spitting at the dog, and clawing the cat, and biting the boy’s toes.
When the dog growled, the cross cat ran out of sight.
“‘Shall we go on and observe what that ill behaved creature will do
next?’ asked Phi.
“‘By all means,’ answered Mouseroun, ‘but look where at yonder window a
ribboned white cat sits stiff and straight, gazing at something afar.
Let us hasten thither.’
[Illustration:
Cupep the Careful.
]
“They hastened, and when they reached the window Mouseroun asked of the
ribboned white cat: ‘Oh, ribboned white cat, sitting stiff and straight
gazing at something afar, at what art thou gazing, and what is thy
name?’
“‘I am gazing at flies,’ answered the ribboned white cat, ‘and I am
called Cupep the Careful.’
“Mouseroun made a sign to Phi to ask of the ribboned white cat why he
was called Cupep the Careful. Phi did so.
“‘Because I can be trusted,’ replied the ribboned white cat to Phi, ‘and
trusted in any place, among china, glass, pictures, bottles, papers, no
matter how high the shelf, how narrow, or how full. I step in and out so
carefully that no harm is ever done. Nobody minds even if I step on the
baby’s face. You see I am allowed here with papers and a bottle and
feather, easy to upset. All this is why I am called Cupep the Careful. I
shall presently sit on the paper, and to sit on paper is pleasant.’
“As Cupep the Careful finished telling why he was called Cupep the
Careful, Mouseroun drew Phi’s attention to two dark objects sitting in a
barn at some distance. Bidding Cupep the Careful good morning they went
towards the barn and found that the two dark objects were two
black-and-white young cats. Said Phi, ‘These must be the sour faced
twins, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called _Dum_ and _Dee_. I have often
heard of them, but never any good.’
[Illustration:
Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
]
“They went nearer. The sour faced twins sat side by side looking cross
and unhappy. Mouseroun motioned to Phi to address them.
“‘Are you not the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called _Dum_ and
_Dee_?’ asked Phi, ‘and is it not one of you which shortly ago bit the
toes of a boy, and spit at his dog, and clawed his cat?’
“‘It was I,’ said Tweedledee, ‘who did that. I could not maul Cupep the
Careful and I meant to maul somebody. I will maul him if I can. The
stuck-up thing! Everybody praises him. He has a watch to wear. Nobody
praises me and I have not even a ribbon. He has had his picture taken
and hung up. Why don’t they take my picture?’
[Illustration]
“‘They’d much better take mine,’ snarled Tweedledum. ‘I’ve been crying
to have my picture taken ever since I saw that one of Tabby Furpurr who
found out a way of not liking birds, and on that account had her picture
taken and set in a pussy willow frame. They won’t take my picture. But
I’ll be even with them. I get hold of the clock strings, I tangle yarn,
I won’t purr, I climb posts and tear down the flowers, I scratch the
baby’s face, I pull away his playthings, I wait on the doorstep and bite
his fingers, when he tries to reach me, and I kill birds. _I’m_ not
going to find a way of not liking birds if they won’t have my picture
taken! I am better looking than Tabby Furpurr; I’m sweet and lovely.’
[Illustration:
I Bite the Baby’s Fingers.
]
“‘I am sweet and lovely myself,’ said _Dee_.
“‘You’re not!’ said _Dum_.
“‘I am?’ said _Dee_.
“‘Say it again!’ said _Dum_.
“‘I do say it again!’ said _Dee_.
“‘Take that!’ said _Dum_.
“‘Take that!’ said Dee. And the two seemed as if they would tear each
other’s eyes out, so that Mouseroun was wroth, and Phi had much ado to
keep him from punishing them both on the spot.
“‘A future time is better,’ said Phi. ‘To act in anger is to make
ourselves like these. Come, let us go and seek out the much renowned
Tabby Furpurr who found out a way of not liking birds, and who on that
account had her picture taken and set in a pussy-willow frame.’
“Mouseroun and Phi pursued their journey, rambling hither and thither,
listening to the speech of bees, flies, bugs, worms, toads and frogs,
and to the butterflies’ happy hum, which is too faint to be heard by the
clumsy ears of people—people who think they hear everything and hear so
little!
“‘Dost thou know,’ asked Mouseroun at last, ‘where dwelleth this
renowned Tabby Furpurr?’
[Illustration:
Tabby Furpurr.
]
“‘I have not that knowledge,’ replied Phi. ‘She must be now quite aged,
and therefore well known hereabouts. Yonder is a young Persian, all so
happy with her three kittens, as soft and white as herself. I will
inquire of her concerning Tabby Furpurr.’ As they approached the young
Persian, Phi inquired of her, ‘Dost thou know Mistress Tabby Furpurr,
young Persian, and canst thou direct us to her abode?’
