[Illustration:
WHEN SHE WAS SEWING I JUMPED UPON HER SHOULDER. (_Page 54._)
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
CATS’ ARABIAN NIGHTS
OR
KING GRIMALKUM
BY ABBY MORTON DIAZ
_PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED
BY FRANCIS, BOZ, PALMER COX, AND OTHERS_
[Illustration]
BOSTON
D. LOTHROP COMPANY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT, 1881,
BY
D. LOTHROP COMPANY.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
KING GRIMALKUM AND PUSSYANITA 9
THE STORY OF PINKY-WHITE 14
THE STORY OF BLACK VELVET 44
WHAT SNOWBALL TOLD 67
MADAME PUSSY HUNTER’S STORY 71
THE SPRY WHITE KITTEN’S STORY 77
MRS. BEULAH BLACK’S STORY 83
TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE 102
STORY OF MISTRESS TABBY FURPURR 119
THE STORY OF THE FEEBLE CAT AND HER NINE 141
LIVES
THE STORY OF THE TWO CHARCOALS AND THE 169
FOUR SPEKKUMS
THE STORY OF THE JANJIBO AND OF THE FROG 190
AND THE RAT
WHAT THE MOTHER RAT TOLD 198
A SPINNING STORY 214
THE BLIND MICE STORY 215
THE AIR-BALL STORY 216
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
How It Happened.
]
One evening when a company of children and older people were looking at
funny cat-pictures and telling cat-stories, a little ten-year-old girl
asked: “Why can there not be a Cats’ Arabian Nights Story Book?”
“There would have to be a Cat King, or Emperor, or Sultan,” said her
next older sister.
“And a Cat Queen, or Empress, or Sultaness,” said their cousin Joe, the
sailor.
“And she would have to go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on,
and on, telling stories in order to save her own life,” said their
cousin Lucia.
“I propose,” said uncle Fred, “that cousin Lucia put together a Cats’
Arabian Nights for little children, and have it ready to read to our
little children when they all shall come next summer with their fathers
and mothers.”
“Oh yes! Yes! Do! Pray do! Won’t you do it? Say you will! Say you will!”
cried many voices.
“I think it will be fun to do it,” said cousin Lucia, “if you allow me
to put in some make believe and nonsense, if I want to.”
“Certainly!” was the cry. “Put in anything. Anything you please!”
Cousin Lucia said she was willing to try, and thus it happened that the
summer-children and others got a story book beginning, as all story
books should begin, with—once upon a time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
King Grimalkum and Pussyanita;
OR,
The Cats’ Arabian Nights.
]
ONCE upon a time the aged Tommobus, King of the Cats, went forth a
hunting and returned with a wound which caused his death. So Tommobus
died and Grimalkum the Powerful became King in his stead.
King Grimalkum was of course jet black all over without a single white
hair, or he could not have been made king, and his eyes were of the true
royal yellow.
The first act of King Grimalkum’s reign was one of cruelty. He sent
forth an order declaring that black, maltese, and gray, were the only
colors to be allowed for cats, and that all cats which were white or
yellow, or which had more white or yellow hairs than dark ones should
not be permitted to live. Judges were appointed to measure the spots.
This order caused great affright among the lighter cats. The wholly
white and wholly yellow hid themselves or fled to distant places, and
the partly white and partly yellow went in haste to have their dark
spots measured by the judges.
Among those who came before the judges was Pussyanita, a beautiful
creature just out of kittenhood. Her playfulness and sweet disposition
made her beloved by all.
Alas! it was soon made known by the judges that the dark of Pussyanita
measured many less hairs than her white ones. This caused great sorrow,
and King Grimalkum was begged to spare her life.
“Spare her life! Not if she were twenty Pussyanitas!” cried the King;
which was a foolish answer, since she could not have been twenty
Pussyanitas, or even nineteen.
Now this sweet and gentle creature was so much beloved, that no one
could be found willing to hurt a single hair of her. When King Grimalkum
heard this he became furious with anger, and commanded that she be
brought to him at once, saying that he himself would attend to the
business, and make quick work of it. So the lovely Pussyanita was
brought before the King.
Her loveliness did not soften his heart; on the contrary he was made
more furious than ever by seeing that she sat licking her fur as quietly
as if sitting in her own sunny garden spot.
“What are you doing that for, you silly thing?” he cried. “Don’t you
know you have but a few moments to live?”
“Yes, your majesty,” replied the lovely Pussyanita, “but I cannot endure
a speck of dirt, and with good reason, for in me you see a descendant,
and great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great
grandchild of the unhappy and happy Pinky-white. Your majesty must have
heard of Pinky-white.”
“Never,” said the king, sternly. “But why do you call her unhappy and
happy? There is no sense in that.”
“She was not unhappy and happy at the same time,” said Pussyanita. “She
was first unhappy and afterwards happy.”
“How was that?” asked the king. “And supposing you _are_ the great,
great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great granddaughter of
Pinky-white, what has that to do with your being unable to endure a
speck of dirt?”
Said the lovely Pussyanita, “It would give me pleasure, your majesty, to
explain why my great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times
great grandmother was first unhappy, and why she was afterwards happy,
also supposing I _am_ the great, great, great, great, great,
twenty-seven times great granddaughter of Pinky-white, what that has to
do with my being unable to endure a speck of dirt; it would give me
pleasure, I say, to explain all this, but it would take a longer time
than I have to live.”
