[Illustration]
The ship went on her way. It was more than a year when they got to
that far off land.
The man who took the cat, had, as was said, the name of Jack. He left
the ship when he got to the land, and went to see the king. The king
was glad to see Jack, and told him, he must stay and dine with him.
When they went to the room to dine, they saw that rats and mice were
in it too, and had eat much of the food. They saw the rats and mice
jump down and run when they went in the room.
The king was in a rage, that he had lost his meal. Jack said to him,
"Why do you let the rats and mice do so?" "I do not know how to help
it," said the king. "I will give a pile of gold to one who will rid me
of them."
Then Jack was glad. He said to the king, "If you will give me a pile
of gold, I will rid you of the rats and mice." The king said, "You are
in fun. You do not know how to get rid of them." Jack said, "We will
see." So the next day, he put the cat in a bag, and went with the bag
in his arm to the king. Puss did not like to be shut up in the bag,
and made much fuss.
The king was glad to see Jack, and said, "Let me see what you have in
your bag." But Jack said, "Not just yet; wait till we see the rats
and mice."
So they went to the room to dine. The rats and mice were at the food
just as they had been. Jack took the cord off the bag, and took out
the cat. The king did not know what a cat was; for he had no cats in
his land.
Jack held her in his arms till she had lost her fear, and then set
her down with the rats and mice. She soon made them know what a cat
was, and put them in such fear that they all fled. The king was so
glad that he did not know what to do.
They sat down to dine. Not a rat came out of its hole. The king ate
his meal with joy, and puss sat on his knee and fed out of his dish.
The king told Jack he must let him keep the cat. Jack said, "I will
give her to you, but you must give me the pile of gold." The king was
glad to keep the cat and pay the gold. So Jack put the gold in the
bag that had held the cat, and went back to the ship.
A year more went by, ere Jack and his ship came back to port. He soon
went to see Dick, with the bag of gold. The man and the girl were
both glad to find that Jack had sold what they gave him, and that he
had got a good deal for them. But when Jack told them of the cat, and
took out the bag of gold, they did not know what to say. And when poor
Dick was told that it was all for him, he had to cry for joy, and all
the rest wept with him, for they were all fond of Dick now, he had
come to be such a good boy.
"Well, Dick," said Jack, "what will you do with all this gold? Let us
see what will be best." So they all said much, and sat up till it was
late, to talk of Dick and his pile of gold.
At last Dick said, "I will give some of it to each of you, who have
been so good and kind to me. I will take part of the rest and lay it
out upon my mind, that I may be wise when I grow to be a man. And what
is left I will lay up, so that when I am a man, I will have it to
work with, that I may grow to be rich; for to be good, and wise, and
rich, is what I wish."
They all said Dick knew what was best. So that is what was done with
the pile of gold that the king gave for the cat.
[Illustration: FINIS]
Transcriber's Note:
Minor punctuation errors have been amended without note.
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.