“‘I know Mistress Furpurr well enough,’ said the young Persian, ‘but I
decline to direct you to her abode. It is too much trouble.’
“‘We are anxious to find her,’ said Phi, ‘and we are weary with travel.’
“‘No doubt,’ replied the Persian; ‘but I prefer to stay and enjoy the
company of my children.’
[Illustration:
The Happy Young Persian.
]
“‘And wilt thou not direct us?’ asked Phi.
“Answered the young Persian, ‘I have said what I have said.’
“‘Good day, then,’ said Phi, and he drew Mouseroun away, fearing he
might do something rash.
“‘Canst thou explain,’ asked Mouseroun of Phi as they journeyed on, ‘why
the young Persian should refuse to please others when she is herself so
happy?’
“‘The most happy are often the most selfish,’ replied Phi. ‘Those who
have known unhappiness are likely to feel pity.’
“A little farther on they looked in at a great stone doorway and there
they spied a rat which had hidden in a dark corner to eat a head of
wheat. ‘Rats are wise,’ said Phi, ‘perhaps yonder fellow may direct us
to Mistress Tabby Furpurr.’
“But as they drew near to inquire of the rat, he dropped his wheat and
fled.
“‘Now, why was that?’ asked Mouseroun. ‘We meant him no harm.’
[Illustration:
The Rat.
]
“‘A rat,’ said Phi, ‘must judge by what has been done, not by what is
meant. After all that has been done by cats to rats, it will take a long
time to make rats believe that cats mean rats no harm.
“‘I fear we shall not get any rat to direct us to the abode of Mistress
Furpurr.’
“Phi was mistaken. Soon after, in passing a barn they heard much stir
and scampering inside. ‘Wherever there is a stir and a scampering,’ said
Phi, ‘we may be sure there is something going on inside.’
“Mouseroun was eager to enter, but Phi held him back lest harm might
befall him and himself stepped forward.
“‘Rats,’ he whispered, as he stepped back.
[Illustration:
Taken in a Trap.
]
“There were six rats inside the barn; a father, mother and four children
had come to visit one of the family that had been taken in a trap. The
mother looked in at the front of the cage, the father looked down from
over the top. As Mouseroun and Phi drew near, the father, mother and
four children fled to their holes.
“The rat in the cage when questioned by Phi, said he had been told by
his parents not to go in, but he thought he knew best, and he did not
believe the trap would shut down so quick.
“Did he know where Mistress Tabby Furpurr lived? and would he tell?
“Oh yes, he had reasons for knowing where Mistress Tabby Furpurr lived,
and he would tell, and he did tell and with a kind good day, Mouseroun
and Phi passed on their way.
“‘I observed,’ said Mouseroun to Phi, as they passed on their way, ‘that
the rat in the trap showed no fear of us. How was that?’
“‘It must have been,’ said Phi, ‘that he knew we could not get at him.’
“‘True,’ said Mouseroun. ‘Thou art truly a Cat of Wisdom.’”
[Illustration:
We Went Back.
]
Not very long after this, Mouseroun and Phi reached the abode of the
renowned Tabby Furpurr and heard the story of her life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
Story of Mistress Tabby Furpurr.
]
“I was one of two kittens born in a respectable corner of a garret. My
twin sister was sickly and died at an early age, and my mother, being
lonely, stole a black kitten from another cat. The black kitten’s mother
came to get her, but my mother was big and strong and with the help of
my two older sisters she drove away the black kitten’s mother and kept
the black kitten.
[Illustration:
The Black Kitten.
]
“I did not like that black kitten. She was coarse-haired, she bit my
tail, and when I had spools, or marbles, or knitting-work to play with,
she got them away from me.
“One day when she bit my tail I flew at her throat and gave it a bad
bite and made it bleed. I never saw her afterwards. I did not know what
became of her but I never saw her afterwards, except in dreams. I had
dreadful dreams. Once I dreamed I saw her sitting over the fireplace,
holding her paw to her throat, and next time I dreamed she came close to
me with her mouth and eyes wide open and glared at me.
[Illustration:
First Dream.
]
“My older sisters grew so large that the people thought they would send
me and my mother away. They got us into a basket, and shut down the
covers quick, and carried us very far. They thought my mother would
never find the way back. My mother did. We got home at night, but my
mother climbed up to the house top with me in her mouth and jumped
through a window that she knew in the roof and in the morning they found
us on the rug.