“Time shall be granted you,” said the king, “for I am curious to know
why your great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great
grandmother Pinky-white was unhappy and why she was happy, and to know
why your being her great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times
great granddaughter should be a reason why you are unable to endure a
speck of dirt.”
“At your majesty’s request,” replied Pussyanita, “I will tell you the
story of my great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great
grandmother Pinky-white, as she herself told it, when ordered to do so,
at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.”
“Stop!” cried the king. “Why was your great, great, great, great, great,
twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white ordered to tell her
story at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party? Who was Lady Yellow-paw? Why
was her party famous?”
“Please your majesty,” replied Pussyanita, “I shall be happy to explain
to your majesty who was Lady Yellow-paw, and why her party was famous,
and why my great, great, great, great, great, twenty-seven times great
grandmother Pinky-white was ordered to tell her story at that party, but
your majesty must perceive that to do all this will require much time.”
“Begin then!” cried the king. “Begin with your Lady Yellow-paw and her
famous party, and then go on to your twenty-seven times great
grandmother; and do not waste time waiting or waste words in the
telling.”
The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began with Lady Yellow-paw and her
famous party, and then went on to tell the story of Pinky-white as told
by herself at that famous party.
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
The Story of Pinky-White.
]
“The first that I knew of myself, I found myself by the side of my
mother, among some hay in a basket along with three other kittens of my
own age and size. Two of our number were quickly stolen from us. It will
thus be seen that I had scarcely begun to live before I began to be
unhappy. As I grew older I became more and more unhappy, for the place
was cold, the floor was hard, our mother cuffed us, and girl-Mary, who
owned us, knew not the best way of stroking.
[Illustration:
Girl-Jane and Girl-Mary.
]
“One day when girl-Mary sat by our basket, girl-Jane came down there
bringing her own cat and kittens. Girl-Jane had called to see us many
times, and I had been pleased with the looks of her face, and the sounds
of her voice, and the touches of her fingers; and she knew the best way
of stroking. “Girl-Jane was smaller than girl-Mary, but she knew more.
Girl-Jane said she wanted girl-Mary to change kittens with her. She
wanted me and Minnie because we were whiter than her kittens.
“‘No, Jane,’ said girl-Mary, ‘I can’t change, for you know mine are all
named, and besides your cat would not like it. She knows what we are
talking about. Don’t you see how anxious she looks?’
“It made me unhappy to hear this. I wanted to go with girl-Jane, away
from the cold place, and the hard floor, and my cross mother and be
stroked the best way. Minnie too wished to go. She cried when girl-Mary
gave back the other kittens. As for me, I could only turn away and hide
my sorrowful face.
“My next unhappiness was the unhappiness of being whipped with a rod. An
old lady wished for a cat to catch her mice and thought she would take a
kitten and teach it to behave well. I was carried to her home. I had
here a warm place, and a carpet, and the old lady did not stroke at all,
so that I was not made unhappy by bad stroking. But my unhappiness was
great, on account of the rod. It was rod here and rod there; rod on the
pantry shelf and rod on the chair-cushion; rod on the parlor sofa and
rod on the best bed; rod at the milk pitcher, and rod at the custard
pie.
[Illustration:
Well Made for Catching.
]
“A greater unhappiness must now be told. For this greater unhappiness
was the cause of another unhappiness even greater than this—oh, very
much greater! It was the cause of a long and dreadful unhappiness in
which I nearly starved to death. It was something which would make any
and every cat unhappy. It was this. I could not catch well. Mice, birds,
moles, bats, squirrels, rabbits, almost always got away from me. I think
I must have been born short-clawed.
“In a corner of the garden was a chicken-coop. This chicken-coop was
well made for catching. It would seem that all a cat need do was to lie
quietly on top, looking over the edge, and when a chicken popped out,
spring and catch it. Any other cat would have done all this. The next
house cat did do all this. I did not do all this. I lay quietly on top
of the chicken-coop. I looked over the edge, and when a chicken popped
out I sprang. I did everything the next house cat did _except_ to catch
the chicken.
[Illustration:
I Did My Best.
]
“I had the same luck in fishing. There was a stream at the bottom of our
garden and at its edge were large mossy rocks on which a cat might
stretch herself in the sun, or if the day were hot she might lie in
their cool shade. Trees grew near by and any other cat would have often
caught a bird among their branches. The next house cat did this. I did
not do this. Any other cat than myself would have now and then caught a
fish in the stream at the foot of the rocks. The next house cat did
this. I did not do this. I often lay close to the water—as shown how to
do by the next house cat, and watched the fishes as they glided past.
When one rose to the top I did my best to catch it, but even did I have
the luck to touch one, it was sure to slip out and away. I used to think
sometimes that if fishes had not been made so slippery I could have held
on, but then the next house cat held on to slippery fishes. I am almost
sure I must have been born short-clawed.
[Illustration:
Bold Little Thing!
]
“As for squirrels and rabbits, they seemed at last to be not a bit
afraid of me, even when I had become a full-grown cat. One saucy
squirrel used to tease me by coming very near and then darting out of my
reach. This squirrel became very bold. He even popped in at the doors
and windows. One day when I was asleep on the sofa by the library
window, he ran as near me as the back of the sofa—bold little thing!
and by the time I had turned over he was out of the window, and I soon
got sight of his bushy tail whisking through the tall tree-tops, and of
his little bright eyes looking down at me through the leaves. He would
not have got away so easily from the next house cat. There can be no
doubt but that I must have been born short-clawed.
