-baby not bad. We’ve got -a child-baby. He does not step on us. He does not sit -down on us. He does not squelch us. He does not -hurt. He touches us softly. He would never tie strings -on our ears. He poors us, and strokes us, and lets us -sit on chairs and sofas with him, and crawl all over him, -and play with his curls, and play with his beads, and play -with his playthings. He likes us, only he does not like to -have us kiss him with our noses, but with our mouths, -but we don’t know how to kiss with our mouths, and -we have to kiss with our noses.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“And the Kittywinkses capered back to their places.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“All present at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party were -pleased with the Kittywinkses, and no wonder, for they -were a merry pair of twins, and not much like the sour -faced ones, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called in the -story, <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>.”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“What story?” cried King Grimalkum in a stern voice.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The story of the renowned Tabby Furpurr,” answered -the lovely Pussyanita. “Tabby Furpurr who -found out a way of not liking birds, and had her picture -taken and set in a frame.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I wish to hear the story,” cried the King. “Tell it.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“With pleasure, your majesty,” replied the lovely -Pussyanita, “but to do so will take a longer time than I -have to live.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Time shall be granted you,” answered the king. -“Tell all you ever heard of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, -and of the renowned Tabby Furpurr.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began to tell all she -had ever heard of Tweedledum and Tweedledee and of -the renowned Tabby Furpurr.</p> -<div id='p102' class='figcenter id012'> -<img src='images/i102.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Tweedledum and Tweedledee.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“In the days when Mouseroun al Ratchid was King of -all the Cats, it was his custom to disguise himself in -mealbag powder and walk about the country to see what -he could see, and see it without being known.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i103.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Good-Kind Boy.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One cloudy morning soon before a storm—the time -when our race are liveliest—Mouseroun called Phi, his -wisdom cat, and the two set forth upon their travels. -After proceeding quite a distance they came in sight of a -small boy with a porridge pot, sitting under a tree, eating -porridge. A white cat close to his feet begged for the -porridge, and a big dog stood by and licked the boy’s -face and begged for porridge, and put his nose in the -boy’s bread-bag.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Of what kind is the boy?’ asked Mouseroun of Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Of the good kind,’ replied Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘How knowest thou that, oh Phi?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Because the dog and cat come close and show no -fear. They ask for food, sure of getting it.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Tell me, oh learned Phi, why a boy has long claws -only on his fore legs.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Because his hind legs are for walking and standing,’ -replied Phi; ‘and for walking and standing, short claws -are better than long claws.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Tell me further,’ inquired Mouseroun, ‘why a cat -mews and a dog barks.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘For the same reason that a cow moos and a horse -neighs, and a pig squeals, and a bird sings, and a frog -croaks, and people speak,’ answered Phi. ‘Of course all -these would mew if they could, but as they cannot mew -they must do what they can do.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘And why, oh Phi, are some cats born white, and -others black, and others gray, and others of divers -colors?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Because,’ answered Phi, ‘it takes all kinds of cats to -make a world.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Just at this moment a young black-and-white cat -came up and began spitting at the dog, and clawing the -cat, and biting the boy’s toes. When the dog growled, -the cross cat ran out of sight.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Shall we go on and observe what that ill behaved -creature will do next?’ asked Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘By all means,’ answered Mouseroun, ‘but look where -at yonder window a ribboned white cat sits stiff and -straight, gazing at something afar. Let us hasten -thither.’</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i106.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Cupep the Careful.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“They hastened, and when they reached the window -Mouseroun asked of -the ribboned white -cat: ‘Oh, ribboned -white cat, sitting stiff -and straight gazing at -something afar, at what -art thou gazing, and -what is thy name?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I am gazing at -flies,’ answered the ribboned -white cat, ‘and I am called Cupep the Careful.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Mouseroun made a sign to Phi to ask of the ribboned -white cat why he was called Cupep the Careful. Phi did -so.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Because I can be trusted,’ replied the ribboned white -cat to Phi, ‘and trusted in any place, among china, glass, -pictures, bottles, papers, no matter how high the shelf, -how narrow, or how full. I step in and out so carefully -that no harm is ever done. Nobody minds even if I step -on the baby’s face. You see I am allowed here with -papers and a bottle and feather, easy to upset. All this -is why I am called Cupep the Careful. I shall presently -sit on the paper, and to sit on paper is pleasant.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As Cupep the Careful finished telling why he was -called Cupep the Careful, Mouseroun drew Phi’s attention -to two dark objects sitting in a barn at some distance. -Bidding Cupep the Careful good morning they went -towards the barn and found that the two dark objects -were two black-and-white young cats. Said Phi, -‘These must be the sour -faced twins, Tweedledum -and Tweedledee, called -<i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>. I have often -heard of them, but never -any good.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i107.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Tweedledum and Tweedledee.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“They went nearer. The -sour faced twins sat side -by side looking cross and -unhappy. Mouseroun motioned to Phi to address them.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Are you not the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, -called <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>?’ asked Phi, ‘and is it not one of -you which shortly ago bit the toes of a boy, and spit at -his dog, and clawed his cat?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘It was I,’ said Tweedledee, ‘who did that. I could -not maul Cupep the Careful and I meant to maul -somebody. I will maul him if I can. The stuck-up -thing! Everybody praises him. He has a watch to -wear. Nobody praises me and I have not even a -ribbon. He has had his picture taken and hung up. -Why don’t they take my picture?’</p> - -<div class='figleft id010'> -<img src='images/i108.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘They’d much better take mine,’ -snarled Tweedledum. ‘I’ve been -crying to have my picture taken ever -since I saw that one of Tabby Furpurr -who found out a way of not -liking birds, and on that account had -her picture taken and set in a pussy -willow frame. They won’t take my picture. But -I’ll be even with them. I get hold of the clock strings, -I tangle yarn, I won’t purr, I climb posts and tear -down the flowers, I scratch the baby’s face, I pull away -his playthings, I wait on the doorstep and bite his fingers, -when he tries to reach me, and I kill birds. <i>I’m</i> not going -to find a way of not liking birds if they won’t have -my picture taken! I am better looking than Tabby Furpurr; -I’m sweet and lovely.’</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i109.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Bite the Baby’s Fingers.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I am sweet and lovely myself,’ said <i>Dee</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘You’re not!’ said <i>Dum</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I am?’ said <i>Dee</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Say it again!’ said <i>Dum</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I do say it again!’ said <i>Dee</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Take that!’ said <i>Dum</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Take that!’ said Dee. And the two seemed as if they -would tear each other’s eyes out, so that Mouseroun was -wroth, and Phi had much ado to keep him from punishing -them both on the spot.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘A future time is better,’ said Phi. ‘To act in anger -is to make ourselves like these. Come, let us go and -seek out the much renowned Tabby Furpurr who found -out a way of not liking birds, and who on that account -had her picture taken and set in a pussy-willow frame.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Mouseroun and Phi pursued their journey, rambling -hither and thither, listening to the speech of bees, flies, -bugs, worms, toads and frogs, and to the butterflies’ happy -hum, which is too faint to be heard by the clumsy ears -of people—people who think they hear everything and -hear so little!</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Dost thou know,’ asked Mouseroun at last, ‘where -dwelleth this renowned Tabby Furpurr?’</p> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i112.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Tabby Furpurr.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I have not that knowledge,’ replied Phi. ‘She must -be now quite aged, and therefore well known hereabouts. -Yonder is a young Persian, all so happy with her three -kittens, as soft and white as herself. I will inquire of her -concerning Tabby Furpurr.’ As they approached the -young Persian, Phi inquired of her, ‘Dost thou know -Mistress Tabby Furpurr, young Persian, and canst thou -direct us to her -abode?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I know Mistress -Furpurr well -enough,’ said the -young Persian, ‘but -I decline to direct -you to her abode. It -is too much trouble.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘We are anxious -to find her,’ said -Phi, ‘and we are -weary with travel.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘No doubt,’ replied -the Persian; -‘but I prefer to stay -and enjoy the company -of my children.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i113.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Happy Young Persian.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘And wilt thou not direct us?’ asked Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Answered the young Persian, ‘I have said what I have -said.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Good day, then,’ said Phi, and he drew Mouseroun -away, fearing he might do something rash.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Canst thou explain,’ asked Mouseroun of Phi as they -journeyed on, ‘why the young Persian should refuse to -please others when she is herself so happy?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘The most happy are often the most selfish,’ replied -Phi. ‘Those who have known unhappiness are likely to -feel pity.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A little farther on they looked in at a great stone -doorway and there they spied a rat which had hidden in a -dark corner to eat a head of wheat. ‘Rats are wise,’ said -Phi, ‘perhaps yonder -fellow may direct -us to Mistress Tabby -Furpurr.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But as they drew -near to inquire of -the rat, he dropped -his wheat and fled.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Now, why was -that?’ asked Mouseroun. ‘We meant -him no harm.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i114.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Rat.