the hammock strings and the knitting-work, and sometimes Pomp, the dog,
played with us. The dog liked to play. When the small girl stayed in the
hammock to sew her work and see picture books, the white cat used to
stay in the hammock or close by, and take a nap; but the boy used to
come and make her jump, and sometimes Pomp came there and jumped in the
hammock.
“When the white cat grew older she had some kittens. I had not had any
kittens. She was taken much notice of. The white cat lost all her
kittens but one and as soon as that one could run she and her mother
were sent away. Then the small girl held me and I was glad, for she
spoke to me softly and touched me softly. She liked me because I could
purr.
[Illustration]
“One morning the white cat came back with her kitten. I saw her standing
at the door to be let in, and I knew she ought not to come back, and I
tried to drive her away, and we had a fight, and a cruel woman threw hot
water at us from the kitchen, and it scalded my head and I went under
some bushes to die. I could not see; I went by my smellers. When people
found me they called me but I would not come out. They brought me some
milk and a piece of meat, and I ate a little, and when I could see with
both eyes I came out, but my neck has always been stiff on one side.
“The next time I almost got killed it was by a heavy stone. The stone
fell on me. I liked to go in the garden and climb upon a high wall and
see what was on the other side. A Molly girl lived on the other side,
and a horse, and a dog, and two great cats, and hens, and there was a
great deal there that was good to eat. The Molly girl wanted me to play
in the sand with her and sometimes she took me down from the wall. She
made holes in the sand and covered me up and when I was covered up I
jumped out and ran and then came back. Sometimes she let me ride with
her Jemima in her Jemima’s doll carriage.
[Illustration:
Climb Up on a High Wall.
]
“A woman came out every day to give corn to the hens, and things to the
two great cats, and talk to the horses. I did not want the hen’s corn. I
liked the things that were put into the two great cats’ plate, but the
dog always wanted what was left. The two great cats had a plate of their
own.
“Once when the two great cats were not there and that dog was not, the
woman put something in the plate, and went away and I thought I would
jump quick and get it, and I raced along the wall and got tangled in a
vine, and jumped, and fell and pulled a great stone down on myself; on
the back part of myself; and I could not stir, and when the boy found me
and took the stone off, I was a good deal jammed, and I could not walk
with the legs which belong to that part. People said I must be killed,
but they waited, and I did not have to be killed. I walked with all my
legs.
[Illustration]
“When I grew bigger I used to go into the Molly girl’s house and the
woman used to drive me away. She did not like me, for she saw me get
into the hen-house at a place where it was broken, and saw egg-shells I
left when I sucked the eggs. I could not eat egg-shells.
“One day I did something bad, though I did not know it was bad. I was in
the Molly girl’s house. Her Jemima’s doll’s carriage was on a high
place, but the strings hung over. The wind blew hard that day and I was
very frisky and I jumped and pulled the doll carriage down by the
strings and broke it, and dragged it about and played with it very long.
When the Molly girl came there she cried. The people came and drove me
out, and said very loud, ‘_Scat! scat!_’ A cruel boy that heard them
_scatting_ me set his dog on me, and that dog chased me, but he would
not have touched me if the cruel boy had not said, ‘Shake her!’ When he
heard that he took me by the throat. Oh _Dum_ and _Dee_, may you never
have anything so dreadful happen to you!
[Illustration:
I Did Something Bad.
]
“The dog dropped me behind a tree and people found me and said I was
dead. The girl I belonged to said I was alive, and they waited, and when
they saw the end of my tail stir they put something on the sores the dog
made, and the grandma woman took care of me, and I got well. But I would
rather have died than to have that cruel boy do so again. Only a cat can
know what a cat can suffer from cruel boys. Dogs would not hurt us if
people and cruel boys did not tell them to.
“One day I had some kittens of my own. We were in a good closet close by
my own girl’s bed. Oh I was proud of my pretty little dears! I wanted
people to come and see them. But when people came they said, ‘Why! why!
why! The cat has kittens in the closet! Take the cat and kittens away
from that closet!’
[Illustration:
Carried Them to the Barn.
]
“They carried us up to the garret and put us in a box. I would not stay
there. I took my kittens one at a time and carried them in my mouth back
to the closet. We were put up in the box again and the garret door was
kept shut. I got out of the window and carried my kittens down by tree
branches, and got in by another window, and soon they found us in the
closet. Then the boy put some of my kittens in his hat and another boy
took some and they carried them to the barn, and I went there too; but I
would not stay there. I knew what the best place was, the best place was
the closet.
“When it was dark I carried my kittens back to the closet. Then they
carried us down cellar, and kept the door shut. I found a hole and made
it bigger, and squeezed through that hole with my kittens and went back
to the closet. They put us down cellar again and stopped up the hole,
and kept the door shut.