“The next house cat caught mice. I did not. I might have caught some had
not the mouse-holes been made so small. But then the next house cat had
the same kind of mouse-holes I had.
[Illustration:
The Next House Cat
]
“Sometimes I thought if I had been a Tabby I might have caught as well
as the next house cat. But then I could not be a Tabby.
“One day—oh unhappy day! the next house cat’s mistress came to see my
mistress, and they talked of cats. I lay outside under the open window
and heard every word, and understood. Mistresses, as you very well know,
dear Lady Yellow-paw—as all of you at this famous party very well
know—mistresses have no idea how much their cats can understand.
“Said my mistress, ‘Pinky-white is the neatest cat that ever was seen.
She will have no dirt on her fur. She licks off every speck. She keeps
herself snow white. And I have taught her to behave well. I no longer
keep a rod. But she catches no mice.’
“‘You feed her too well,’ said the next house cat’s mistress. ‘Send her
to Miss Rhody and get you a mouser. Miss Rhody is out of a cat and is
waiting to find a neat one. Miss Rhody has managed cats these forty
years and knows how to do it. Miss Rhody never feeds a cat. If it won’t
catch mice she drowns it.’
“‘I will send Pinky-white to Miss Rhody to-morrow,’ said my mistress.
“This frightened me. Oh what should I do? What could I do? In my agony
of distress I ran round and round in a circle in the potato patch, tore
up the squash vines, and at last I sprang over the high wall, and in
that house and garden I was never seen more.
[Illustration:
But Alas! Three Others Were Gnawing the Bone.
]
“Then began the terrible unhappiness of my life. No tongue can tell what
I suffered. Hiding behind fences, under barns, in empty pig-styes, empty
hen-houses; being driven from back doors, hooted at by boys, barked at
by dogs, and hungry, hungry, hungry, oh so hungry!—for I could not catch
well—and always dirty! Ah! none who have not felt it can know the
unhappiness of a cat without a home!
“One night I thought surely I should taste a bit of meat. A
black-and-white kitten kindly told me of a large bone she had seen in a
yard, and we scampered to that yard. But alas! three others were already
gnawing the bone and there was nothing on the bone, for a tommy cat had
kept the others away till he had eaten off all the meat and then he sat
seeing them gnaw the bare bone. I did not gnaw. I did not wish to gnaw
bare bone.
“One day a dreadful thing happened to me. It was when I was hungrier
than I had ever been before, though I had been very hungry. I was so
hungry I thought I could not live, and I went into the fields to try to
catch something. It was a silly thing for me to try to catch a rat when
I was short-clawed.
“I did. A great rat went into a field and I thought, oh if I could only
get that rat! I _must_ have that rat! I _must_!
“I put myself down flat and crept behind that rat. He went creeping
through some wheat and corn and I crept behind, quicker than he, for I
could creep quicker. He went up a large stalk to his nest. I sprang up
and grabbed him, but alas! I could not take good hold and he got away
and sprang at me and the mother rat sprang out at me and they bit me,
and would have killed me, but I got away and ran with all my might, and
lay down under some bushes, and pretty soon that same black and white
kitten came and licked the blood off me and brought me a mole to eat, or
I never should have stirred from that spot.
“As the weather grew colder I suffered more and more. I longed for a
home.
“Often at evening I ran behind persons hoping to be invited to their
houses, but they always drove me back.
“During all this time I was obliged to endure the distress of knowing
that my fur was not perfectly clean.
“When winter came my unhappiness was greater than it had ever been
before, though it had already been very great.
“But one day, oh joyful day! my unhappiness came to an end, oh joyful
end! I will tell how this happened.
[Illustration:
He Went Up a Large Stalk to His Nest.
]
[Illustration:
The Kind Maiden.
]
“The ground was covered with snow, slosh and mud. I had been running
hither and thither, under barns, in coal cellars, and in other places
trying to catch something, but having had the misfortune, as I have
already told your ladyship, the misfortune of being born short-clawed, I
had caught nothing. Begrimed with dirt, hungry, cold, forlorn, I was on
my way to my jumping spot. This was the corner of a wall near a back
door. It was also near to some bushes and trees all snugly fenced in,
and under these I had often hid myself and tried to clean my fur and
watched for the back door to open. I called it my jumping spot because
sometimes I jumped from that spot and got in at the back door and
snatched a bit from the plate of the cat which belonged to the house.
Sometimes a kind maiden had thrown me scraps from one of the windows.
“Now just as I was to jump from my jumping spot I saw this kind maiden
coming down the steps. She had her pet kitten in her arms and was
tending it with care. ‘Oh pet kitten! pet kitten!’ I mewed to it. ‘How
little you know the unhappiness of a cat without a home!’ Mewing this, I
hung my tail and was slinking out of sight when I heard these words.
“‘Puss! Puss! Pussy! Pussy! Puss!’ How I wished I could think they were
spoken to me! ‘Pussy! Poor Pussy! Here Pussy!’ I turned my head, but
kept moving. ‘Pussy! Pussy! Pussy! Puss! Poor Pussy! Pussy! Pussy! Here
Pussy! Poor Pussy!’ I stopped.
“‘Pussy! Here Pussy! come Pussy!’
“Yes! they were—they were spoken to me! She was looking at me! ‘Good old
Pussy! come here, good old Pussy!’