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘A rat,’ said Phi, -‘must judge by what has been done, not by what is -meant. After all that has been done by cats to rats, it -will take a long time to make rats believe that cats mean -rats no harm.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I fear we shall not get any rat to direct us to the abode -of Mistress Furpurr.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Phi was mistaken. -Soon after, in -passing a barn they -heard much stir -and scampering inside. -‘Wherever -there is a stir and -a scampering,’ said -Phi, ‘we may be -sure there is something -going on inside.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Mouseroun was eager to -enter, but Phi held him back -lest harm might befall him and -himself stepped forward.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Rats,’ he whispered, as he -stepped back.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i115.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Taken in a Trap.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“There were six rats inside -the barn; a father, mother and -four children had come to visit -one of the family that had been taken in a trap. The -mother looked in at the front of the cage, the father -looked down from over the top. As Mouseroun and -Phi drew near, the father, mother and four children fled -to their holes.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The rat in the cage when questioned by Phi, said he -had been told by his parents not to go in, but he thought -he knew best, and he did not believe the trap would shut -down so quick.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Did he know where Mistress Tabby Furpurr lived? -and would he tell?</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Oh yes, he had reasons for knowing where Mistress -Tabby Furpurr lived, and he would tell, and he did tell -and with a kind good day, Mouseroun and Phi passed on -their way.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I observed,’ said Mouseroun to Phi, as they passed -on their way, ‘that the rat in the trap showed no fear of -us. How was that?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘It must have been,’ said Phi, ‘that he knew we could -not get at him.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘True,’ said Mouseroun. ‘Thou art truly a Cat of -Wisdom.’”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i117.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>We Went Back.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>Not very long after this, Mouseroun and Phi reached -the abode of the renowned Tabby Furpurr and heard the -story of her life.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div id='p119' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i119a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Story of Mistress Tabby Furpurr.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“I was one of two kittens born in a respectable corner -of a garret. My twin sister was sickly and died at an -early age, and my mother, being lonely, stole a black kitten -from another cat. The black kitten’s mother came to -get her, but my mother was big and strong and with the -help of my two older sisters she drove away the black -kitten’s mother and -kept the black kitten.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i119b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Black Kitten.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I did not like that -black kitten. She was -coarse-haired, she bit -my tail, and when I -had spools, or marbles, -or knitting-work to play -with, she got them -away from me.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day when she -bit my tail I flew at her throat and gave it a -bad bite and made it bleed. I never saw her afterwards. -I did not know what became of her but I -never saw her afterwards, except in dreams. I had dreadful -dreams. Once I dreamed I saw her sitting over the -fireplace, holding her paw to her throat, and next time I -dreamed she came close to me with -her mouth and eyes wide open and -glared at me.</p> - -<div class='figleft id010'> -<img src='images/i120a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>First Dream.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“My older sisters grew so large -that the people thought they would -send me and my mother away. They -got us into a basket, and shut down -the covers quick, and carried us very -far. They thought my mother would -never find the way back. My mother did. We got home -at night, but my mother climbed up to the house top -with me in her mouth and jumped through a window that -she knew in the roof and in the -morning they found us on the rug.</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/i120b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Second Dream.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Not long after this my mother -was shot for her beautiful skin. I -was so lonely that I mourned very -much. The dog took care of me. I -did not think Nep would be so kind, -for sometimes he had barked at me, but when he -knew I was sorry and lonesome he asked me to snuggle -close to him and if any people touched me he drove -them away.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i121.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Scamper Up and Down His Big Sides and Tickle His Paws, and His Nose.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When my older sisters saw me with Nep they -wanted to come and he let them come. We warmed our -feet in his hair. My sisters were too lazy to play, but one -of them used to catch fleas in his -hair. I did not like to catch fleas. -I liked to scamper up and down his -big sides and tickle his paws, and -his nose. He used to give me some -of his meat. He did not give my -sisters any. I will now explain -why I left Nep and that house.</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/i123.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>A pretty-faced white kitten used to come and play -with me sometimes. One day when I was asleep on the -door-mat, I was waked by a small noise and there was -the white kitten’s face looking in at the door. She -wanted me to go and see two rats. She said two rats -went every day to a place to sit in the sun and we could -stay behind a rock and peep at them.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I went with her to see the rats. They were too big -for us to meddle with, but we could peep at them.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The white kitten liked to frolic and we raced -over the fields and on the fences as much as we -wanted to.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“All at once we heard a noise. People came. The -white kitten got away but a man caught me, and -carried me in some whistling cars to his home. He -wanted to keep me. I was afraid to stay in that -strange place and I squeezed -out through a hole in the -cellar.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i124.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Two Rats in the Sun.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Then something dreadful -happened. I was chased by -boys. They were dreadful -boys. They hurt me. They -made me tremble. They did -things too cruel to mention.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They set a dog on me. I could hardly move, I trembled -so. I crept under a rail and the dog stayed there, barking. -I thought he would seize me, but before he did it a boy -came and took me and treated me kindly, and carried me -in his arms to his own home and took care of me.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Oh how I did love that boy! I wanted to stay with -him all the time.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Every day when he went to school he let me go -with him as far as the bridge.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Then I would look up in his face and mew, ‘Mayn’t -I go further?’</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i125.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Boy That Treated Me Kindly.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i127a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>He Nibbles the Pink.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“He would lift up his finger and say, ‘No, Tabby Furpurr. -Go back!’ And I always went back. But when it -was time for him to come home I went to the bridge and -waited till he came and then went -to the house with him. The boy’s -dog did not like to have the boy -like me so much. He was not -so good as Nep. He would not -let me warm my feet in his hair. -He looked at me when I stole -cream or custard. If they caught -me stealing cream or custard, I -hung my tail and went over to -the grandma house to stay. -When grandma caught me stealing -I hung -my tail and went back to the boy’s -house to stay. A girl lived in the -boy’s house, and she -tamed a mouse. It -stayed in a box. One -day the boy looked at -me hard, and lifted -up his finger and said, -‘Tabby Furpurr, you -have had enough to -eat. This mouse is -not for you. I am -going to let this mouse out. Don’t you touch this -mouse. Do you hear? <i>Don’t you touch it!</i>’</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i127b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I knew what he said, and I never did touch that mouse. -The girl played with it and let it stay in her work-basket. -It liked to nibble green things that were brought into the -house.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day it got at a flower that the girl put in -water and hung up, and it nibbled the flower. One -day it was nibbling something green and it knocked over -the thing the green was in -and spilt the water on me -and scared me, and made me -jump, though I was quite -an old cat then, and could -not jump as spry as a kitten.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i128.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“It was at this time that -I had my fight with a woods -cat. She came to our barn. -I never saw her before. I -went to the barn to get -some catnip. There was -catnip among the hay, and -when I felt that I needed -catnip I went and picked it -out of the hay. That woods cat came to get some of the -catnip, but she had no right there. It was in a place under -the haymow and a great deal of the catnip hay was there. -The woods cat was sitting on it, pawing it with her paw.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She flew at me, and -we had a fight. She -would have killed me if -the girl had not come -with a broom.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i129.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I was a bad looking -cat. I went lame and -had salve on me. The -girl took care of me, and -as soon as I could walk -she let me go in the garden -with her when she -picked flowers. I liked -to go into the garden. -She used to sit under a -tree and read a book, and I used to sit on the seat close -to her, and if she stroked me I purred loud.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But she found out I liked birds. She saw me under a -currant-bush eating a bird, and whipped me with a stick -and said, ‘Shame, Tabby Furpurr! Shame on you to eat -a little bird!’ And I went to the grandma house to -stay.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A bird came to live in our house. It lived in a cage -high on the wall. The boy showed me the bird and -looked at me hard, and lifted up his finger and said, ‘Tabby -Furpurr, don’t you touch that bird. That bird is not for -you. <i>Don’t you touch that bird!</i>‘</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I did not mean to do anything to that bird. But it -kept moving and hopping, and shaking its wings, and -shaking its tail, and it made me look at it; and one day -when it shook itself very much I looked at it a long time -and at last I jumped at it. Before I knew what I was -going to do I jumped at it, and the cage fell down. I -could not get the bird. He kept himself in a corner.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The boy’s dog barked and ran to tell the people something -was the matter, and they all came and spoke loud -and held up their fingers and cried ‘Shame! Shame!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I went over to the grandma house and hid under a bed -and stayed till I was almost starved. Then I crawled out -and put my paw on grandma’s foot, and looked up in her -face and she gave me some milk, and let me warm me at -her fire.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i131.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Rat That Fought the Duck.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Something happened to her duck. It let its little ducks -go with it under the bridge to the pond, and it got -itself killed. There was a rat there, and it was going to -get one of her little ducks, and she began to fight the rat, -and the mother rat came out and helped fight the duck, -and the boy drove them away, but afterwards the duck -died and left the little ducks.