“One day soon as the door was opened I slipped quick between somebody’s
feet, and went up-stairs to the grandma woman’s room, and sat by the
fire. The grandma woman looked at me hard and said, ‘Poor Pixie! It is
too cold for your kittens down cellar; go bring them here.’
“I knew what she said and answered her in my mew language, and went and
got my kittens and she made a bed for us in a basket that had room in
it.
[Illustration:
Where It Was Not Right for Kittens to Go.
]
“When my kittens were big enough to crawl I went away and left them
sometimes, and if they cried for my going I punished them. When they
were good I let them play with my tail; but I always kept one paw ready
to punish them if they bit me, or bit each other. I took great comfort
with my dear kittens. They understood everything I said to them. One was
taken from me, but I tried to be contented with what were left.
“They soon grew big enough to follow me all over the house, and I took
them to many places. One room was always shut. I did not like that. No
cat likes to have a door kept shut.
“One day a woman went in that room and worked and moved the things; and
she went away and left the door not shut tight, and I pushed in with my
kittens, and they had a happy time. They raced and scampered as if they
were crazy kittens, for there was a high wind blowing that day. I tried
to keep them out of the bed-curtains, but they would go there. They all
got on the bed and raced over the pillows where it was not right for
kittens or even cats to go, and they bit the fringes, and jumped up and
clawed the tassels and some of the tassels were so good that I clawed
them myself. Almost any cat will claw a good tassel hanging down in a
windy day. The kittens rolled over each other too near the edge of the
bed and rolled off, and hopped up and went scampering round the room
pulling all the things they wanted to. They went up on high places and
tipped things over, and pulled things down, and got into the drawers,
and Pomp heard them, and he came in there and jumped about and pulled
things out of the drawers, and gnawed things, and played with my
kittens. They would not mind me, and all I could do was to sit in a
chair and watch them.
“I thought I heard a mouse in a closet, and went in there to see; and
while I was in there somebody drove out my kittens and Pomp. I stayed to
see about the mouse, and I ate something bad in that closet. It had been
put there for the mice.
“What I ate in that closet made me sick and I was very sick. They gave
me medicine. They held my mouth open and put the medicine down my throat
with a spoon. I did not like it. I would not take any more. I went away
in dark places. Sometimes I crawled into the house, and then they tried
to make me eat. They could not make me eat. I grew weaker and weaker,
and one day they said I was dead. The boy said, ‘That cat is not dead.
That is one of the cats that will live all her nine lives.’
[Illustration:
Only Two.
]
“I was not dead, or if I was dead I came to life again.
“When I came to life again two of my kittens were playing by my side.
Only two. The others were gone. Very soon even these two were taken from
me. Not one of them ever came back. Kittens that have been taken away do
not come back.
“Now that I had no kittens to need me at home, I was free to go out and
meet my friends on fences and the shed-roofs. I went often, and enjoyed
my fights with them very much.
[Illustration:
There I Saw a Rat Hanging by His Tail.
]
“One day when it was cold weather I went to a swamp to watch a rat’s
nest. Another cat had been watching for that rat, but I meant to get it
myself. I ran all the way, and when I got there I saw the rat on the
tree holding on by his tail and eating what he could find, and I went
up, but the rat slipped down the other side and went to his nest.
“I had better have kept away from that tree. By going up that tree I got
shot. Two boys saw me, and one shot me. I dropped to the ground. The
boys came and kicked me. I was almost dead. The shots stayed in me and
they are in me now. I could crawl a little, but I was very weak.
[Illustration:
He Dropped Me on a Doorstep.
]
“While I stayed there, crawling a little when I could, a cat came out
from the swamp and ran at me. She was one of my own kittens grown up
into a cat. She had been dropped in the woods, and she was a wild cat.
She flew at me and she would have damaged me very much if a dog had not
barked and scared her away. The dog did not touch me. He took me out of
a muddy ditch. I was crawling, and did not know I was close to the muddy
ditch, and fell into it and went deep in the mud and water. The dog
jumped in and pulled me out. He carried me to a house and dropped me on
the doorstep. The boy came from my house to see me. The people said I
was dead. The boy said, ‘No, she will come to life. She is a cat that
will live all her nine lives.’ And I did come to life. The boy carried
me home, and the grandma woman washed me and fed me with milk, and put
me in a good bed, and I was soon well enough to take a little squash
with my milk.
“The grandma woman used to hold me, and speak softly to me, and if I
jumped on her shoulder she never pushed me off and said ‘scat!’ If I
jumped up there when she was eating breakfast she let me stay, and let
me taste of her breakfast.