“She held out her hand. I dared not go. She went in and placed a saucer
of milk on the kitchen hearth, called me and left the door open, and
went to another room. I crept in to the hearth, and lapped, lapped,
lapped, oh how I did lap! No tongue can tell the sweetness of that milk!
[Illustration:
She Took Me Up.
]
“As soon as I had eaten the milk I examined the things in the room, then
I rolled over and over on the door mat to get the coal dust off, then I
sat on the hearth and licked myself clean. The cook came in and shook
the broom at me and cried: ‘Scat! Scat!’ Just then the kind maiden
showed her face at the door. ‘Here’s a strange cat!’ the cook said to
her. ‘We don’t want another cat!’
“‘Why! how white and clean she has made herself,’ said the maiden. ‘She
is a neat cat. I have often seen her cleaning herself out under the
bushes. I mean to keep her. She is just the cat for poor Ellen.’
“I went and rubbed against her clothes, rubbed hard, and tried to purr
loud enough to make her understand that I said in purr language, ‘I love
you, love you. Don’t send me away!’
“Oh the happiness of a cat with a good home! I had now a good home. I
was held in laps, stroked well, talked to, even kissed. I had warm milk,
meat scraps, and plenty of fish. I was not expected to catch. I wonder
why cats are almost always expected to catch.
“I went every day to see poor Ellen. I used to go up after breakfast and
scratch the door and get myself let in. When she combed her hair I sat
close to her looking-glass, and looked at her while she combed her hair,
and when she sat down to rest I lay on the floor and waited, and when
she put on her shoes I kept at her feet, and rubbed her feet, and then I
rubbed against her a good deal and purred to be taken up, and she took
me up. Poor Ellen could not walk much but she could hold me. She liked
me because I kept myself so clean and white.
[Illustration:
The Hen’s Lesson in Neatness.
]
“The maiden said she never before saw a cat which could not endure a
speck of dirt. She said she believed I taught her other cats to be neat.
This might not have been true, but it was certainly true that while I
was with them the other cats were very careful to clean themselves after
eating. One day she called the family to see us. ‘Look!’ she cried.
‘Look at my cat that cannot endure a speck of dirt! I do believe that
rooster has brought his hen to make her take a lesson in neatness.’
“This might not have been true, either. He might have brought her to
make her take a lesson in neatness, or he might have brought her for the
scraps we often left.
“Speaking of hens, a chicken made something happen to me which does not
often happen to a cat. Our hen hatched out a brood of chickens and while
they were little she was carried off by a fox. All the chickens died
except two, and one of these had a weak throat. When the fox carried off
the hen he stepped on that little chicken’s neck and it had a weak
throat ever after. One day when I was in a far corner of the garden I
heard a curious noise like a choking, or a peeping, but more like a
choking than a peeping. I watched, and presently that little chicken
came out of the grass. I should have sprung upon it if I had not seen
that it was in distress and was coming to me for help. It had got a bug
stuck in its throat. It came close to me and I licked it, and purred to
it and tried to cover it over with myself just as its own mother used
to. Pretty soon it swallowed that bug.
“After this it often came to me to be licked and purred to when it had a
bug or a worm stuck in its throat, and at last it brought the other
chicken, and I tried to be a mother to them both, for my dear little
kittens had all been sent away. The other chicken grew faster than the
first one; it had a strong throat to swallow with. I took great care of
them both and licked them clean, for I could not bear a speck of dirt on
them any more than if they had been my kittens.
[Illustration:
I Tried to Be a Mother to Them Both.
]
“Now when the maiden saw me doing this she told her brother that if I
could live peaceably with chickens I could with birds, and that she
meant to try me. She first fed me well then brought to me a tame bird.
Its wings had been clipped so that it could not fly and it was very
hungry. It was afraid of me and it hopped round crying its bird kind of
cry. But I did not touch it and when it saw me licking the chicken it
hopped near me to get some rice which both the chickens were eating. In
a few days the bird and I were good friends. He let me lick him and he
used to sit on my head and sing, and we all ate our meals together until
the chickens died. The first one died of its weak throat and the other
died of the bite of a cat. One day a girl brought her cat to see us. She
kept her up high on her shoulders, away from us, but when that other
chicken put its head out to pick up a bug, that cat jumped down quick
and caught that chicken by the head, and it died afterwards.
[Illustration:
The Happy Family.
]
“But before these died the maiden and her brother tamed some young
guinea pigs and some young white mice, and made them grow up friends.
They stayed in a pen close to ours until we all became acquainted with
each other and then the slats between the pens were taken off, and the
two pens were made into one and we all lived together. I must own that
at first I did wish to catch a mouse just for the sake of catching one,
and though born short-clawed I could no doubt have caught one in a pen,
but the maiden thought I might have such a wish and pared my claws. I
was very happy with my new friends. After I knew the little mice I had
no wish to catch them. I played with them and let them run over my back.
When one comes to know mice, one likes their company and finds them very
agreeable and playful and lively.
“The maiden’s brother said they might as well have a Happy Family, and
he trained some big birds and other birds and they came to live with us
and we were a very Happy Family.
“When the maiden and her brother went away to live in another place they
sold us to a showman to put in his show. The showman travels about the
country showing his show. A few days ago the wagon we were in upset and
our door came open. The birds flew away, the mice hid under a rock and
the guinea pigs ran into the woods. I am on my way back home, and I
shall stay in this place only long enough to attend your ladyship’s
famous party.