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But grandma had a barn cat. She was not a Tabby. -She was only a black-and-white cat, but she was a very -good cat. She never would touch a bird or a chicken, -and she never would suck an egg. She did not like me. -She would not let me come in her barn. I did not let her -come in my barn. She was a good cat for not liking -birds.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The boy carried the little ducks to the barn and tried -to make a hen that was there take care of them. She -would not do that. She went and left them. She would -not scratch up worms for them. The other ducks would -not. They had to take care of their own children, and -these little ducks stayed all alone by themselves, and cried -for their mother.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Now that barn cat, though she was only a black and -white cat and not a Tabby, sat down there with the little -ducks and took care of them. Every day she went there -and stayed with the ducks, and when they went into a -puddle she mewed for them to come back.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When she sat taking care of the little ducks, people -used to come and look at her. The first time she took -care of them grandma’s dog barked at her. When -grandma told him it was all right, and let him see her -stroke the barn cat, he went away, but sometimes he -came to look at that cat and the ducks to see if all was -right. Sometimes the cat would spit at him. She would -spit at anybody that touched one of her little ducks. -When the little ducks went in wet places she took them -by their necks and brought them out, and she carried -them by their necks so much that they had crooked -necks. One day a strange cat, a great white Tommy, -came and looked in at the barn door when she was staying -with the little ducks and she flew at him quick, and -almost clawed his eyes out and he was glad to run.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i134.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day I wanted very -much to taste of a little duck -and I tried to get one, and I -hurt its leg, and she clawed -me and made me drop it, and -grandma shamed me and I -went back to the boy’s house -and hid under a bed, and -when I was almost starved -I crawled out and the boy -whipped me hard and carried -me back to the grandma -house, and into her barn, and -showed me that barn cat with the little ducks, and lifted -up his finger, and looked at me hard, and whipped me -again and said: ‘Tabby Furpurr, don’t you see that -barn cat staying with ducks and not eating any? And -<i>you</i> even fly at birds! Don’t you ever touch any kind of -bird again. Do you hear? Find out a way of not liking -birds. <i>Find out a way of not liking birds! Remember!</i>‘</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i135.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Duck’s Defender.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I knew what he said, though not in the way people -know. I knew by the cat-way. I remembered by the -cat-way of remembering. I -kept very still, I did not steal, -and when they thought I was -asleep I was finding out a -way of not liking birds, and -after I found it out I never -touched a bird again, nor a -duck, nor a chicken. I stayed -with the girl under the tree -and never touched a bird. I -watched the bird in the cage -when he hopped and shook his tail and did not jump at -him, and I would not let any other cat touch a bird -nor a duck nor a chicken.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/i137.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>They Thought I Was Asleep.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day when some killed chickens were hanging up, -a great Maltese cat came and looked at them and was -going to jump for them but I spit at her and drove her -away. The people were pleased with me all the time and -the girl let me stay in the room when the bird’s cage-door -was open and when he flew out; and -more birds came there to live and -the birds had little birds, and they grew -big birds, and I was a friend to them, -and the girl got a very big cage for all -the birds and sometimes she let me -stay in there with them and I did not -touch one. They would stand on my -head and walk on my fur, and I let -them. The boy was pleased with me -and the girl was pleased with me.</p> - -<div class='figright id014'> -<img src='images/i138.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Going to Jump for Them.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I am an old cat now; a very old -cat. I do not care for balls, or -spools, or marbles, or knitting-work, -or tassels, or strings. I -do not wish to jump high. I -like to sit by the fire and feel the <i>warm</i> all around me. -You have heard my story!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Mouseroun made a sign to Phi by which Phi understood -that Mouseroun wished him to ask Mistress -Tabby Furpurr the way she found out of not liking -birds.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Excuse me to-day,’ replied Mistress Tabby Furpurr -to Phi’s question. ‘I am weary and must take my -repose. Some other time I will tell.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Soon after this Mouseroun and Phi went to a -great Battle of the Cats and were long absent. -Upon their return they set forth as before to travel -about the country, and again sought out the -abode of Mistress Tabby Furpurr.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As they journeyed on they were met by two -lively young black-and-white cats, the same two -they met before, -Tweedledum -and -Tweedledee, -called <i>Dum</i> -and <i>Dee</i>.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They were -full of frolic -and good-nature, -tumbling -over -each other, -and snatching -at each -other’s tails.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i139.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Whither so fast?’ asked Phi of them as they met.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘To catch some bugs for a cat with a large family of -kittens,’ they said.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“You are not as sour as you were,” said Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Oh, no,’ said <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>. ‘It -is folly to be sour when sweet is -better. We found that out.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘You might have your pictures -taken now,’ said Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘We’re so happy we don’t care to,’ -said <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>. ‘Good day to -you.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id015'> -<img src='images/i140.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Beware of guns,’ said a faint -voice near by.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It was the faint voice of a feeble -cat who had crept under a bush to -die.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘We’re not afraid,’ said <i>Dum</i> and -<i>Dee</i>. ‘We have our nine lives, you -know.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Go not quickly through them as -I have done,’ said the feeble cat. -‘Beware of dogs, beware of stones, -beware of guns, beware of shutting up, beware of boys, -beware of drowning, beware of hot water, beware of -stepping on, beware of wet blacking-brushes.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I have lived eight lives, and am now dying of a spot -of blacking.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Tell us about the eight lives,’ said <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>; and -at a sign from Mouseroun, Phi made the same request.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I will try,’ replied the feeble cat, ‘if you will bear with -my weakness.’”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c009' /> -</div> -<div id='p141' class='figcenter id012'> -<img src='images/i141.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Story of the Feeble Cat and Her Nine Lives.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“My name is Pixie. I have lived my eight lives, speaking -after the manner of cats, and am now in my ninth, -which will soon end.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i142a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>To Catch Butterflies.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When I was small and very young I was dropped in -water. The water washed me back to the sand. I could -not stir. I was kicked. People said ‘dead kitten.’ A -great cat took me to a good place and licked me, and I -opened my eyes. The great cat came many times. I -should not have lived if she had not caught butterflies and -grasshoppers for me. She got very good butterflies. -Sometimes her spotted kitten came to see me, and sometimes -she went to the fields with her mother to get butterflies -and grasshoppers for me, and one day she brought -me a very big grasshopper.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i142b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>She Brought Me a Very Big Grasshopper.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When I could -stand on all my feet -the great cat carried -me in her mouth to -a house and a girl -let me come in, and -I was that girl’s kitten. She held me a great deal. Once -when I was crawling on the floor, the boy walked across -and he stepped on -me so hard that I -was all out flat, and -they took me up on -a shovel and carried -me out to -another room to -stay till I could -be buried. Next -morning the girl -came out there crying -because her -kitten was dead. The boy came with a shovel to bury -me; but I was crawling on the hearth. The boy said, -‘Hurrah for Pixie!’ and the girl hugged me and kissed -me.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i143.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Was Scared.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day the boy took something off the stove, and tied -the dog to it and told the girl to carry me to ride; and -she put me in and tried to carry me to ride, but it was -too warm, and I was scared of riding in it, and jumped -out and ran with all my might through the house and up-stairs, -and hid in a closet. The closet-door got shut and I -stayed there. I had nothing to eat. I mewed all the -time, but the people were far away. When I could not -mew any longer I dropped down. There was nothing left -of me but my skin and my bones. When the people -found me they took me out-doors to bury me. They put -me in the sunshine and in a little while I opened my eyes. -I was close to the hens’ clams, and I ate some and crawled -away from that place, and the boy carried me into the -house, and I got well.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Mornings I scratched on the girl’s door and when I -was let in I jumped upon her bed and played with her -nose and with her toes, and sat on her and purred loud.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A white cat lived in that house. She was not my -girl’s cat. She was the small girl’s cat. She could not -purr. She had no voice to purr. The small girl put -the white cat’s ear close to my mouth and said, ‘Purr -like Pixie!’ and the boy rubbed her paws together, to -make her purr, and squeezed her tail softly and stroked -her, but she did not purr. She had no voice to purr.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i146.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The white cat and I played together with the balls and -the spools and the hammock strings and the knitting-work, -and sometimes Pomp, the dog, played with us. The -dog liked to play. When the small girl stayed in the hammock -to sew her work and see picture books, the white cat -used to stay in the hammock or close by, and take a nap; -but the boy used to come and make her jump, and sometimes -Pomp came there and jumped in the hammock.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When the white cat grew older she had some kittens. -I had not had any kittens. She was taken much notice -of. The white cat lost all her kittens but one and as -soon as that one could run she and her mother were sent -away. Then the small girl held me and I was glad, for -she spoke to me softly and touched me softly. She liked -me because I could purr.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i147.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One morning the white cat came back with her kitten. -I saw her standing at the -door to be let in, and I -knew she ought not to -come back, and I tried -to drive her away, and -we had a fight, and a -cruel woman threw hot -water at us from the -kitchen, and it scalded -my head and I went -under some bushes to -die. I could not see; -I went by my smellers. When people found me -they called me but I would not come out. They -brought me some milk and a piece of meat, and -I ate a little, and when I could see with both eyes I -came out, but my neck has always been stiff on one side.