[Illustration:
Second Dream.
]
“Not long after this my mother was shot for her beautiful skin. I was so
lonely that I mourned very much. The dog took care of me. I did not
think Nep would be so kind, for sometimes he had barked at me, but when
he knew I was sorry and lonesome he asked me to snuggle close to him and
if any people touched me he drove them away.
[Illustration:
Scamper Up and Down His Big Sides and Tickle His Paws, and His Nose.
]
“When my older sisters saw me with Nep they wanted to come and he let
them come. We warmed our feet in his hair. My sisters were too lazy to
play, but one of them used to catch fleas in his hair. I did not like to
catch fleas. I liked to scamper up and down his big sides and tickle his
paws, and his nose. He used to give me some of his meat. He did not give
my sisters any. I will now explain why I left Nep and that house.
[Illustration]
A pretty-faced white kitten used to come and play with me sometimes. One
day when I was asleep on the door-mat, I was waked by a small noise and
there was the white kitten’s face looking in at the door. She wanted me
to go and see two rats. She said two rats went every day to a place to
sit in the sun and we could stay behind a rock and peep at them.
“I went with her to see the rats. They were too big for us to meddle
with, but we could peep at them.
“The white kitten liked to frolic and we raced over the fields and on
the fences as much as we wanted to.
“All at once we heard a noise. People came. The white kitten got away
but a man caught me, and carried me in some whistling cars to his home.
He wanted to keep me. I was afraid to stay in that strange place and I
squeezed out through a hole in the cellar.
[Illustration:
The Two Rats in the Sun.
]
“Then something dreadful happened. I was chased by boys. They were
dreadful boys. They hurt me. They made me tremble. They did things too
cruel to mention.
“They set a dog on me. I could hardly move, I trembled so. I crept under
a rail and the dog stayed there, barking. I thought he would seize me,
but before he did it a boy came and took me and treated me kindly, and
carried me in his arms to his own home and took care of me.
“Oh how I did love that boy! I wanted to stay with him all the time.
“Every day when he went to school he let me go with him as far as the
bridge.
“Then I would look up in his face and mew, ‘Mayn’t I go further?’
[Illustration:
The Boy That Treated Me Kindly.
]
[Illustration:
He Nibbles the Pink.
]
“He would lift up his finger and say, ‘No, Tabby Furpurr. Go back!’ And
I always went back. But when it was time for him to come home I went to
the bridge and waited till he came and then went to the house with him.
The boy’s dog did not like to have the boy like me so much. He was not
so good as Nep. He would not let me warm my feet in his hair. He looked
at me when I stole cream or custard. If they caught me stealing cream or
custard, I hung my tail and went over to the grandma house to stay. When
grandma caught me stealing I hung my tail and went back to the boy’s
house to stay. A girl lived in the boy’s house, and she tamed a mouse.
It stayed in a box. One day the boy looked at me hard, and lifted up his
finger and said, ‘Tabby Furpurr, you have had enough to eat. This mouse
is not for you. I am going to let this mouse out. Don’t you touch this
mouse. Do you hear? _Don’t you touch it!_’
[Illustration]
“I knew what he said, and I never did touch that mouse. The girl played
with it and let it stay in her work-basket. It liked to nibble green
things that were brought into the house.
“One day it got at a flower that the girl put in water and hung up, and
it nibbled the flower. One day it was nibbling something green and it
knocked over the thing the green was in and spilt the water on me and
scared me, and made me jump, though I was quite an old cat then, and
could not jump as spry as a kitten.
[Illustration]
“It was at this time that I had my fight with a woods cat. She came to
our barn. I never saw her before. I went to the barn to get some catnip.
There was catnip among the hay, and when I felt that I needed catnip I
went and picked it out of the hay. That woods cat came to get some of
the catnip, but she had no right there. It was in a place under the
haymow and a great deal of the catnip hay was there. The woods cat was
sitting on it, pawing it with her paw.
“She flew at me, and we had a fight. She would have killed me if the
girl had not come with a broom.
[Illustration]
“I was a bad looking cat. I went lame and had salve on me. The girl took
care of me, and as soon as I could walk she let me go in the garden with
her when she picked flowers. I liked to go into the garden. She used to
sit under a tree and read a book, and I used to sit on the seat close to
her, and if she stroked me I purred loud.
“But she found out I liked birds. She saw me under a currant-bush eating
a bird, and whipped me with a stick and said, ‘Shame, Tabby Furpurr!
Shame on you to eat a little bird!’ And I went to the grandma house to
stay.
“A bird came to live in our house. It lived in a cage high on the wall.