“Said Lady Yellow-paw to my great, great, great, great, great,
twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white, when she had ended her
story, said Lady Yellow-paw: ‘Pinky-white, you do not speak of having a
dog in your Happy Family.’
[Illustration:
I Used to Play With a Dog’s Tail!
]
“She had hardly said this before a tittering, chuckling, clicking noise
was heard and out spoke a pert little spotted black-and-white kitten and
said, ‘Te! he! he! I used to play with a dog’s tail! A black,
peeked-nosed dog’s tail, and his name was Trippy; and he was good to me.
He had a curly tail.’
“‘Silence!’ cried the spotted black-and-white kitten’s mother. ‘Don’t
you know better than to speak up at a famous party—a little thing like
you? Silence!’
“‘Trippy liked me after you went away,’ cried another kitten; a white
one. ‘He liked me better than he liked you. He let me play with his
ears, and sleep on his neck, and he cried for me when I was out of his
sight. When somebody threw me in the water, Trippy took me out with his
mouth.’
[Illustration:
He Took Me Out.
]
“This kitten’s mother was not at the party, but its snappish old aunt,
Black Velvet, was there and she gave it a smart box on the ear. ‘It is a
pity,’ said she, ‘if at a famous party like this we older ones cannot be
heard for the noise of these pert little minxes. I myself could tell a
strange story; a story stranger far than even the one just heard from
that very neat puss, Pinky-white, with her Happy and her Unhappy, and
her Not a Speck of Dirt! Was she blown off a tree in a whirlwind? Answer
me that; or did she go to sea in a baby’s crib? Answer me that.’
“Said Lady Yellow-paw to Black Velvet, ‘Let me hear your strange story,
how you were blown off a tree in a whirlwind, and how you came to go to
sea in a baby’s crib.’
“Here the cat that hadn’t common sense rushed round the ring and stood
on her head and said, ‘I can tell the strangest story of all, for I can
tell why I haven’t got common sense.’”
When the lovely Pussyanita had told thus far she stopped suddenly and
said to King Grimalkum, “I beg your majesty’s pardon. Oh King Grimalkum,
you only wished to hear the story of my great, great, great, great,
great, twenty-seven times great grandmother Pinky-white, and I have
told, besides this, of the spotted black-and-white kitten who played
with the peeked-nosed little black dog’s tail, and of the white kitten
he took out of the water, and have also spoken of Black Velvet who was
blown off a tree in a whirlwind and afterwards went to sea in a baby’s
crib, and of the cat who hadn’t common sense—I will say no more.”
“You shall say more,” said King Grimalkum, sternly. “I can never close
my eyes to slumber until I know how it happened that Black Velvet was
blown off a tree in a whirlwind and afterwards went to sea in a baby’s
crib.
“A baby’s crib is a strange thing to go to sea in; why not in a boat? or
in a tub? or even on a board? Why go to sea at all, when there is plenty
of ground, and when cats hate water? And as for that other cat, why had
she not common sense? She needed common sense. Every cat needs common
sense.”
“I can tell your majesty in a few words why the cat that hadn’t common
sense hadn’t common sense,” replied Pussyanita. “It was because she lost
it. Do you ask how? I answer by a looking-glass and a clock.
“When quite young she looked in a looking-glass and saw herself there,
and thought it was another cat staring at her, and got mad at that other
cat, and flew at it, and broke the glass, and frightened herself so that
she ran all over the house and when she came to the clock the clock door
was open and she jumped in. The clock door got shut and she had long to
stay there, and the noises in the clock almost made her crazy, and she
never had common sense afterwards. This tells why the cat that hadn’t
common sense hadn’t common sense,” continued Pussyanita; “but to tell
all about Black Velvet, and how it happened that she was blown off a
tree in a whirlwind, why she went to sea at all when there was plenty of
ground and cats hate water, will take a longer time than I have to
live.”
“Time shall be granted you,” cried King Grimalkum. “Go on! go on at
once!”
The lovely Pussyanita then went on, and went on at once, to tell the
Story of Black Velvet as told by herself at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous
party.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
The Story of Black Velvet.
]
“I was born in a barn. My brothers and sisters were born in the same
place. There were four of us, all of the same age and size. As soon as
we could run our mother took us all over the great barn-country. She did
everything for our good. She showed us the holes and told us which were
mouse-holes and which were rat-holes. She showed us how to spring and
how to catch, and how to hold. She brought us many kinds of eatable bugs
and taught us to snap at flies and to beware of wasps. At night she went
forth to hunt for us the slippery mole which slips so swiftly through
the grass. At day she purred us sweetly to sleep, or sometimes she let
us go with her to the wheatfields and get a peep at the moles and watch
the field mice running up and down the wheat stalks.
[Illustration:
Moles.
]
“We lived in the hayloft and oh what frolics we used to have! What
frolics! What frolics! We raced, we scampered, we skipped, we hopped, we
tumbled over each other, we tumbled over ourselves, we chased each
others’ tails, we chased our own tails, we played hide-and-seek in the
hay, we scrambled up the beams, we ran along the rafters, we peeped
down, we took turns sitting in our sunbeam—I speak now of a sunbeam
which shone through a knot-hole.
[Illustration:
With Her Eyes Half Shut.
]
“Our mother liked to curl herself up and sit with her eyes half shut
watching our sports. She would sit a long, long time, scarcely moving,
except to stir the end of her tail. We were happy to have her near us.