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The next time I almost got killed it was by a heavy -stone. The stone fell on me. I liked to go in the garden -and climb upon a high wall and see what was on the -other side. A Molly girl lived on the other side, and a -horse, and a dog, and two great cats, and hens, and there -was a great deal there that was good to eat. The Molly -girl wanted me to play in the sand with her and sometimes -she took me down from the wall. She made holes -in the sand and covered me up and -when I was covered up I jumped out -and ran and then came back. Sometimes -she let me ride with her Jemima -in her Jemima’s doll carriage.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i148.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Climb Up on a High Wall.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“A woman came out every day to -give corn to the hens, and things to -the two great cats, and talk to the -horses. I did not want the hen’s corn. -I liked the things that were put into -the two great cats’ plate, but the dog -always wanted what was left. The two great cats had a -plate of their own.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Once when the two great cats were not there and that -dog was not, the woman put something in the plate, and -went away and I thought I would jump quick and get it, -and I raced along the wall and got tangled in a vine, and -jumped, and fell and pulled a -great stone down on myself; on -the back part of myself; and I -could not stir, and when the boy -found me and took the stone off, -I was a good deal jammed, and -I could not -walk with -the legs -which -belong to that part. -People said I must -be killed, but they -waited, and I did -not have to be -killed. I walked -with all my legs.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i149.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When I grew -bigger I used to go -into the Molly girl’s -house and the woman -used to drive me away. She did not -like me, for she saw me get into the hen-house -at a place where it was broken, and saw egg-shells -I left when I sucked the eggs. I could not eat egg-shells.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day I did something bad, though I did not know -it was bad. I was in the Molly girl’s house. Her -Jemima’s doll’s carriage was on a high place, but the -strings hung over. The wind blew hard that day and I -was very frisky and I jumped and pulled the doll carriage -down by the strings and broke it, and dragged it about -and played with it very long. When the Molly girl came -there she cried. The people came and drove me out, and -said very loud, ‘<i>Scat! scat!</i>’ A cruel boy that heard -them <i>scatting</i> me set his dog on me, and that dog chased -me, but he would not have touched me if the cruel boy -had not said, ‘Shake her!’ When he heard that he took -me by the throat. Oh <i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>, may you never have -anything so dreadful happen to you!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i151.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>I Did Something Bad.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The dog dropped me behind a tree and people found me -and said I was dead. The girl I belonged to said I was -alive, and they waited, and when they saw the end of my -tail stir they put something on the sores the dog made, -and the grandma woman took care of me, and I got well. -But I would rather have died than to have that cruel boy -do so again. Only a cat can know what a cat can suffer -from cruel boys. Dogs would not hurt us if people and -cruel boys did not tell them to.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day I had some kittens of my own. We were in a -good closet close by my own girl’s bed. Oh I was proud -of my pretty little dears! I wanted people to come and -see them. But when people came they said, ‘Why! why! -why! The cat has kittens in the closet! Take the cat -and kittens away from that closet!’</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i153.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Carried Them to the Barn.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“They carried us up to the garret and put us in a box. I would -not stay there. I -took my kittens -one at a time and -carried them in my -mouth back to the -closet. We were -put up in the box -again and the garret -door was kept -shut. I got out of -the window and -carried my kittens -down by tree -branches, and got -in by another window, -and soon they -found us in the -closet. Then the boy put some of my kittens in his hat -and another boy took some and they carried them to the -barn, and I went there too; but I would not stay there. I -knew what the best place was, the best place was the closet.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When it was dark I carried my kittens back to the -closet. Then they carried us down cellar, and kept the -door shut. I found a hole and made it bigger, and -squeezed through that hole with my kittens and went back -to the closet. They put us down cellar again and stopped -up the hole, and kept the door shut.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day soon as the door was opened I slipped -quick between somebody’s feet, and went up-stairs to the -grandma woman’s room, and sat by the fire. The grandma -woman looked at me hard and said, ‘Poor Pixie! It is too -cold for your kittens down cellar; go bring them here.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I knew what she said and answered her in my mew -language, and went and got my kittens and she made a -bed for us in a basket that had room in it.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i155.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Where It Was Not Right for Kittens to Go.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“When my kittens were big enough to crawl I went -away and left them sometimes, and if they cried for my -going I punished them. When they were good I let them -play with my tail; but I always kept one paw ready to -punish them if they bit me, or bit each other. I took great -comfort with my dear kittens. They understood everything -I said to them. One was taken from me, but I tried to be -contented with what were left.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They soon grew big enough to follow me all over the -house, and I took them to many places. One room was -always shut. I did not like that. No cat likes to have a -door kept shut.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day a woman went in that room and worked and -moved the things; and she went away and left the door -not shut tight, and I pushed in with my kittens, and they -had a happy time. They raced and scampered as if they -were crazy kittens, for there was a high wind blowing that -day. I tried to keep them out of the bed-curtains, but -they would go there. They all got on the bed and raced -over the pillows where it was not right for kittens or even -cats to go, and they bit the fringes, and jumped up and -clawed the tassels and some of the tassels were so good -that I clawed them myself. Almost any cat will claw a -good tassel hanging down in a windy day. The kittens -rolled over each other too near the edge of the bed and -rolled off, and hopped up and went scampering round the -room pulling all the things they wanted to. They went -up on high places and tipped things over, and pulled -things down, and got into the drawers, and Pomp heard -them, and he came in there and jumped about and pulled -things out of the drawers, and gnawed things, and played -with my kittens. They would not mind me, and all I -could do was to sit in a chair and watch them.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I thought I heard a mouse in a closet, and went in -there to see; and while I was in there somebody drove -out my kittens and Pomp. I stayed to see about the -mouse, and I ate something bad in that closet. It had -been put there for the mice.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“What I ate in that closet made me sick and I was very -sick. They gave me medicine. They held my mouth -open and put the medicine down my throat with a spoon. -I did not like it. I would not take any more. I went -away in dark places. Sometimes I crawled into the house, -and then they tried to make me eat. They could not -make me eat. I grew weaker and weaker, and one day -they said I was dead. The boy said, ‘That cat is not dead. -That is one of the cats that will live all her nine lives.’</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i158.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Only Two.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I was not dead, or if I was dead I came to life -again.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When I came to life -again two of my kittens -were playing by my side. -Only two. The others -were gone. Very soon -even these two were -taken from me. Not one of them ever came -back. Kittens that have been taken away do not come -back.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Now that I had no kittens to need me at home, I was -free to go out and meet my friends on fences and the -shed-roofs. I went often, and enjoyed my fights with -them very much.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i159.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>There I Saw a Rat Hanging by His Tail.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“One day when it was cold weather I went to a swamp -to watch a rat’s nest. Another cat had been watching for -that rat, but I meant to get it myself. I ran all the way, -and when I got there I saw the rat on the tree holding -on by his tail and eating what he could find, and I went -up, but the rat slipped down the other side and went to -his nest.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I had better have kept away from that tree. By going -up that tree I got shot. Two boys saw me, and one shot -me. I dropped to the ground. The boys came and -kicked me. I was almost dead. The shots stayed in me -and they are in me now. I could crawl a little, but I was -very weak.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i161.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>He Dropped Me on a Doorstep.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“While I stayed there, crawling a little when I could, -a cat came out from the swamp and ran at me. She was -one of my own kittens grown up into a cat. She had -been dropped in the woods, and she was a wild cat. She -flew at me and she would have damaged me very much if -a dog had not barked and scared her away. The dog -did not touch me. He took me out of a muddy ditch. I -was crawling, and did not know I was close to the muddy -ditch, and fell into it and went deep in the mud and -water. The dog jumped in and pulled me out. He -carried me to a house and dropped me on the doorstep. -The boy came from my house to see me. The people -said I was dead. The boy said, ‘No, she will come to -life. She is a cat that will live all her nine lives.’ And -I did come to life. The boy carried me home, and the -grandma woman washed me and fed me with milk, and -put me in a good bed, and I was soon well enough to -take a little squash with my milk.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The grandma woman used to hold me, and speak -softly to me, and if I jumped on her shoulder she never -pushed me off and said ‘scat!’ If I jumped up there -when she was eating breakfast she let me stay, and let me -taste of her breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I wanted to thank the grandma woman, and so one -day I brought her a little fish I caught in the pond. I -stood on a stone in the pond and looked down close to the -water, and when a fish saw my eyes shine sometimes it -would jump up, and if I put my paw out quick I could -catch the fish. The grandma woman was pleased when -I brought the fish, and she wanted to sing to me. I did -not like to hear anybody sing. When anybody began to -sing I got up and walked all around the room, and -scratched at the doors, and I could not keep still. Sometimes -the grandma woman sang when I was asleep; but -I opened my eyes and began to walk. Sometimes I -jumped up and put my paw on her mouth.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day the white cat and myself got carried off in a -bag. It was going to rain, and we were washing our -faces a great deal. A bad boy called us out, and we -stopped washing our faces and went out, and he put us -in a bag. There were very many cats in the bag. The -boy carried us to a place far away and put more cats in -the bag, then he carried us to another place and put more -cats in, and then he carried us all very far to a strange -place and let us all out of the bag in a room and shut the -doors and windows tight.