Unsegmented source body · Part 2

“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!’

[Illustration:

The Rat Family. ]

“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.

“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.”

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[Illustration:

Madame Pussy Hunter’s Story. ]

“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.

“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!

[Illustration:

Just Dropping Off to Sleep. ]

“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.

“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.

[Illustration:

The Dog That Was Upside Down. ]

“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 _then_ 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!

“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 _poored_ me. Oh how pleasant it is to be talked to and _poored_!

“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.”

Scarcely had Madame Pussy Hunter finished when up sprang a Spry White Kitten and hopped out on three paws, and said: ‘_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.

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[Illustration:

The Spry White Kitten’s Story. ]

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration:

The Cat With Her Ears Tied Up. ]

“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.

[Illustration:

It Got Hold of My Leg. ]

“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_ have never seen much good come from knowing how to open doors!”

“‘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.’”

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[Illustration:

Mrs. Beulah Black’s Story. ]

“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.

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

“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.

[Illustration:

The Cat That Was Stealing Milk. ]

“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.

“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!

“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.

“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.

“The man said it would not do. He said it would hurt the horse and they carried him far away.

“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!

[Illustration:

My Sister Sprang Up on the Horse’s Back! ]

“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.”

All present said they would like to hear David’s Story, and he began as follows:

[Illustration:

David’s Story. ]

“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.

“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.

[Illustration:

She Took Turns Rocking Me and Her Dolly. ]

“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.

[Illustration:

Could Hardly Lift Me. ]

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

[Illustration:

I Dropped the Bird. ]

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“Scarcely had David finished when out popped two gray little kittens, twins, both named Kittywinks, saying:

“‘We are the Kittywinkses, and we’ve come to this famous party.’

“Lady Yellow-paw waved her paw and said: ‘One Kittywinks at a time, my dears.’

[Illustration:

The Good Child-Baby. ]

“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.’

“And the Kittywinkses capered back to their places.

“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, _Dum_ and _Dee_.”

* * * * *

“What story?” cried King Grimalkum in a stern voice.

“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.”

“I wish to hear the story,” cried the King. “Tell it.”

“With pleasure, your majesty,” replied the lovely Pussyanita, “but to do so will take a longer time than I have to live.”

“Time shall be granted you,” answered the king. “Tell all you ever heard of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and of the renowned Tabby Furpurr.”

The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began to tell all she had ever heard of Tweedledum and Tweedledee and of the renowned Tabby Furpurr.

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[Illustration:

Tweedledum and Tweedledee. ]

“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.

[Illustration:

The Good-Kind Boy. ]

“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.

“‘Of what kind is the boy?’ asked Mouseroun of Phi.

“‘Of the good kind,’ replied Phi.

“‘How knowest thou that, oh Phi?’

“‘Because the dog and cat come close and show no fear. They ask for food, sure of getting it.’

“‘Tell me, oh learned Phi, why a boy has long claws only on his fore legs.’

“‘Because his hind legs are for walking and standing,’ replied Phi; ‘and for walking and standing, short claws are better than long claws.’

“‘Tell me further,’ inquired Mouseroun, ‘why a cat mews and a dog barks.’

“‘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.’

“‘And why, oh Phi, are some cats born white, and others black, and others gray, and others of divers colors?’

“‘Because,’ answered Phi, ‘it takes all kinds of cats to make a world.’

“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.

“‘Shall we go on and observe what that ill behaved creature will do next?’ asked Phi.

“‘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.’

[Illustration:

Cupep the Careful. ]

“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?’

“‘I am gazing at flies,’ answered the ribboned white cat, ‘and I am called Cupep the Careful.’

“Mouseroun made a sign to Phi to ask of the ribboned white cat why he was called Cupep the Careful. Phi did so.

“‘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.’

“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 _Dum_ and _Dee_. I have often heard of them, but never any good.’

[Illustration:

Tweedledum and Tweedledee. ]

“They went nearer. The sour faced twins sat side by side looking cross and unhappy. Mouseroun motioned to Phi to address them.

“‘Are you not the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called _Dum_ and _Dee_?’ 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?’

“‘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?’

[Illustration]

“‘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’m_ 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.’

[Illustration:

I Bite the Baby’s Fingers. ]

“‘I am sweet and lovely myself,’ said _Dee_.

“‘You’re not!’ said _Dum_.

“‘I am?’ said _Dee_.

“‘Say it again!’ said _Dum_.

“‘I do say it again!’ said _Dee_.

“‘Take that!’ said _Dum_.

“‘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.

“‘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.’

“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!

“‘Dost thou know,’ asked Mouseroun at last, ‘where dwelleth this renowned Tabby Furpurr?’

[Illustration:

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.’

[Illustration:

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.’

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.’”

[Illustration:

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration]

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.

[Illustration:

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?’

[Illustration:

The Boy That Treated Me Kindly. ]

[Illustration:

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!_’

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration]

“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 _you_ 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. _Find out a way of not liking birds! Remember!_‘

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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 the _warm_ all 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, called _Dum_ and _Dee_.

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

[Illustration]

“‘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,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘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,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘Good day to you.’

[Illustration]

“‘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,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘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,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_; 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.’”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration:

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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration]

“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.

[Illustration:

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.