She was gentle in her manners, though of course when she was watching,
or catching, or holding, she looked fierce. Any cat would do so. She was
not one of the cross kind, always cuffing and boxing and snapping and
growling and spitting. She never punished us but once and that was when
we were very little. We fell down the crooked stairs which led up to our
home. She had always made us keep away from the small ends of the
crooked stairs because there was no room there to put our paws.
[Illustration:
Watching a Mouse.
]
“One day our mother had been watching a mouse at the bottom of the
crooked stairs while we played at the top. I hopped too near the small
ends and peeped down and my brothers and sisters hopped at me, and down
we all went, heels over head. Our mother was angry, for she lost the
mouse. We went without our dinner and had other punishment which I need
not mention.
[Illustration:
White Satin at Home.
]
“Now the noise we made in falling down and in being punished was heard
by some girls playing on the barn floor and they scrambled up a ladder
to find out what was the matter. When one of the girls who climbed up
the ladder saw me she said, ‘Oh! oh! A black kitten! Do give it to me!
She will make three! Then I shall have three black ones and three white
ones!’
“‘Yes! do take her!’ said the other girl. ‘If you don’t take her she
will be drowned.’
“The next day I was put in a box with holes in the cover and carried a
long, long way to a strange place. This made me sorrowful, but still I
was glad not to be drowned, and after the first day the five other
kittens began to be friendly, and the two black ones were glad I came,
for there were then as many black ones as white ones. I was named Black
Velvet to match White Velvet. The others were Black Floss and White
Floss and Black Satin and White Satin.
“White Satin used to run away and go home to her mother and her sisters.
She had a gray mother and two gray sisters. Sometimes we went with her.
She liked to play with her sisters and show them her ribbon. Our
mistress wished us not to go and tried to keep us in the house. I did
not like this, I wanted to scamper across the garden, or down to the
river, or across a field to an old barn. I peeped all about and found
good places to get out by. Then I used to coax White Velvet, and White
Floss, and White Satin, and Black Floss, and Black Satin to go. I always
went first and they followed.
[Illustration:
They Looked Down Upon Us.
]
“There were two gray kittens living in the barn, and the first day we
went there these two ran and jumped into a wheelbarrow and looked down
upon us. Pretty soon they began to stretch out their necks, and shake
their tails. Then they crept down, then they crept towards us, and began
to glare and spit, and sputter, and their tails grew so big we thought
we had better go home.
“We liked to go to the barn on account of the chances to catch mice. The
gray kittens flew at us every time we went, and at last one of them hit
White Velvet in the eye and made it bleed. Our mistress kept us in the
house after that, but we had fun racing over the beds and playing in the
curtains. We played in the curtains so much that our claws had to be cut
at the points. We were almost as well treated as children. Our milk was
warmed, we had plenty of squash, and fish, and a good deal of chicken
meat. Catnip was brought for us. We had each a basket to sleep in, and
the baskets were trimmed with ribbons and had cushions. We had ribbons
on our necks; the catnip was good.
“But I did not like staying in the house all the time and every chance
there was I jumped out at an open window or door, and White Velvet,
White Floss, White Satin, Black Floss and Black Satin all jumped and
went wherever I went. But after the Great Whirlwind, I was kept in the
house. I will now speak of the Great Whirlwind.
“It was a cold day and it seemed as if a door never would be left open,
but one was left open at last, and out I went, and out went White
Velvet, White Floss, White Satin, Black Floss and Black Satin after me.
We raced across the fields to the barn. The gray kittens were not at
home and we watched mouse-holes, and chased mice till a man came and
drove us out and shut the door tight.
[Illustration:
We Saw a Great Dog Coming.
]
“The wind blew; the sky was dark; the sun did not shine. We felt rain
drops. This set us scampering. When we were in the field we saw a great
dog coming and we ran to a tree and scampered up. I stopped to spit at
the dog and was the last one up. The sky grew blacker, the wind blew
harder and harder. The dog lay down on the ground and howled. Not one of
us durst come down. The rain came hard upon us. The tree branches
whirled round and round. It was a great wind. It was a whirlwind. It
blew off all the leaves that had been left on and then it blew us off.
For it was a great wind. Yes, a whirlwind. A dreadful whirlwind. I hope,
dear Lady Yellow-paw, that neither you nor any one at this famous party
will ever know the feeling of being blown off a tree in a whirlwind. I
hope you nor any one at this famous party will know the feeling of being
in a tree in a whirlwind with claws that have been pared down at the
points. None of our bones were broken. How thankful we all ought to be
that we are cats and not children, for we have cushions on our feet, so
that we can be blown down without having any bones broken.
“None of our bones were broken but we were drenched with the wet rain.
We were almost dead with the fright and the wet rain and we crawled all
the way home.
[Illustration:
Off a Tree in a Whirlwind.
]
“Our mistress was looking for us. She said, ‘Oh you naughties, come in
quick!’ We crawled in and she wiped us with a dry cloth and laid us in a
row in front of the stove, and gave us a warm supper and then some
catnip.
“After this she kept me in the house. Said she, ‘Black Velvet, you put
mischief into the others’ heads and I will keep you in. Black Satin,
Black Floss, White Velvet, White Floss and White Satin you may go. Black
Velvet shall stay with me.’