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One of the windows was broken a little and a great -cat pushed the glass out, and we all went through, and -set off for our own homes in the rain, but I went in a -barn and hid till the rain stopped. It took me very long -to go home.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As I passed by a house on my way home, a man in -that house was making a noise on a fiddle, and I ran and -jumped up on his shoulder, because he was making the -noise, and he pushed me off, and I ran, and he threw a -wet blacking brush at me, and made a spot on my fur.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i165.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>She Never Pushed Me Off and Said, Scat!</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“I came home and tried to lick off the spot, but I could -not reach it. It is far off and my neck is stiff. Not any -cat would lick it off for me. I smelt it all the time and -felt it, and it worried me. I could not eat. I grew weak -and sick. Sometimes I crawled to the basin and lapped -one or two laps of milk, but no more. I did not catch. -Mice came near, and I did not even stir the end of my -tail. I kept in dark places. I have but little strength -left, and with that I am now crawling to the woods to die. -Farewell. Beware of guns, beware of dogs, beware of -stones, beware of stepping on, beware of shutting up, -beware of hot water, beware of drowning, beware of cruel -boys, beware of wet blacking brushes. Farewell. You -will never see me more.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i167.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>And Lapped One or Two Laps of Milk.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Pixie then crawled to the woods where she was afterwards -found dead; so dead that she never came back to -life.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“<i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i>, and Mouseroun and Phi, his Wisdom -Cat, watched Pixie until she had crawled out of sight. -<i>Dum</i> and <i>Dee</i> then frisked away to catch bugs for the -puss with the large family of kittens, and Mouseroun and -Phi journeyed on to seek the renowned Mistress Tabby -Furpurr, who found out a way of not liking birds, and on -that account had her picture taken and set in a pussy-willow -frame, and who had promised to tell the way to -Mouseroun and Phi.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They did not find her. The renowned Mistress -Tabby Furpurr had long lain buried beneath the lilac -bush, having died of old age, and alas! without revealing -the way she found out of not liking birds!”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“Which was a pity,” said the lovely Pussyanita to King -Grimalkum as she finished the story, “since now our race -must be blamed for liking birds when they cannot help -liking them. Blamed, dropped, shot, drowned, stoned—not -many of us would be living had we not our nine lives, -though not many cats have done to them what was spoken -of in the story the cat that hadn’t common sense told -at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“What story was that?” asked King Grimalkum -quickly.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Nothing your majesty will care to hear,” answered -Pussyanita. “It is not a common sense story.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I say I do want to hear it,” cried King Grimalkum. -“I don’t want any more common sense stories. I’m tired -of common sense. I insist upon knowing what was -spoken of in the story the cat that hadn’t common sense -told at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Your majesty must understand,” said Pussyanita, “that -probably it never really—”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I don’t care a mouse-ear for your <i>never reallys</i>,” interrupted -King Grimalkum. “I want the story.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Your majesty’s wish shall be obeyed,” replied Pussyanita, -“but your majesty will perceive at the beginning -that it is not a common sense story.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Make no more words about it!” furiously cried the -king, “if you do I’ll—”</p> - -<p class='c015'>The lovely Pussyanita made no more words about it, -but hastened to begin The Story of the Two Charcoals -and the Four Spekkums.</p> -<div id='p169' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i169.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Story of the Two Charcoals and the Four Spekkums.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i170.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“There was once a cat who had six kittens of exactly the -same size, two very dark ones and four very light ones, -and as she could not think of names for so -many and as it was an important matter, -she spoke to their uncle Thomas about -it. Their uncle Thomas said it was -an important matter, and sent her -to ask the wise and aged Goody Gumbo. -Goody Gumbo had seen much and -heard much, for she had been -alive ever since the days -when willow trees bore real -pussys and some said she -was picked off a willow tree -herself.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Goody Gumbo named the -two dark kittens Charcoal, -and the four light ones Spekkum, -and they were afterwards -spoken of as the Charcoals -and Spekkums.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When the Charcoals -and the Spekkums had -grown old enough to run -out-doors, it was seen that -one of the Spekkums -was much too frisky, and -that they all were likely to be.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/i171a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Their mother spoke to their -uncle Thomas about it and he -said, ‘send three of them to -school to learn to behave and -they can teach the other -three.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Send three of the Spekkums -and let Frisky Spekkum -be one of the three. -I will see the schoolma’am.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The schoolma’am said -that -she -would teach three of the Spekkums -to behave if they would -go to the school well dusted in -meal bag powder, as she herself -always did. Their mother -said she would attend to that -and three of the Spekkums -were sent to school and Frisky -Spekkum was one of the three.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i171b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The schoolma’am took them -by themselves and talked to -them seriously. She then placed them in a row and said: -‘Rule first! Sit straight; tails down; noses up; ears -flat; paws hanging!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They did so, but Frisky Spekkum did not sit as -straight as the others.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Rule second! All stand. Ears up; tails up!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They did so, but Frisky Spekkum sat down before -she was told to. ‘If you can’t mind,’ said the schoolma’am, -‘I’ll have no more to do with you,’ and turned -away with a scowl.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘O, do have something to do with me!’ cried Frisky -Spekkum, and stood quickly on her feet.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I will if you will be good,’ said the schoolma’am, and -turned back with a smile, and went on with the rules. -‘Rule third! Sit straight; ears up; noses down; paws up!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They did so, though Frisky Spekkum would not hold -her paws as high as the others; and she frisked and -caused the others to frisk.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘When you have learned to make your bows and say -good afternoon properly you may go home,’ the schoolma’am -said. They all made their bows and said good -afternoon properly, for all were anxious to go home, and -Frisky Spekkum did better than the others, for she was -more anxious to go home.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Now go,’ said the schoolma’am, ‘you are a troublesome -set and I am glad to be done with you. Scamper -home.’ And they scampered home.</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i173.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“On their way home they saw a young rat walking out -with his parents, and -went behind a wall -and peeped through. -They wanted the -young rat but did -not like to touch -him when his parents -were with him. -The young rat was -telling his parents of a beautiful shiny box with -beautiful cheese in it. His father said ‘My child, go not -near that beautiful shiny box nor touch that beautiful -cheese.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat did go to that beautiful shiny box and -touch that beautiful cheese and came near losing his life, -as my story will soon tell.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The three Spekkums went home to dinner, a very -good dinner of milk and herring. Their uncle Thomas -was there and while they were at dinner a kind girl presented -every one of them with a neck ribbon. The Charcoals -and the Spekkums went out to play and Frisky -Spekkum was naughty and gnawed the others’ neck-ribbons -and made them gnaw hers. Their mother spoke to -their uncle Thomas about it and he told Frisky that if -she did not behave he should have to send word to the -rats to carry her away, as they carried away Mab Fizz-Fuzz. -She said she was not afraid.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The two Charcoals went to their uncle Thomas’ house -to supper and the four Spekkums stayed with their -mother. When it was supper time their mother said to -them softly, ‘Follow me and I will give you something -good.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They followed her and she led them to the beautiful -shiny box.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘You see what is inside,’ said she, ‘jump quick, when -I lift up the door.’</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i175.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Not Quick Enough.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat was inside. He had eaten the beautiful -cheese and wished to stay no longer in the beautiful -shiny box. He sprang out when the door was lifted. The -four Spekkums sprang after him. They were not quick -enough. He slipped through a rat-hole, though Frisky -Spekkum was near enough to claw his tail as it went -through. He was so frightened he knew not what he -was doing and went straight into a bottle, and there was -something bad left in the bottle, and he would have died -of that if a friendly young frog had not found him. The -young frog’s family and the young rat’s family had been -friends ever since one of the young frog’s family saved -the life of one of the young rat’s family, and that was a -long, long time before. It was before the Janjibo.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i177.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“But all this belongs -to another story -and cannot be -told now, for there -is yet more to tell -of the Charcoals and -the Spekkums.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“One day their -uncle Thomas put on his best clothes and his tall hat -and got a sleigh box and two pair of rabbits and invited -the Charcoals’ and Spekkums’ mother to go sleighing -with him. Their mother smiled and quickly put -on her best clothes and her bonnet with flowers and -got her best muff.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The Charcoals and Spekkums all wanted to go, but -their uncle Thomas said so many would be too many for -the rabbits and that he would take three and take the -other three next time.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They took three of the Spekkums and told Frisky -Spekkum to stay and wait with the two Charcoals and go -next time. Their uncle Thomas then helped their mother -in, and took his seat, and the three Spekkums hopped in -behind and sat looking over the side as happy as they -could be. Their mother told them to hold on tight for -their uncle Thomas would soon whip up, and they might -fall out. Their uncle Thomas whipped up and the rabbits -set off upon a gallop.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Just as they were setting off, Frisky Spekkum ran -away from the two Charcoals and climbed up behind the -sleigh-box, and held on and tried to get in, but the rabbits -went so fast that she fell off and rolled over and over.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She went back to play with the Charcoals, but she did -not behave well. She was too frisky with them. She bit -ears, and she almost bit off the two Charcoals’ neck-ribbons -and made them bite off her neck ribbon and was -so frisky that one of the Charcoals would not play, and -went away. Frisky then took the other Charcoal with -her into pantries and a hen house and other places where -cats ought never to go, and made her eat with her thick -cream, and custard pie, and other things which cats ought -never to eat. They also clawed a best carpet.