"NA, LASS," SAID CRACKER, "I'LL NO DRINK THE LITTLE 'UN'S MILK."
But it is time, said Shireen, that I should return in the home of my
dear mistress, the beautiful young Beebee, and the events of my own
early days. It may be thought a descent from the heroic, and yet I
don't know, Warlock; for you know a cat, or even a Scotch terrier, may
show real heroism at times.
I do not want to boast, but I must tell you, children, that I once had a
terrible encounter with a wild lion in the forest, and that I came off
victorious. Oh, dear me, I should not have nerve enough for so awful an
adventure now, but then I knew not what fear was.
My lovely mistress then used to take me out into the woods with her.
She rode upon a charming milk-white steed, with tail and mane dyed
crimson, and was attended by many armed horsemen. I used to sit in
front of her on the saddle.
But one day a bird on a bough that bent very low over us attracted my
attention, while Shireen stopped her horse, and was talking to one of
her armed attendants.
I sprang at once into the tree to seize the bird, that I might take it
home in triumph to my mother. Alas! I not only missed my bird, but I
lost my mistress.
For when I descended the bough again no one was there. The whole
cavalcade had ridden on. What should I do? I ran hither and thither,
mewing and crying in terror and anguish, but no one came near me. Had I
been an older cat I might easily have found my way back. But I was then
only four months old, and knew not what to do, or which way to turn.
I descended to the ground, however, and did the best thing perhaps that
I could have done. I sat down on the greensward and determined to wait.
My mistress, I felt sure, would send back for me as soon as she missed
me.
But, as ill-luck would have it, a small nut fell from a tree close to my
nose. I jumped to my feet in a moment. What a game I did have to be
sure with that nut! My mistress, my mother, every creature in the world
was forgotten in the mad excitement of that merry game. I played and
played till the shades of evening fell around me, then tired, exhausted,
and hungry, yet not knowing where to look for food, I threw myself down
under a bush and went fast asleep.
I awoke at last, though how long I had slept I could not tell, nor could
I tell my whereabouts, for in my mad merry game I must have gone miles
away from the spot where I had been lost. I was lost now, indeed! And
I was also dreadfully frightened, for the forest all around me resounded
with the cries and the roaring of wild beasts. I had heard my mother
speak of these, and how terrible they all were, and how quickly they
could cranch the life out of the biggest cat that ever lived. But,
strange to say, I was not a bit afraid.
The moon was shining as bright as day, so I got up and determined I
would try to find my way out of the awful forest. Luck favoured me for
once. Not that my situation was changed much for the better, for I now
found myself in a broad or treeless waste; but the awful noise of the
wild beasts no longer confused me, and I thought I would soon be home.
That plain was wider far than I had any idea of, and when the moon went
down at last, after walking some distance further, I once more lay down
to sleep. It was grey dawn when I awoke, and found I was not far from
another forest. This I entered. But I had not gone far when a loud
peal of thunder seemed to shake the earth to its very foundation, and I
thought for a moment that the trees were going to fall upon me and crush
my life out. I looked up, and lo! instead of thunder I found that the
awful sound proceeded from a monster cat with eyes like yellow fire, and
great teeth as thick as my tail.
I knew it was a lion, so I determined to slay him where he stood, and
advanced towards him with this bold intent.
I arched my back to make myself look as terrible as possible, and my
hair standing all on end made me look double the size. Then I growled,
but not _quite_ so loud as the lion. The lion had lain down for a
spring, but I am sure he had never seen the like of me before.
On I marched, half sideways.
The lion looked droll and puzzled.
I was within a yard of him now, still walking half sideways, with arched
back and one foot in the air. I did this for effect.
"Fuss-ss! Fut! Sphut!"
I jumped directly at his face. But I never got near him. With a yell
of terror he sprang high in the air, then made off into the dark depths
of the forest as fast as his four legs could carry him.
My adventure was over, for I saw him no more; but oh, joy! half-an-hour
after this, just as the beautiful sun was rising, red and rosy, over the
wooded hills, something as white as snow came feathering along towards
me. It was my own dear blue-eyed mother, and in two hours' time I was
safely home again and on my little mistress's lap.
The days and weeks flew by, oh, so quickly at my Persian home, and when
I look back to them now it is with some degree of regret that I did not
then realise my happiness. It is ever thus, and even mankind himself
laments the loss of his youth. The days of the young are golden, their
pathway leads over the soft sward; there are flowers at _every_ side and
trees nod green above; beyond is the azure sky, and the young think that
storms will never arise, that their path will ay be smooth, that the
trees will never be stripped of their foliage, nor the bright flowers
cease to blow. Alas! and alas! for the dreams of youth.
Well, my youth or my kittenhood came to an end. And I think it came all
at once. I was in the garden one day all by myself, when suddenly I was
confronted with a monster brown rat of a breed that grows larger in
Persia, they tell me, than anywhere else in the world.
Will you believe me, children, when I tell you that I felt more afraid
of that rat than I had been of the lion? The awful beast did not even
run away, and I knew it would be a battle to the bitter end.
"Only you, is it?" he said. "Fiss! I'm not afraid of a kitten. Your
father killed my brother, and I mean to be revenged on you. Fiss!"
Then the fight began. How long it lasted I do not know. But in the end
I was conqueror. What mattered it that I was bitten all about the face
and feet, or my beautiful white coat bedabbled with blood!
Oh, that was a proud moment when I rushed in to my mother's presence
dragging my dead enemy across the mosaic floor. He was far too big to
lift and carry.
I came in growling, feeling _every_ inch a heroine. Nor would I permit
my brother to touch my rat. My mother seemed very proud of me now, and
as soon as the slave came and carried away the trophy of my triumph,
mother commenced to clean my coat and bathe my wounds with her soft warm
tongue. I was soon well, but felt another being now, and would have
been quite ashamed to play any longer with my mother. I even deserted
the cushion on which I had slept so long, and slept higher up on an
ottoman.
I now attached myself more and more to my young mistress Beebee, and I
became her favourite and her pet. I was almost constantly by her side
during the day, except when on the warpath slaying huge rats, and I
always occupied her lovely sleeping apartment at night.
But young though she was, Beebee was never idle. And her story which
she told me one day, weeping bitterly, was, I thought, a very sad one.
"My own Shireen," she said, "you see how hard at work they keep me. For
to me, Shireen, study is indeed the hardest of work. But my teachers
seldom leave me. I have a European lady to teach me English. This is
the best of it, and oh, how I wish I were English, and free; as it is, I
am but a slave. But this dear lady is good to me, and gives me lovely
fairy-tale books to read in her own language; but yet these I must hide
from the fierce-eyed eunuchs who guard me night and day. I am also
taught music, the piano, and the zither, and I am taught to sing. Then
a scion of the prophet--that old, old man with the long dyed beard, and
the cloak of camel's hair--teaches me Sanscrit and the higher branches
of the Persian, so that my poor little head is turned, and my night is
often passed in weeping and dreaming.
"I have no mother, my sweet Shireen. Look at these pearls and rubies
and amethysts; I would give them all, all to have a mother, if only for
a month."