“It was hard to see Black Floss, Black Satin, White Velvet, White Floss
and White Satin skipping in the yard, over fences, up and down
clothes-poles, and be myself shut up indoors. But how little we know
what is best for us! One day those others did of themselves go to a
corn-house, and there they tasted bad meat which had been put there to
kill rats, and they all died! Every one, Black Floss, Black Satin, White
Velvet, White Floss, White Satin, every one died. Oh how my mistress did
cry! And I too. Yes, I was sad and lonely. I went crying round from room
to room, calling for my lost playmates. I looked in all their baskets.
[Illustration:
My Mistress.
]
“My mistress seemed to love me more than ever. ‘I have only you, now,
Black Velvet,’ she would say. Then she would hug me and hug me. She let
me do what I pleased. I had thick cream. When she was sewing I jumped on
her shoulder and played in her hair, and I went to sleep in her hat, if
I wanted to, and in her work-basket. When she went out to walk she used
to take me with her and wrap me up in her apron, and talk to me. But
when I grew to be a cat she made me a blanket of my own. It was a good
one. It was my own blanket. She loved me a great deal.
“I said at the beginning of my story that it is a wonderful story. You
will say that this is true when you hear what happened to me next.
[Illustration:
I Felt Safe.
]
“One day the river grew very big and spread up to the houses, yes, up
over the windows of the houses, and broke the houses in pieces. I was
sleeping in a rocking chair and the water wet me and waked me from sleep
and I sprang up on top the rocking chair back, and the water swashed and
there was a great noise and the rocking chair went sailing off and many
other things went, and the chair began to go down deeper and then I
jumped off on to a bucket. Something hit that a knock and I had only
time to catch hold of a box; a small one. There was just room to get all
my paws on and I had to stick my back up high. I expected every moment
to be drowned. I little thought I should live to tell the story. But a
piece of board was knocked against me. I sprang upon that. Then came a
chair. I sprang upon that. Then came something else; some thing
wonderful, but I said at the beginning that this is a wonderful story.
This next thing was a baby’s crib with the baby in it! The curtains were
open and the baby was looking out. I jumped from the chair to the cradle
and lay down on the baby. I was glad enough to get that resting place. I
felt safe with the baby. Somebody would come to get the baby. The baby
put out its hands and took hold of me.
“I don’t know what became of that poor baby. The crib tipped over. I
heard a man speak, and perhaps he went and got the baby. I was lucky
enough to jump on to a firkin, and on this I floated down, down, down,
down, I don’t know where, but I cried, cried, cried, oh how I cried!
“I bumped against something hard, something very big. I scrambled up.
Men were on it, and a woman, and a girl, and boys. They clapped and
shouted and laughed. Oh what a noise! Don’t people know that loud noises
make our ears ache? Don’t they know that our ears are made to hear very
little faint mouse-taps, butterfly-wing noises, and we can’t bear loud
noises? No, they don’t know. But I must go on with my story.
[Illustration:
I Used to Get Into the Place Where the Girl Slept.
]
“That big hard thing was not a house nor a barn. It moved over the
water. You cats that have lived only on ground cannot think how dreadful
it is to stay in the midst of water. Not a bit of ground! No grass to
eat. Oh I thought I should die for want of a bit of something green! No
trees to climb! But there were some very high poles set for me to climb;
poles taller than trees, and ropes and everything handy fixed for me to
hang on by. I was treated well. The men fed me, the women fed me, the
girl fed me, the boys fed me. The cook taught me some tricks which I
shall be happy to show to those present at this famous party, if I shall
be properly invited. A little girl held me and she put me around her
neck for a comforter. I let her do it. The cook hung a bell round my
neck. The noise of it pained my ears, and I was glad when the woman took
it off. She took it off because I used to get into the place where the
girl slept, and wake her up.
“Now when the ship came to the ground the cook put me into a bag and got
into a cart. He was going to give me away. Pretty soon I smelled grass.
Then I scratched and cried. Oh how I did want a piece of something green
and to roll in the grass! Every cat here knows it would be a hard thing
to live without something green. I soon got something green, and plenty
of it. The cook opened the bag a little, to show me to another man and I
took a sudden spring and away I went, and the more he called, ‘Puss!
Puss! Puss!’ the faster I ran, and at last I found myself all alone in
the fields, in a strange country.
[Illustration:
Two Live Things Sitting Together.
]
“I rolled over and over, and tore up the grass, and ran up and down
trees, and then I lay down behind a bush and watched to see if there
were any moles or field mice in that country. Pretty soon I saw two live
things sitting together. They looked like rats, but they had white on
them. They were sitting in the sun. I was going to spring at them, but I
stopped. I was in a strange country. How did I know if the creatures
were good to eat? They might be bad as that bad meat which killed poor
White Velvet, White Satin, White Floss, Black Satin, and Black Floss; or
they might have dreadful teeth, or dreadful claws.
“While I was waiting a minute to think about it, I heard a sound in the
grass; a creep, creep, creep, creeping sound in the grass. It was a cat.
But she did not spring quick enough. They heard her and skipped out of
sight quicker than a wink.
“As the cat sprang past me I could see that she had no tail. ‘Poor
thing,’ I said, ‘she has lost it in a trap!’ Pretty soon I saw another
cat without any tail. Then some kittens without any tails. I thought
that must be a dreadful place for traps. I dared not step in the grass
to hunt.
“I got very hungry keeping still without hunting for mice and moles, and
at last I went to a house. In the yard of the house a black-and-white
cat without a tail stood and looked at me.