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Their uncle Thomas came home and found them in a -cheese and butter closet, and they ran, and he ran and -caught them by their tails and punished them severely.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i179.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Frisky Spekkum Tries to Steal a Ride.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“This did not cure Frisky Spekkum. She was still -too Frisky. She frisked with tassels, she frisked with -whip-lashes, she frisked with reins, she frisked with flies -she frisked with rabbits, she frisked with dogs’ tails, she -frisked with pigs’ tails. Her mother told her of Mab -Fizz-Fuzz who was carried off by her tail by the rats, and -told her that if she did not stop being too frisky then rats -would have to be sent for. But Frisky would not believe -there ever was any Mab Fizz-Fuzz, and would not stop -being too frisky. Her mother spoke to her uncle -Thomas about it, and her uncle Thomas said her mother -had better send her to Goody Gumbo to be talked to. -He said that as Goody Gumbo had been alive ever since -real pussys grew on pussy-willow trees, she would know -how to talk to her.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i181.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>In a Cheese and Butter Closet.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Frisky Spekkum was sent to Goody Gumbo to be -talked to, but when the talking began she made believe -be deaf and not hear a word. Goody Gumbo kept ear-trumpets -for deaf ones and she gave Frisky a heavy -ear-trumpet and made her hold it till the talking was -done.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i182.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Goody Gumbo Talking to Frisky.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“After she was talked to by Goody Gumbo, Frisky -Spekkum was not too frisky for a very long time. She -played with the two Charcoals and the other Spekkums, -and behaved as well as any of them. They were all -quiet and happy, and -Frisky was as quiet -and happy as the others. -When they were -playing together Frisky -made no mischief -with the tails of the -others. She behaved -as well as the others.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“This pleased their -mother very much and -she spoke to their -uncle Thomas about -it. Their uncle -Thomas said he did -not believe that Frisky -Spekkum behaved -as well as the two -Charcoals and the other -Spekkums. Their -mother told him to -come and see.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i183.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Charcoals and the Speckkums on Their Good Behavior.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Their mother -made them sit close -together, in a row, -with their ears all turned the same way and their eyes -all turned the same way, and their tails all turned the -same way around their fore paws, and Frisky Spekkum -sat so still that when their uncle Thomas came to -see he could not tell which one was Frisky.</p> - -<div class='figleft id008'> -<img src='images/i184.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Not long after this the same kind girl gave them -all new neck-ribbons and their mother said that as they -had new neck-ribbons and Frisky had stopped being -too frisky, she would have a party. Then she thought -it would be a good plan to have them go to singing-school -and learn something to sing at the party. She -spoke to their uncle Thomas -about it and their uncle -Thomas said he would try -their voices and find out -which had voices to sing. -He tried their voices and -found out that only one -of the Charcoals and two -of the Spekkums had voices -to sing. Frisky Spekkum -was not one of the two -Spekkums that had voices to sing, and she did not go -to the singing-school.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The three that had voices to sing went to singing-school, -and were put in a row by themselves where they -sat very still with their tails around their fore paws as -their mother and their uncle Thomas told them to, and -had their voices tried and were taught to sing the song -of The Two Tailed Mouse, every word of which was as -true as cream.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The party was to be in a barn-room on account of a -large basket of fish and lobsters which had been placed -there, and it was to be an evening party.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Before it was time for the party to begin, the three -who were to sing the song of The Two Tailed Mouse, -were told by their mother to go to the barn-room and -sit in a proper manner and sing the song until they could -sing it well enough to sing it at the party and please -all who might hear it. They obeyed her, and as Frisky -Spekkum had not been too frisky for a very long time, -she was allowed to go and hear them sing, if she would -sit still. She sat still a great while, but hearing the singing -and looking much at the lobster-feelers made her -want to be too frisky and she frisked with the lobster-feelers, -and went into the basket and frisked with lobster -claws, and gnawed them, and clawed them, and gnawed -and clawed some little fishes, and ate all she could of the -fishes and the lobsters, and made herself sick, and could -not stay up at the party. She had to go to bed in the -haymow, -and -when -she -was -asleep she -dreamed -that her -name was -Mab Fizz-Fuzz, -and that -rats dragged her -off by the tail through a -place that was too small.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i186.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i187.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Frisky Spekkum’s Dream.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“She woke up sorrowful. -She was sorrowful long. -She would not eat, she -would not run, she would -not catch, she would not -play with the two Charcoals -and the other Spekkums. -Their mother spoke -to their uncle Thomas -about it, and their uncle -Thomas said he thought that dream would do Frisky -Spekkum good.”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“And that is the end of the story, your majesty,” said -the lovely Pussyanita.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“End?” exclaimed the King. “It has no end. It -leaves off short. Why does it leave off short? Why does -it not come to a proper end, namely, by the way a cat’s -tail does?”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Because, your majesty, it is not a common sense -story,” replied the lovely Pussyanita. “I told your majesty -at the beginning your majesty would not like a story -that’s not a common sense story.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I say I do like stories that are not common sense -stories!” cried King Grimalkum. “Common sense makes -my head ache. Tell me another. Tell the one you -skipped; that about the Janjan’s.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Your majesty means The Janjibo,” said Pussyanita. -“That is the silliest story that ever was.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I have always wanted to hear the silliest story that -ever was,” said the King. “Tell it. And let it have an -end, or you’ll be sorry.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began the Story of -the Janjibo, and of the Frog and the Rat.</p> - -<div id='p190' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i190.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Story of the Janjibo, and of the Frog and the Rat.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i191a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Watching the Rat.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Once upon a time, a long time ago, a family of rats -made a home for themselves in a haymow, and a good -home it was. Corn, and potatoes, and hayseed and other -things were handy. With all these good things handy, -one of the young rats must needs walk into a trap. Two -cats had long been watching the family, and when they -saw this young rat go towards the trap, they sprang, and -one of them caught him by the end of his tail just as he -was going in, and pulled him out, but he got away and -ran down-stairs, and the two cats after him, and at the -bottom of the stairs he ran into something with a big -hole at the big end and a small hole at the small end. He -went in at the big hole, and the cats went in at the big -hole after him. He -went out at the small -hole. It was just -big enough for him -to go through, and -was not big enough -for the cats to go -through, and they -turned round quick, -and got tangled up -in each other, and -went out and went -round outside and chased him, but the young rat had -jumped out of a window. -He was so -frightened that he -ran, and ran, and -ran, across fields and -hills, and got lost -in a boggy swamp, -and a great snapping -turtle would -have snapped him -up, if a young frog -had not begged the -snapping turtle to let him live. The snapping turtle -said he would let him live if the young frog would -take care of him. The young frog said he would if his -mother would be willing. The young frog’s mother said -he might take care of him if the young rat would promise -not to eat any tadpoles.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i191b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>In After Him.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat promised not to eat any tadpoles, and -the young frog took care of him and they lived together, -and played tag together, and hide-and-seek together, and -tiltered together, and did other things together. When -the frog hid he croaked for the rat to come and find him, -and when the rat hid he squealed for the frog to come -and find him. When the frog hid among the cat-o’-nine-tails, -the young rat wouldn’t play; and when they played -tag, if the frog went among the cat-o’-nine-tails the rat -wouldn’t chase. When they played tilter, they had to tilt -high so that the frog’s legs need not touch the ground.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat was happy, and had no wish to return -to his family. He went to all the frog concerts, and tried -to get the frog tunes, but as he could only squeak them, -or squeal them, and could not croak them, he could not -get the frog tunes.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i193.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>They Had to Tilt High.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“At last his family heard where he was, and begged -his aunt to go fetch him home, as she had no children, -and could leave home as well as not. His aunt said she -would go as soon as news should come from the King of -the Cats. The King of the Cats was expected to die. He -had caught a bad cold wading for eels on a damp day, and -had taken to his bed, and -called in Doctor Bowwow, and -Doctor Bowwow had looked -at his tongue and told him he -could not live. The young -rat’s family begged his aunt -to go right off. She said she -wished to wait and hear of the -death of the King of the Cats, -for that would be good to -hear.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i195.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“As soon as word came -that the King of the Cats was -dead, the young rat’s aunt set off to the far-off swamp, -and found it, but by that time the young rat had gone -with the young frog to live on the edge of the pond. She -looked all through the swamp, and got her feet wet, and -lost her way, and tangled herself in the swamp-vines, and -caught herself in a swamp-vine string and could not get -away, and there she stayed until the day of the Wonderful -News.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The Wonderful News was brought by a travelling -kangaroo. As the young rat and the frog were sitting one -evening by the edge of the pond, a kangaroo came leaping -past, and stopped between two of his leaps -and said, ‘Wonderful News! Peace between the -cats and the rats and mice! All friends!’ and the -kangaroo leaped on.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i196.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Wonderful news indeed!’ said the young rat. -‘I must let the water rats know.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The frog said he would attend to -that, and he got upon a log and croaked, -‘Wonderful news! Peace between -the cats and the rats and mice!