The boy showed me the bird and looked at me hard, and lifted up his
finger and said, ‘Tabby Furpurr, don’t you touch that bird. That bird is
not for you. _Don’t you touch that bird!_‘
“I did not mean to do anything to that bird. But it kept moving and
hopping, and shaking its wings, and shaking its tail, and it made me
look at it; and one day when it shook itself very much I looked at it a
long time and at last I jumped at it. Before I knew what I was going to
do I jumped at it, and the cage fell down. I could not get the bird. He
kept himself in a corner.
“The boy’s dog barked and ran to tell the people something was the
matter, and they all came and spoke loud and held up their fingers and
cried ‘Shame! Shame!’
“I went over to the grandma house and hid under a bed and stayed till I
was almost starved. Then I crawled out and put my paw on grandma’s foot,
and looked up in her face and she gave me some milk, and let me warm me
at her fire.
[Illustration:
The Rat That Fought the Duck.
]
“Something happened to her duck. It let its little ducks go with it
under the bridge to the pond, and it got itself killed. There was a rat
there, and it was going to get one of her little ducks, and she began to
fight the rat, and the mother rat came out and helped fight the duck,
and the boy drove them away, but afterwards the duck died and left the
little ducks.
“But grandma had a barn cat. She was not a Tabby. She was only a
black-and-white cat, but she was a very good cat. She never would touch
a bird or a chicken, and she never would suck an egg. She did not like
me. She would not let me come in her barn. I did not let her come in my
barn. She was a good cat for not liking birds.
“The boy carried the little ducks to the barn and tried to make a hen
that was there take care of them. She would not do that. She went and
left them. She would not scratch up worms for them. The other ducks
would not. They had to take care of their own children, and these little
ducks stayed all alone by themselves, and cried for their mother.
“Now that barn cat, though she was only a black and white cat and not a
Tabby, sat down there with the little ducks and took care of them. Every
day she went there and stayed with the ducks, and when they went into a
puddle she mewed for them to come back.
“When she sat taking care of the little ducks, people used to come and
look at her. The first time she took care of them grandma’s dog barked
at her. When grandma told him it was all right, and let him see her
stroke the barn cat, he went away, but sometimes he came to look at that
cat and the ducks to see if all was right. Sometimes the cat would spit
at him. She would spit at anybody that touched one of her little ducks.
When the little ducks went in wet places she took them by their necks
and brought them out, and she carried them by their necks so much that
they had crooked necks. One day a strange cat, a great white Tommy, came
and looked in at the barn door when she was staying with the little
ducks and she flew at him quick, and almost clawed his eyes out and he
was glad to run.
[Illustration]
“One day I wanted very much to taste of a little duck and I tried to get
one, and I hurt its leg, and she clawed me and made me drop it, and
grandma shamed me and I went back to the boy’s house and hid under a
bed, and when I was almost starved I crawled out and the boy whipped me
hard and carried me back to the grandma house, and into her barn, and
showed me that barn cat with the little ducks, and lifted up his finger,
and looked at me hard, and whipped me again and said: ‘Tabby Furpurr,
don’t you see that barn cat staying with ducks and not eating any? And
_you_ even fly at birds! Don’t you ever touch any kind of bird again. Do
you hear? Find out a way of not liking birds. _Find out a way of not
liking birds! Remember!_‘
[Illustration:
The Duck’s Defender.
]
“I knew what he said, though not in the way people know. I knew by the
cat-way. I remembered by the cat-way of remembering. I kept very still,
I did not steal, and when they thought I was asleep I was finding out a
way of not liking birds, and after I found it out I never touched a bird
again, nor a duck, nor a chicken. I stayed with the girl under the tree
and never touched a bird. I watched the bird in the cage when he hopped
and shook his tail and did not jump at him, and I would not let any
other cat touch a bird nor a duck nor a chicken.
[Illustration:
They Thought I Was Asleep.
]
“One day when some killed chickens were hanging up, a great Maltese cat
came and looked at them and was going to jump for them but I spit at her
and drove her away. The people were pleased with me all the time and the
girl let me stay in the room when the bird’s cage-door was open and when
he flew out; and more birds came there to live and the birds had little
birds, and they grew big birds, and I was a friend to them, and the girl
got a very big cage for all the birds and sometimes she let me stay in
there with them and I did not touch one. They would stand on my head and
walk on my fur, and I let them. The boy was pleased with me and the girl
was pleased with me.
[Illustration:
Going to Jump for Them.