“I wanted to thank the grandma woman, and so one day I brought her a
little fish I caught in the pond. I stood on a stone in the pond and
looked down close to the water, and when a fish saw my eyes shine
sometimes it would jump up, and if I put my paw out quick I could catch
the fish. The grandma woman was pleased when I brought the fish, and she
wanted to sing to me. I did not like to hear anybody sing. When anybody
began to sing I got up and walked all around the room, and scratched at
the doors, and I could not keep still. Sometimes the grandma woman sang
when I was asleep; but I opened my eyes and began to walk. Sometimes I
jumped up and put my paw on her mouth.
“One day the white cat and myself got carried off in a bag. It was going
to rain, and we were washing our faces a great deal. A bad boy called us
out, and we stopped washing our faces and went out, and he put us in a
bag. There were very many cats in the bag. The boy carried us to a place
far away and put more cats in the bag, then he carried us to another
place and put more cats in, and then he carried us all very far to a
strange place and let us all out of the bag in a room and shut the doors
and windows tight.
“One of the windows was broken a little and a great cat pushed the glass
out, and we all went through, and set off for our own homes in the rain,
but I went in a barn and hid till the rain stopped. It took me very long
to go home.
“As I passed by a house on my way home, a man in that house was making a
noise on a fiddle, and I ran and jumped up on his shoulder, because he
was making the noise, and he pushed me off, and I ran, and he threw a
wet blacking brush at me, and made a spot on my fur.
[Illustration:
She Never Pushed Me Off and Said, Scat!
]
“I came home and tried to lick off the spot, but I could not reach it.
It is far off and my neck is stiff. Not any cat would lick it off for
me. I smelt it all the time and felt it, and it worried me. I could not
eat. I grew weak and sick. Sometimes I crawled to the basin and lapped
one or two laps of milk, but no more. I did not catch. Mice came near,
and I did not even stir the end of my tail. I kept in dark places. I
have but little strength left, and with that I am now crawling to the
woods to die. Farewell. Beware of guns, beware of dogs, beware of
stones, beware of stepping on, beware of shutting up, beware of hot
water, beware of drowning, beware of cruel boys, beware of wet blacking
brushes. Farewell. You will never see me more.
[Illustration:
And Lapped One or Two Laps of Milk.
]
“Pixie then crawled to the woods where she was afterwards found dead; so
dead that she never came back to life.
“_Dum_ and _Dee_, and Mouseroun and Phi, his Wisdom Cat, watched Pixie
until she had crawled out of sight. _Dum_ and _Dee_ then frisked away to
catch bugs for the puss with the large family of kittens, and Mouseroun
and Phi journeyed on to seek the renowned Mistress 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, and who had promised to tell the
way to Mouseroun and Phi.
“They did not find her. The renowned Mistress Tabby Furpurr had long
lain buried beneath the lilac bush, having died of old age, and alas!
without revealing the way she found out of not liking birds!”
* * * * *
“Which was a pity,” said the lovely Pussyanita to King Grimalkum as she
finished the story, “since now our race must be blamed for liking birds
when they cannot help liking them. Blamed, dropped, shot, drowned,
stoned—not many of us would be living had we not our nine lives, though
not many cats have done to them what was spoken of in the story the cat
that hadn’t common sense told at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.”
“What story was that?” asked King Grimalkum quickly.
“Nothing your majesty will care to hear,” answered Pussyanita. “It is
not a common sense story.”
“I say I do want to hear it,” cried King Grimalkum. “I don’t want any
more common sense stories. I’m tired of common sense. I insist upon
knowing what was spoken of in the story the cat that hadn’t common sense
told at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party.”
“Your majesty must understand,” said Pussyanita, “that probably it never
really—”
“I don’t care a mouse-ear for your _never reallys_,” interrupted King
Grimalkum. “I want the story.”
“Your majesty’s wish shall be obeyed,” replied Pussyanita, “but your
majesty will perceive at the beginning that it is not a common sense
story.”
“Make no more words about it!” furiously cried the king, “if you do
I’ll—”
The lovely Pussyanita made no more words about it, but hastened to begin
The Story of the Two Charcoals and the Four Spekkums.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
The Story of the Two Charcoals and the Four Spekkums.
]
[Illustration]
“There was once a cat who had six kittens of exactly the same size, two
very dark ones and four very light ones, and as she could not think of
names for so many and as it was an important matter, she spoke to their
uncle Thomas about it. Their uncle Thomas said it was an important
matter, and sent her to ask the wise and aged Goody Gumbo. Goody Gumbo
had seen much and heard much, for she had been alive ever since the days
when willow trees bore real pussys and some said she was picked off a
willow tree herself.
“Goody Gumbo named the two dark kittens Charcoal, and the four light
ones Spekkum, and they were afterwards spoken of as the Charcoals and
Spekkums.
“When the Charcoals and the Spekkums had grown old enough to run
out-doors, it was seen that one of the Spekkums was much too frisky, and
that they all were likely to be.
[Illustration]
“Their mother spoke to their uncle Thomas about it and he said, ‘send
three of them to school to learn to behave and they can teach the other
three.