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Other frogs heard him, and sat -upon logs, stones, rocks and stumps, -and croaked, ‘Wonderful news! Peace -between the cats and the rats and mice!’ and other frogs -heard these other frogs, and croaked the same, and the -great bull-frogs got hold of it and bellowed it, and frogs -and bull-frogs in other ponds and swamps and bogs heard -it, and croaked it and bellowed it, and before morning the -Wonderful News was known to every water rat far and -near; and the water rats told the land rats as quickly as -they could.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat’s aunt heard it in the swamp, and -jumped hard and broke the swamp-vine string, and set off -on a gallop, this way and that way, and the wrong way, -and lost her way, and away she went.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat said he must travel off somewhere and -hear how it all happened, and he and the frog set out together -and travelled. Sometimes the young rat let the -frog ride on his back, because he could go faster by runs -than the frog could by leaps. The rat could not go frog-back, -because it was so hard to keep on. When they had -travelled a long way they met a mother rat, with her baby -in her mouth, running as fast as she could go.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i197.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat asked her to stop and speak to him, -and she stopped. The young rat then asked the mother -rat where she was going so fast, and the mother rat said -her baby was too sick to be left alone, and that she could -not stay away from the Janjibo, and she was carrying the -baby to stay at its grandfather’s till she should come back -from the Janjibo. The young rat asked her what there -was to be a Janjibo for.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She asked him if he had not heard the ‘Wonderful -News.’ He said he had, and that he wished to know -how it all happened. The mother rat then said that if -they would come to her baby’s grandfather’s, they could -then go with her to the Janjibo, and on the way there she -would tell them how it all happened. They went with -her to her baby’s grandfather’s and then to the Janjibo, -and this is what the mother rat told.”</p> - -<div id='p198' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i198.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>What the Mother Rat Told.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c014'>“After the King of the Cats died, and the King of the -Cats’ son had been made king, the rats and mice sent to -ask if the cats and the rats and mice could not be friends, -so that there might be peace between them. The new -king said he did not think it would be a good plan at all, -but he would see what the dogs had to say about it, for -dogs had the name of knowing more than cats. He -picked out three of his wisest cats, and sent them to the -dogs, and the dogs picked out two of their chief dogs, one -named Know and -the other named -Quick, and the two -dogs and the three -cats met together. -Quick asked Know -what cats could -live upon if they -did not eat rats, -and mice. Know -said that if cats should give up catching, then people -would feed them more. People kept from feeding them -so as to make them catch.</p> - -<div class='figright id016'> -<img src='images/i199.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Wise Cats and Dogs.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The wisest of the three wise cats said that dogs were -not expected to catch; they were fed by people.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Know asked if it was great trouble to catch rats -and mice. The next wisest of the three cats said that -if he should try it he would find that it was much easier -to eat off a plate, or even off the floor, than to sit half -the night in a cold barn, or cellar, -or garret, tired and hungry, watching -rat-holes and mouse-holes. -Quick asked if rat-holes and mouse-holes -could not be in rooms people -lived in where it would be pleasant -for a cat to sit and watch. Know -said that could not be, for rats and -mice did not like people as well as -cats did.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i200.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Pledges of Good Faith.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The end of it all was that the -dogs thought it would be a good -thing for the cats to be friends with -the rats and mice, and a little bird -that heard all the talk told the Kangaroos.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“In order to be sure that the cats -and the rats and mice should do -right by each other, the dogs said -that the rats must give up a baby -rat to be kept by the cats, and the -cats must give up a baby cat to be -kept by the rats. This was done. -The baby rat was youngest of a -family of four children, and the baby -cat was the youngest of a family of four. The dogs said -this would make it even.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The three cats walked in procession with the baby -in front, and their oldest sister walked after them all, and -the three rats walked in procession with their baby in -front and their oldest sister walked after them all. But -when they came in sight of each other, the rats were -afraid of the cats and went behind their oldest sister. -The oldest sister of the rats then took the baby cat in -her mouth, and the cat procession started, and when the -oldest sister of the cats came to the baby rat she took -that in her mouth and then the rat procession started, -and both processions walked away, and the baby rat -is now staying with the cats, and the baby cat stays with -the rats, and all is well. We do not have to hide in -holes and under floors and behind walls, and our -children will all live to grow up, unless they get sick from -eating poison, as my baby did.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i202.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“And now that we are all friends, the cats and the -rats and mice are going to meet together and have -a Janjibo, and there is to be fine music and the tables -are to be spread with everything nice. The dogs said -that as the rats and mice were the ones to ask to be -friends they must be the ones to bring things to eat, -and they are working with all their might to get ready -the pies, and cakes, and jellies, and ice-creams, and nuts, -and sweet corn, and cheeses, and eggs, and dishes, and -knives, and forks, and spoons. We shall soon see them, -for we are near the place where the Janjibo is to be.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“As the frog and the young rat and the mother rat -came near the place where the Janjibo was to be, they -saw rats hurry skurrying as fast as they could with -cakes, pies, dishes and other things. They met gentlemen -rats in their best clothes, carrying knives, forks -and spoons, and -looking everywhere -for eggs.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i203.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Way the Egg Went Safely.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Three of these -gentlemen rats in -their best clothes, -found an egg and -began to roll it. -‘We shall break it -doing this way,’ said -one to the others. -‘I am afraid we -shall,’ said the others, -and they stopped to think. The mother rat went to -them and said: ‘The shells of eggs are too thin. -Shells of eggs should be thicker.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘But I can tell you a way. Let one of you gentlemen lie -flat on his back and hold the egg with all four of his -legs and let the -other two gentlemen -draw that one -by his tail; then -the egg will go safe -and the gentleman -will get a ride.’</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i205.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“They did so. -The gentleman rat -that had the knife -gave the knife to -the gentleman rat -that had the fork and lay down flat on his back, and held -the egg in all four of his legs and the other two drew -him by his tail and the egg went safe and he got a ride.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Next came a lively young cat with a pudding-bag -string. She said she was frolicking with the rats and was -running away with their pudding-bag string. She said -she did not care about the Janjibo. She did not care -about the peace. She wanted to have a good time. She -did not know if she should like to be friends with the -rats and mice. Sometimes it was good fun to catch -them.</p> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i206.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Cat Ran Away With the Pudding-Bag String.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c015'>“The mother rat told her that she was very naughty, -and the rats could not do without their pudding-bag string -and that she must carry it back to them. She did not. -She went dancing -away with it.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Next came a great -many rats with a pie -so big they could -hardly lift it. They -were afraid they -should drop it, and -they held it up with -all their might by their heads and their backs, and their -shoulders. The Pie-cutter with his knife came close behind. -The young rat went to help.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i207.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Rats, the Pie and the Pie-Cutter.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i208.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Mother Rat Told the Pie-Cutter How to Cut It.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The frog said he should be willing to help, but he -should have to go with leaps, and going with leaps was -not a good way to go with a pie. The mother rat said to -them, ‘You’d better set it down and cut it, and then it will -be all ready to be passed round. Set it down and cut it, -and you can rest while you are cutting it. Cut it first in -large pieces, and then cut the large pieces into small pieces. -The pie must all be cut in small pieces or there may not -be enough to go round.’ They set it down, and the mother -rat told the Pie-cutter the right way to cut it, and he cut -it the right way. Just as the Pie-cutter had done cutting -it, the young rat looked at a light-colored rat that -was among the other ones, and said, ‘There’s my aunt.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It was his aunt. The one that was tangled in the -swamp-vine string, and broke it in jumping when she -heard the Wonderful News, and got away, and lost her -way. She did not find the way she lost, but she found -her way to the Janjibo, and was helping.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘So you are my nephew!’ she said. ‘How you have -grown! Do you know that the cats and the rats and mice -are friends?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Oh yes,’ said the young rat. ‘A travelling kangaroo -told me.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Friends indeed!’ said his aunt. ‘Look yonder. Do -you see what is doing yonder? That is your little brother. -Perhaps you never knew that your little brother could -take pictures.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Never,’ said the young rat. ‘Can he?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Yes; he can,’ said his aunt. ‘Yonder he is now, -taking the picture of a Tabby. He has plenty to do. -There is another close by, waiting for her turn.’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Why!’ cried the young rat. ‘They are the very -same ones that chased me when I was a little rat and -made me run away!’</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Yes’ his aunt said. ‘They are friendly now. What -are you going to do? -Do you want to help -us get ready?’</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i210.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“‘I do,’ said the -young rat.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“‘Step in here -then,’ said his aunt. -‘Step in to this Ice-cream -Place, and -stir up the ice-cream. -Stir it up with your -fore paws.’ They two stepped into the Ice-cream Place, -and the young rat’s aunt showed him how to stir up the -ice-cream with his fore paws. While he was doing this a cat -peeped through the door at him. His aunt thought by the -looks of the cat’s eye that it was a cat that had not heard -of the peace.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“She was so afraid the cat did not know of the -peace and would eat the young rat that she caught hold -of his tail quick and pulled him with all her might and -they ran out of the Ice-cream Place by two rat-holes. -The mother rat and the frog were waiting for the young -rat and he travelled on with them.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i211.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Afraid He Had Not Heard of the Peace.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“That cat would not have hurt the young rat. She -did know of the peace and she was gathering up rats for -the Janjibo. The young rat and the frog and the mother -rat saw her afterwards showing a great many rats that -had come from afar, the way into the Janjibo and even -taking up the tired ones in her mouth and carrying them -in.