]
“I am an old cat now; a very old cat. I do not care for balls, or
spools, or marbles, or knitting-work, or tassels, or strings. I do not
wish to jump high. I like to sit by the fire and feel the _warm_ all
around me. You have heard my story!”
“Mouseroun made a sign to Phi by which Phi understood that Mouseroun
wished him to ask Mistress Tabby Furpurr the way she found out of not
liking birds.
“‘Excuse me to-day,’ replied Mistress Tabby Furpurr to Phi’s question.
‘I am weary and must take my repose. Some other time I will tell.’
“Soon after this Mouseroun and Phi went to a great Battle of the Cats
and were long absent. Upon their return they set forth as before to
travel about the country, and again sought out the abode of Mistress
Tabby Furpurr.
“As they journeyed on they were met by two lively young black-and-white
cats, the same two they met before, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called
_Dum_ and _Dee_.
“They were full of frolic and good-nature, tumbling over each other, and
snatching at each other’s tails.
[Illustration]
“‘Whither so fast?’ asked Phi of them as they met.
“‘To catch some bugs for a cat with a large family of kittens,’ they
said.
“You are not as sour as you were,” said Phi.
“‘Oh, no,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘It is folly to be sour when sweet is
better. We found that out.’
“‘You might have your pictures taken now,’ said Phi.
“‘We’re so happy we don’t care to,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘Good day to
you.’
[Illustration]
“‘Beware of guns,’ said a faint voice near by.
“It was the faint voice of a feeble cat who had crept under a bush to
die.
“‘We’re not afraid,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_. ‘We have our nine lives, you
know.’
“‘Go not quickly through them as I have done,’ said the feeble cat.
‘Beware of dogs, beware of stones, beware of guns, beware of shutting
up, beware of boys, beware of drowning, beware of hot water, beware of
stepping on, beware of wet blacking-brushes.’
“‘I have lived eight lives, and am now dying of a spot of blacking.’
“‘Tell us about the eight lives,’ said _Dum_ and _Dee_; and at a sign
from Mouseroun, Phi made the same request.
“‘I will try,’ replied the feeble cat, ‘if you will bear with my
weakness.’”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
The Story of the Feeble Cat and Her Nine Lives.
]
“My name is Pixie. I have lived my eight lives, speaking after the
manner of cats, and am now in my ninth, which will soon end.
[Illustration:
To Catch Butterflies.
]
“When I was small and very young I was dropped in water. The water
washed me back to the sand. I could not stir. I was kicked. People said
‘dead kitten.’ A great cat took me to a good place and licked me, and I
opened my eyes. The great cat came many times. I should not have lived
if she had not caught butterflies and grasshoppers for me. She got very
good butterflies. Sometimes her spotted kitten came to see me, and
sometimes she went to the fields with her mother to get butterflies and
grasshoppers for me, and one day she brought me a very big grasshopper.
[Illustration:
She Brought Me a Very Big Grasshopper.
]
“When I could stand on all my feet the great cat carried me in her mouth
to a house and a girl let me come in, and I was that girl’s kitten. She
held me a great deal. Once when I was crawling on the floor, the boy
walked across and he stepped on me so hard that I was all out flat, and
they took me up on a shovel and carried me out to another room to stay
till I could be buried. Next morning the girl came out there crying
because her kitten was dead. The boy came with a shovel to bury me; but
I was crawling on the hearth. The boy said, ‘Hurrah for Pixie!’ and the
girl hugged me and kissed me.
[Illustration:
I Was Scared.
]
“One day the boy took something off the stove, and tied the dog to it
and told the girl to carry me to ride; and she put me in and tried to
carry me to ride, but it was too warm, and I was scared of riding in it,
and jumped out and ran with all my might through the house and
up-stairs, and hid in a closet. The closet-door got shut and I stayed
there. I had nothing to eat. I mewed all the time, but the people were
far away. When I could not mew any longer I dropped down. There was
nothing left of me but my skin and my bones. When the people found me
they took me out-doors to bury me. They put me in the sunshine and in a
little while I opened my eyes. I was close to the hens’ clams, and I ate
some and crawled away from that place, and the boy carried me into the
house, and I got well.
“Mornings I scratched on the girl’s door and when I was let in I jumped
upon her bed and played with her nose and with her toes, and sat on her
and purred loud.
“A white cat lived in that house. She was not my girl’s cat. She was the
small girl’s cat. She could not purr. She had no voice to purr. The
small girl put the white cat’s ear close to my mouth and said, ‘Purr
like Pixie!’ and the boy rubbed her paws together, to make her purr, and
squeezed her tail softly and stroked her, but she did not purr. She had
no voice to purr.
[Illustration]