WHEN the spotted cat first found the nest, there was nothing in it, for
it was only just finished. So she said, “I will wait!” for she was a
patient cat, and the summer was before her. She waited a week, and then
she climbed up again to the top of the tree, and peeped into the nest.
There lay two lovely blue eggs, smooth and shining.
The spotted cat said, “Eggs may be good, but young birds are better. I
will wait.” So she waited; and while she was waiting, she caught mice
and rats, and washed herself and slept, and did all that a spotted cat
should do to pass the time away.
When another week had passed, she climbed the tree again and peeped
into the nest. This time there were five eggs. But the spotted cat said
again, “Eggs may be good, but young birds are better. I will wait a
little longer!”
So she waited a little longer and then went up again to look. Ah! there
were five tiny birds, with big eyes and long necks, and yellow beaks
wide open. Then the spotted cat sat down on the branch, and licked
her nose and purred, for she was very happy. “It is worth while to be
patient!” she said.
But when she looked again at the young birds, to see which one she
should take first, she saw that they were very thin,—oh, very, very
thin they were! The spotted cat had never seen anything so thin in her
life.
“Now,” she said to herself, “if I were to wait only a few days longer,
they would grow fat. Thin birds may be good, but fat birds are much
better. I will wait!”
So she waited; and she watched the father-bird bringing worms all day
long to the nest, and said, “Aha! they must be fattening fast! they
will soon be as fat as I wish them to be. Aha! what a good thing it is
to be patient.”
At last, one day she thought, “Surely, now they must be fat enough! I
will not wait another day. Aha! how good they will be!”
So she climbed up the tree, licking her chops all the way and thinking
of the fat young birds. And when she reached the top and looked into
the nest, it was empty!!
Then the spotted cat sat down on the branch and spoke thus, “Well, of
all the horrid, mean, ungrateful creatures I ever saw, those birds are
the horridest, and the meanest, and the most ungrateful! Mi-a-u-ow!!!!”