</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i213.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Taking Up the Tired Ones in Her Mouth.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Three young -kittens sat watching -her while they -waited for their -mother. They -were dressed in -their best clothes -and white gloves, all ready to dance a jig at the -Janjibo.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“They were waiting for their mother to go in with -them. Their mother taught them the jig and she -was coming to fiddle for them to dance. They were in a -hurry for her to come because they were afraid of a fierce -black rat who stood near by with his gun. The fierce -black rat had been ordered to stand there with his gun to -keep off the rabbits. The rabbits had been heard to say -they did not like the peace between the cats and the rats -and mice, and that they meant to break it up, and meant -to break up the Janjibo.</p> - -<div class='figleft id010'> -<img src='images/i214a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Sentinel.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“As soon as the mother rat and the frog and the young -rat went into the Janjibo, the mother -rat met with her oldest daughter, just -from home, and she kept with her mother -and the young rat was polite to her.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A very great number came to the -Janjibo. The supper was good, and -after supper the ones who could tell -stories told stories, and the ones who -could sing songs, sang songs, and the -ones who could talk, talked. A mouse -with a lame hind leg said she hoped all cats would -know of the peace and told a Spinning Story.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c021' /> -</div> -<div id='p214' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i214b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>A Spinning Story.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“She said that one day when she and her sisters sat -spinning in the barn, a cat looked in at the window. -They did not run, for why should they run when cats and -mice were friends? The cat that was looking in the -window had not heard of the peace and she jumped at -them. Then they ran but she and one of her sisters did -not run quick enough, and her sister was bitten in the -head and she herself was bitten in the hind leg, and made -lame for life.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Three blind and feeble mice without any tails then -told the Blind Mice Story.</p> - -<div id='p215' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i215a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Blind Mice Story.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i215b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“They were born blind, and were obliged to find their -way by their noses. A farmer’s wife had been giving -corn to the hens and -some of the corn was -left in her pocket, and -they smelled the corn -and ran after the farmer’s -wife, and she cut -off their tails with a carving -knife. Now they could not run very fast, for no rat -can run fast unless he feels his tail behind him.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“A cat of the name of Henry, said this story made him -think of the Air-Ball Story.</p> -<div id='p216' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i216a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Air-Ball Story.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id009'> -<img src='images/i216b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“Three kittens, Faw, Sol, and Law, were once playing -in a yard when -a short boy named -Chickerchecker -came and tied air-balls -to their tails -so that he might -have the fun of seeing -the air-balls take -Faw, Sol, and Law -up in the air.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“When Faw, Sol, -and Law began to -feel the back ends -of themselves going up they did not know what to do -to keep them down and they mewed and mewed and -stuck the claws of their fore paws into the ground. -Chickerchecker was much pleased.</p> - -<div class='figright id009'> -<img src='images/i217.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“Their mother was the other side of the wall and near -enough to hear them -mew. She knew -that if they mewed -so, something was -the matter. She -sprang to the top of -the wall and looked -over and when she -saw what had been -done she was very -angry, and jumped -down, and took the -air-balls off of Faw, -Sol, and Law’s tails and tied them to Chickerchecker, and -Chickerchecker went over the wall and blew into a tree.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Faw, Sol, and Law were so much pleased that they -danced up and down. Their mother also was much -pleased.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“At the end of this story the singing Tommies sang -the funny song of the Bold Young Fishbone and the -Gay Young Wishbone.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“It began with</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c022'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There was a bold young Fishbone,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Finnery, finnery fi!</div> - <div class='line'>There was a gay young Wishbone,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Winnery, winnery, wi!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c023'>and ended in the same manner.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/i218.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The singing Tommies had new jackets and trousers -and new gloves, as of course -any singers would have who -were to sing at a Janjibo.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“After this song and others -were sung the kittens who came -to dance a jig, danced it. Their -mother played the fiddle well, and they danced their -steps well and gave much pleasure to all present. All -present were happy in the peace and no doubt the peace -would have lasted to this day if the rabbits and the hens -had not broken it up.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The rabbits and the hens did not like the peace. The -rabbits said that cats must eat and if they did not eat rats -and mice they must eat rabbits. The hens said that if no -rats were eaten they would every one live to grow up and -would eat all the corn and the hens and other fowl would -wear themselves out scratching for worms. They said -they should like to get hold of the frogs, for if the frogs -had kept still, so many rats would not have heard the -Wonderful News.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i219.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>They Danced Their Steps Well.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The rabbits said they did not believe the Lion knew -of the peace and they meant to send him word and ask -him to stop it. The cats would have to do whatever he -should say, for the Lion was the head of their family -besides being king -of all the animals.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/i220.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The cat that -ran away with the -Pudding-Bag -String was known -to think not very -well of the peace -and she was asked -to go and speak -to the Lion. She said she would go, but must first borrow -her grandmother’s boots of swiftness. Her grandmother -was just taking her tea and felt very well. She -said she was not using her boots and was willing to lend -them if they could be taken good care of. The cat that -ran away with the Pudding Bag String put them on and -went to speak to the Lion.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/i222.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“The Lion said the peace was the funniest thing he ever -heard of, and made him almost die a laughing. He told -the cat that ran -away with the Pudding -Bag String -to tell the cats -there never could -be peace between -the cats and the -rats and mice, and -never should be -so long as Lions -were Lions, and to tell the rabbits and the hens and -other fowl to break up the Janjibo.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i223.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Frog Going Ratback.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>“As soon as the rabbits and hens and other fowl -heard this they got together from all parts and went -leaping and running and flying into the Janjibo, crying -‘No peace! No peace! The Lion says no peace.’ The -hens cackled it, the roosters crowed it, the geese squawked -it, the turkeys gobbled it, the guinea fowl squalled it, the -peacocks screamed it, and the Janjibo was broken up and -the rats and mice ran away quick, for if there was no -peace they were in dreadful danger.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The young rat was in a hurry to get away from the -cats, and the frog was in a hurry to get away from the -hens and other fowl. The young rat said that as he -could go faster by runs than the frog could by leaps, he -would take the frog ratback. The frog threw on a hat -and cloak to hide himself, as he had to sit high, in plain -sight, and got on the young rat’s back, and they went so -swift that the frog lost his hat off behind.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“The mother rat and her daughter kept as near them as -they could. When the young rat grew tired he begged -the frog to whip him and make him go fast, for he would -rather be whipped than be caught by the cats.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“He was not caught. They both reached their home -at the edge of the pond, and left that home no more. The -young rat married the mother rat’s daughter, and they -had many children, and the frog married the frog he -loved best, and had a large family of little tadpoles, and -the little tadpoles played with the little rats and the little -rats played with the little tadpoles, and the little rats told -rat stories, and the little tadpoles told tadpole stories, and -they all lived happily all their lives.”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“And that is the end of the story, your majesty,” said -the lovely Pussyanita. “And a good end,” said King -Grimalkum. “I knew I should like the story. Is it truly -the silliest story that ever was?” “Yes, your majesty,” -replied Pussyanita. “The silliest, I mean, of our kind of -stories. Of course it is not as silly as the stories the -little tadpoles told the little rats.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Were the stories the little tadpoles told the little -rats, sillier than the ones the little rats told the little -tadpoles?” asked the king.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Much sillier,” replied Pussyanita.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Tell them,” said the king.</p> - -<p class='c015'>“But your majesty,” replied Pussyanita, “there were -swarms of little tadpoles and I have not long to live.”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“You shall live as long as you can, you lovely creature!” -cried the king. “Do you think I would put an -end to the life of a sweet young story-teller who can tell -both common sense stories and not common sense stories? -No! Live! Live and be happy!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“Alas!” replied the lovely Pussyanita. “I cannot be -happy when so many of my kind are in danger. Oh, take -back your cruel command! Let our whole race live!”</p> - -<p class='c015'>“I do take it back,” answered the king. “For your -sake the whole race shall live.”</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>The cruel command was taken back. The whole race -of cats were allowed to live. Those which were “white, -or yellow, or which had more white or yellow hairs than -dark ones,” all these as well as the “black, Maltese and -gray,” were for Pussyanita’s sake allowed to live.</p> - -<hr class='c020' /> - -<p class='c015'>“Here, uncle Fred, is your Cats’ Arabian Nights -Story Book,” said cousin Lucia, “all ready for the children -when they shall come next summer with their -fathers and mothers; and I hope they will have as much -fun in hearing it as I had in writing it.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<p class='c015'> </p> -<div class='tnbox'> - - <ul class='ul_1 c005'> - <li>Transcriber’s Notes: - <ul class='ul_2'> - <li>Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - </li> - <li>Typographical errors were silently corrected. - </li> - <li>Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant - form was found in this book. - </li> - </ul> - </li> - </ul> - -</div> -<p class='c015'> </p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATS' ARABIAN NIGHTS, OR, KING GRIMALKUM ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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