“‘What do you want here?’ said she.
“‘I want to go in the house,’ said I.
“‘Be off!’ said she.
“‘I won’t!’ said I.
[Illustration:
The Black-And-White Cat.
]
“Then she began to spit, and she flew at me, and I flew at her. A woman
came running out and took me up. ‘Oh you beautiful creature!’ she said.
‘You’ve got a tail! I’m so glad to get a cat with a tail.’ I must tell
you, dear Lady Yellow-paw and all present at this famous party that the
cats of that strange place did not have any tails. ‘No tails!’ cried
Lady Yellow-paw and others. ‘How then do they show when they are glad
and when they are mad?’
[Illustration:
The Mouse That Black Velvet Caught.
]
“I said at the beginning, dear Lady Yellow-paw, that this is a wonderful
story. Let me tell you that the cats of that place do not wish to have
tails. ‘Not _wish_ to have tails?’ cried Lady Yellow-paw and others at
the famous party. No, your ladyship. But let us not be conceited and
think our own ways are always the best. To be sure a tail does add to
the good looks of a cat, still we all know that a tail _is_ a great
care; always likely to get rocked on, or stepped on, or pulled, and is
sometimes in the way when you want to sit down. That no-tailed cat made
my tail a way of hurting me. All present must have seen that its tip is
gone, though all have been so polite as to seem not to notice this. It
was the doings of that jealous no-tailed cat. She was jealous because so
much notice was taken of me. She could not bear me to come into the
house. She clawed, and bit, and spit at me so that my mistress had to
let me sleep in the room with herself and her little boy. One night I
did what pleased my mistress very much. One night a mouse jumped on her
boy’s bed, and waked him up, just as I used to wake up that girl when I
had that bell on my neck. I caught this mouse, and found him quite as
good as any in our own country. My mistress praised me more than ever,
after this, and held me, and stroked me a great deal, but her doing so
made that other cat maul me worse than ever, and I should have run away
if my mistress herself had not come away. My mistress came to this
country and brought me with her. Here I am, out of reach of that jealous
cat’s teeth and claws. Here I am well-fed and tended. Here I live an
easy life. Yet still I am not happy. Would you know the reason why? My
mistress has another cat, a partly white cat. People call her a
beautiful cat. So she may be to any one who fancies white paws and white
noses. I do not like to see my mistress hold that cat and stroke her. I
am obliged to see it. I am obliged to see the boy like that cat; hug
that cat; I am even obliged to see her allowed to jump up and eat milk
from the same bowl with him, something _I_ have never been allowed to
do!
[Illustration:
Something Black Velvet Was Never, Never Allowed to Do.
]
“All this is hard to bear. I do not like to think about it, and to keep
myself from thinking about it I employ myself in teaching the way of
opening doors. Every cat should know how to open doors. There may be
times in a cat’s life when she may save her life by knowing how to open
a door. There are times in every cat’s life when she may get food by
opening a door.
“Here a number of cats sprang to their feet and began to tell of
particular times when they had saved themselves and got food by knowing
how to open doors. Among them was the cat that hadn’t common sense. ‘One
at a time, my dears,’ said Lady Yellow-paw. ‘Snowball, will you begin?’”
* * * * *
“But I humbly beg your Majesty’s pardon,” said the lovely Pussyanita to
the King. “The particular times when all these saved themselves or got
food by knowing how to open doors were not in Black Velvet’s story. You
asked, oh King, for Black Velvet’s story. That is ended, I am silent.”
“You shall not be silent!” thundered King Grimalkum. “Speak! As king of
all the cats, I wish particularly to know the particular times when all
those saved themselves and got food by knowing how to open doors. As
king of all the cats, I should be well informed on all such matters.”
[Illustration:
She Used to Sit on a High Wall.
]
“To tell you what you ask,” answered the lovely Pussyanita, “would take
a longer time than I have to live.”
“Time shall be granted you,” said the king. “Begin without delay to tell
what Snowball told.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
What Snowball Told.
]
“When my sister Lily and myself were quite young, but not very, the
people who lived in the house began to talk of drowning us. Now all
present at this famous party will agree with me that if we are to be
drowned at all we should be drowned when we are too young to know
anything about it. I suppose there is not one here present who would not
rather have been drowned when she knew nothing about it, than to be
drowned now.
“When our mother heard drowning spoken of she took us under the barn,
and there we stayed a long time. We lived under the barn. Our mother
would not let us come out. She used to sit on a high wall and we wanted
to, but she said dogs would get us and boys would scare us. A small boy
used to come out there with his books and his slates and his other
things, and this small boy crawled under the barn and found us and
dragged us out, and then our mother moved back to the house to live. On
the very day we moved back, I was put into a covered basket and sent
away in a rattling thing called a carriage. The noise it made frightened
me almost to death. I scratched the basket and clawed the cover, and
stuck my paws through, and mewed and cried, for I was dreadfully
frightened at the rattling! At last they put me in a house. I was afraid
to stay in that house. Everything in that house was strange to me. The
people were strangers. It seemed like a dreadful place. The people put
their own things on all the good high places, and every time I jumped on
a good high place, there would be a running and a screaming enough to
scare you out of your senses. As if kittens would knock things off! As
if kittens were clumsy as people and could not walk _between_ things!
You know kittens, and cats too, need high places to jump up to.
[Illustration:
Just Right to Spring At.
]