Chapter 4

Tabby Furpurr.

“‘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?’

“‘I know Mistress Furpurr well enough,’ said the young Persian, ‘but I decline to direct you to her abode. It is too much trouble.’

“‘We are anxious to find her,’ said Phi, ‘and we are weary with travel.’

“‘No doubt,’ replied the Persian; ‘but I prefer to stay and enjoy the company of my children.’

The Happy Young Persian.

“‘And wilt thou not direct us?’ asked Phi.

“Answered the young Persian, ‘I have said what I have said.’

“‘Good day, then,’ said Phi, and he drew Mouseroun away, fearing he might do something rash.

“‘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?’

“‘The most happy are often the most selfish,’ replied Phi. ‘Those who have known unhappiness are likely to feel pity.’

“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.’

“But as they drew near to inquire of the rat, he dropped his wheat and fled.

“‘Now, why was that?’ asked Mouseroun. ‘We meant him no harm.’

The Rat.

“‘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.

“‘I fear we shall not get any rat to direct us to the abode of Mistress Furpurr.’

“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.’

“Mouseroun was eager to enter, but Phi held him back lest harm might befall him and himself stepped forward.

“‘Rats,’ he whispered, as he stepped back.

Taken in a Trap.

“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.

“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.

“Did he know where Mistress Tabby Furpurr lived? and would he tell?

“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.

“‘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?’

“‘It must have been,’ said Phi, ‘that he knew we could not get at him.’

“‘True,’ said Mouseroun. ‘Thou art truly a Cat of Wisdom.’”

We Went Back.

Not very long after this, Mouseroun and Phi reached the abode of the renowned Tabby Furpurr and heard the story of her life.

Story of Mistress Tabby Furpurr.

“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.

The Black Kitten.

“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.

“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.

First Dream.

“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.

Second Dream.

“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.

Scamper Up and Down His Big Sides and Tickle His Paws, and His Nose.

“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.

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.

“I went with her to see the rats. They were too big for us to meddle with, but we could peep at them.

“The white kitten liked to frolic and we raced over the fields and on the fences as much as we wanted to.

“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.

The Two Rats in the Sun.

“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.

“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.

“Oh how I did love that boy! I wanted to stay with him all the time.

“Every day when he went to school he let me go with him as far as the bridge.

“Then I would look up in his face and mew, ‘Mayn’t I go further?’

The Boy That Treated Me Kindly.

He Nibbles the Pink.

“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?Don’t you touch it!’

“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.

“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.

“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.

“She flew at me, and we had a fight. She would have killed me if the girl had not come with a broom.

“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.

“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.

“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.Don’t you touch that bird!‘

“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.

“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!’

“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.

The Rat That Fought the Duck.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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? Andyoueven fly at birds! Don’t you ever touch any kind of bird again. Do you hear? Find out a way of not liking birds.Find out a way of not liking birds! Remember!‘

The Duck’s Defender.

“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.

They Thought I Was Asleep.

“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.

Going to Jump for Them.

“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 thewarmall around me. You have heard my story!”

“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.

“‘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.’

“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.

“As they journeyed on they were met by two lively young black-and-white cats, the same two they met before, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, calledDumandDee.

“They were full of frolic and good-nature, tumbling over each other, and snatching at each other’s tails.

“‘Whither so fast?’ asked Phi of them as they met.

“‘To catch some bugs for a cat with a large family of kittens,’ they said.

“You are not as sour as you were,” said Phi.

“‘Oh, no,’ saidDumandDee. ‘It is folly to be sour when sweet is better. We found that out.’

“‘You might have your pictures taken now,’ said Phi.

“‘We’re so happy we don’t care to,’ saidDumandDee. ‘Good day to you.’

“‘Beware of guns,’ said a faint voice near by.

“It was the faint voice of a feeble cat who had crept under a bush to die.

“‘We’re not afraid,’ saidDumandDee. ‘We have our nine lives, you know.’

“‘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.’

“‘I have lived eight lives, and am now dying of a spot of blacking.’

“‘Tell us about the eight lives,’ saidDumandDee; and at a sign from Mouseroun, Phi made the same request.

“‘I will try,’ replied the feeble cat, ‘if you will bear with my weakness.’”

The Story of the Feeble Cat and Her Nine Lives.

“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.

To Catch Butterflies.

“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.

She Brought Me a Very Big Grasshopper.

“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.

I Was Scared.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

Climb Up on a High Wall.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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, ‘Scat! scat!’ A cruel boy that heard themscattingme 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. OhDumandDee, may you never have anything so dreadful happen to you!

I Did Something Bad.

“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.

“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!’

Carried Them to the Barn.

“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.

“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.

“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.’

“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.

Where It Was Not Right for Kittens to Go.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.’

Only Two.

“I was not dead, or if I was dead I came to life again.

“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.

“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.

There I Saw a Rat Hanging by His Tail.

“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.

“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.

He Dropped Me on a Doorstep.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

She Never Pushed Me Off and Said, Scat!

“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.

And Lapped One or Two Laps of Milk.

“Pixie then crawled to the woods where she was afterwards found dead; so dead that she never came back to life.

“DumandDee, and Mouseroun and Phi, his Wisdom Cat, watched Pixie until she had crawled out of sight.DumandDeethen 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.

“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!”

“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.”

“What story was that?” asked King Grimalkum quickly.

“Nothing your majesty will care to hear,” answered Pussyanita. “It is not a common sense story.”

“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.”

“Your majesty must understand,” said Pussyanita, “that probably it never really—”

“I don’t care a mouse-ear for yournever reallys,” interrupted King Grimalkum. “I want the story.”

“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.”

“Make no more words about it!” furiously cried the king, “if you do I’ll—”

The lovely Pussyanita made no more words about it, but hastened to begin The Story of the Two Charcoals and the Four Spekkums.

The Story of the Two Charcoals and the Four Spekkums.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“‘Send three of the Spekkums and let Frisky Spekkum be one of the three. I will see the schoolma’am.’

“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.

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