Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _italic_
[Illustration: WHISK BOUND INTO THE SANDMAN’S BAG]
Three Little Kittens
Who Lost Their Mittens
_By_ Laura Rountree Smith
_Pictures by_ F. R. Morgan
[Illustration: Decoration]
WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO.
RACINE, WISCONSIN
COPYRIGHT 1919 BY
WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO.
RACINE, WISCONSIN
Table of Contents
I LOSING THEIR MITTENS 11
II OLD MOTHER CATASTROPHE 25
III THE THREE LITTLE FOXES 37
IV GRANDPA GROWLER AND THE THREE BEARS 52
V THE SURPRISE PARTY 66
List of Illustrations
WHISK BOUND, INTO THE SANDMAN’S BAG FRONTISPIECE
SHE SENT THEM, WITHOUT SUPPER, TO BED 15
THREE LITTLE FOXES WEARING THREE PAIRS OF MITTENS 19
OLD MOTHER CATASTROPHE STUCK HER HEAD OUT OF THE WINDOW 23
IN WALKED GRANDPA GROWLER 43
THEY WENT ON UNTIL THEY CAME TO THE HOUSE OF THE THREE BEARS 47
THEY BEGAN TO EAT PORRIDGE AS FAST AS THEY COULD 51
THEY RAN THIS WAY AND THAT WAY COOKING AND MAKING COOKIES AND PIES 55
“HURRAH FOR THREE LITTLE KITTENS” 59
THE THREE LITTLE FOXES RAN AWAY AGAIN 63
[Illustration: Three Little Kittens]
CHAPTER I.
LOSING THE MITTENS
Once upon a time Three Little Kittens went out to slide upon the ice.
Old Mother Kit-Cat called after them, “Dot, Tot, Trot, you have
forgotten your mittens.”
They came back pitter, patter, pitter, patter, as fast as their furry
little feet would carry them.
Old Mother Kit-Cat said,
“Oh Three Little Kittens,
Come put on your mittens,”
and she handed Dot a pair of red mittens, and Tot a pair of blue
mittens, and Trot a pair of brown mittens, and the Three Little Kittens
went merrily off to skate.
“I don’t like to wear mittens,” said Dot.
“I don’t like to either,” said Tot.
Trot said, “Oh meow, they squeeze my paws.”
Now, what do you suppose those naughty little kittens did?
They took off their mittens and left them on the bank by the ice pond.
They put on their cunning little skates and began to skate to and fro,
to and fro, and the wind whistled and called,
“I may freeze your paws and toes,
Nobody knows—nobody knows.”
“My long whiskers,” cried Dot, “How cold it is skating on the ice.”
“By my long tail,” said Tot, “How cold my paws are.”
Trot said, “We will go back at once to the bank and get our mittens.”
The Three Little Kittens did not know that Three Little Foxes had crept
up on the bank.
They did not know that the little Foxes said,
“See the nice little mittens,
Left here by the kittens.”
They did not know that the Three Little Foxes had put on their mittens
and had run away, waving their beautiful tails behind them.
When the Three Little Kittens got to the bank and saw that their
mittens were gone, Dot and Tot cried together,
“We are sad little Kittens,
We have lost our new mittens.”
Brave little Trot said,
“We are smart little Kittens,
We’ll go find our mittens.”
Then Dot and Tot dried their eyes on their little wee pocket
handkerchiefs and said, “You are so cheerful brother Trot we will
follow where you lead.”
The Three Little Kittens looked one hour and thirty-six minutes for
their mittens, but they could not find them and so they went sadly
homeward.
[Illustration: SHE SENT THEM, WITHOUT SUPPER, TO BED]
Old Mother Kit-Cat stood in the doorway looking for them.
She cried,
“Go back, go back you naughty Kittens,
Go back and pick up your nice new mittens.”
The Three Little Kittens hung their heads and said,
“We put them on the bank to dry,
We hope to find them by and by.”
“You naughty Kittens” Old Kit-Cat said.
She sent them, without supper, to bed.
The Three Little Kittens cried, “Meow, meow, meow. Can’t we have a dish
of milk? Can’t we have a chicken bone?”
Old Mother Kit-Cat shook her head, so the Three Little Kittens went
pit-a-pat pit-a-pat, up stairs to bed.
They were so hungry they kept talking about good things to eat and that
made them want their supper more and more.
“Fish and bones” said Dot, “Milk and cream,” said Tot, “Meat and gravy”
said Trot.
Old Mother Kit-Cat called,
“Hush, be still, for over the hill,
The Sandman comes his bag to fill.”
At this, the Three Little Kittens pulled the covers high up over their
heads, for they did not want the Sandman to tuck them in his bag.
ALL THIS TIME THREE LITTLE FOXES WEARING THREE PAIRS OF MITTENS WERE
DANCING MERRILY IN THE MOONLIGHT.
The Sandman came up over the hill and peeped in at the window.
He saw the beds where the Three Little Kittens lay with the covers
pulled up over their heads. He sang softly,
“Oh ho, Little Kittens,
I saw your lost mittens.”
“Where? Where? Where?” cried the Three Little Kittens in one breath
uncovering their heads.
[Illustration: THREE LITTLE FOXES WEARING THREE PAIRS OF MITTENS]
The Sandman answered in a sing-song-lazy kind of way,
“Come jump in the sack,
I have on my back.”
The Three Little Kittens were thinking so hard about their mittens that
they forgot to be afraid and they went whisk! bound! into the Sandman’s
sack and rode merrily far away over hill and dale, away, away, away.
Suddenly the Sandman’s sack broke and out fell the Three Little Kittens.
The Sandman did not notice what had happened, and he ran on leaving the
Three Little Kittens behind him.
They saw a little wee house in the woods and ran and knocked on the
door.
Old Mother Catastrophe, the oldest Cat in the world stuck her head out
of the window and called,
“Did you happen to have a mishap?
You sadly disturbed me from my nap.”
The Three Little Kittens answered,
“Old Mother Catastrophe, kind and good,
We are Three Little Kittens lost in the wood.”
Old Mother Catastrophe always knew what to do, she opened her door and
hugged and kissed the Three Little Kittens and said to the delight of
all, “NOW FOR THE COOKIE JAR.”
She put a cookie jar on the floor and the Three Little Kittens put in
their three little paws without saying “By your leave, or thank you,
or if you please.”
Then what do you suppose happened?
The cookie jar rose in the air and settled down out of reach, on the
highest shelf in the pantry.
The Three Little Kittens cried “Oh” and “Ah” and “What happened to the
cookie jar?”
Old Mother Catastrophe said,
“I do not really mean to tease,
But learn some little words like these,
THANK YOU—say, and—IF YOU PLEASE.”
The Three Little Kittens said, “Thank you, thank you, please give us a
cookie, please do.”
[Illustration: OLD MOTHER CATASTROPHE STUCK HER HEAD OUT OF THE WINDOW]
At that, the cookie-jar floated down again and they ate cookies to
their hearts’ content.
They told Old Mother Catastrophe about their lost mittens but she only
shook her wise old head and said,
“Enough said, enough said,
Night time is the time for bed.”
She tucked the Three Little Kittens up in her own bed.
Dot and Tot and Trot fell asleep wondering about their lost mittens.
ALL THIS TIME THREE LITTLE FOXES WEARING THREE PAIRS OF MITTENS WERE
DANCING MERRILY IN THE MOONLIGHT.