“‘Send three of the Spekkums and let Frisky Spekkum be one of the three.
I will see the schoolma’am.’
“The schoolma’am said that she would teach three of the Spekkums to
behave if they would go to the school well dusted in meal bag powder, as
she herself always did. Their mother said she would attend to that and
three of the Spekkums were sent to school and Frisky Spekkum was one of
the three.
[Illustration]
“The schoolma’am took them by themselves and talked to them seriously.
She then placed them in a row and said: ‘Rule first! Sit straight; tails
down; noses up; ears flat; paws hanging!’
“They did so, but Frisky Spekkum did not sit as straight as the others.
“‘Rule second! All stand. Ears up; tails up!’
“They did so, but Frisky Spekkum sat down before she was told to. ‘If
you can’t mind,’ said the schoolma’am, ‘I’ll have no more to do with
you,’ and turned away with a scowl.
“‘O, do have something to do with me!’ cried Frisky Spekkum, and stood
quickly on her feet.
“‘I will if you will be good,’ said the schoolma’am, and turned back
with a smile, and went on with the rules. ‘Rule third! Sit straight;
ears up; noses down; paws up!’
“They did so, though Frisky Spekkum would not hold her paws as high as
the others; and she frisked and caused the others to frisk.
“‘When you have learned to make your bows and say good afternoon
properly you may go home,’ the schoolma’am said. They all made their
bows and said good afternoon properly, for all were anxious to go home,
and Frisky Spekkum did better than the others, for she was more anxious
to go home.
“‘Now go,’ said the schoolma’am, ‘you are a troublesome set and I am
glad to be done with you. Scamper home.’ And they scampered home.
[Illustration]
“On their way home they saw a young rat walking out with his parents,
and went behind a wall and peeped through. They wanted the young rat but
did not like to touch him when his parents were with him. The young rat
was telling his parents of a beautiful shiny box with beautiful cheese
in it. His father said ‘My child, go not near that beautiful shiny box
nor touch that beautiful cheese.’
“The young rat did go to that beautiful shiny box and touch that
beautiful cheese and came near losing his life, as my story will soon
tell.
“The three Spekkums went home to dinner, a very good dinner of milk and
herring. Their uncle Thomas was there and while they were at dinner a
kind girl presented every one of them with a neck ribbon. The Charcoals
and the Spekkums went out to play and Frisky Spekkum was naughty and
gnawed the others’ neck-ribbons and made them gnaw hers. Their mother
spoke to their uncle Thomas about it and he told Frisky that if she did
not behave he should have to send word to the rats to carry her away, as
they carried away Mab Fizz-Fuzz. She said she was not afraid.
“The two Charcoals went to their uncle Thomas’ house to supper and the
four Spekkums stayed with their mother. When it was supper time their
mother said to them softly, ‘Follow me and I will give you something
good.’
“They followed her and she led them to the beautiful shiny box.
“‘You see what is inside,’ said she, ‘jump quick, when I lift up the
door.’
[Illustration:
Not Quick Enough.
]
“The young rat was inside. He had eaten the beautiful cheese and wished
to stay no longer in the beautiful shiny box. He sprang out when the
door was lifted. The four Spekkums sprang after him. They were not quick
enough. He slipped through a rat-hole, though Frisky Spekkum was near
enough to claw his tail as it went through. He was so frightened he knew
not what he was doing and went straight into a bottle, and there was
something bad left in the bottle, and he would have died of that if a
friendly young frog had not found him. The young frog’s family and the
young rat’s family had been friends ever since one of the young frog’s
family saved the life of one of the young rat’s family, and that was a
long, long time before. It was before the Janjibo.
[Illustration]
“But all this belongs to another story and cannot be told now, for there
is yet more to tell of the Charcoals and the Spekkums.
“One day their uncle Thomas put on his best clothes and his tall hat and
got a sleigh box and two pair of rabbits and invited the Charcoals’ and
Spekkums’ mother to go sleighing with him. Their mother smiled and
quickly put on her best clothes and her bonnet with flowers and got her
best muff.
“The Charcoals and Spekkums all wanted to go, but their uncle Thomas
said so many would be too many for the rabbits and that he would take
three and take the other three next time.
“They took three of the Spekkums and told Frisky Spekkum to stay and
wait with the two Charcoals and go next time. Their uncle Thomas then
helped their mother in, and took his seat, and the three Spekkums hopped
in behind and sat looking over the side as happy as they could be. Their
mother told them to hold on tight for their uncle Thomas would soon whip
up, and they might fall out. Their uncle Thomas whipped up and the
rabbits set off upon a gallop.
“Just as they were setting off, Frisky Spekkum ran away from the two
Charcoals and climbed up behind the sleigh-box, and held on and tried to
get in, but the rabbits went so fast that she fell off and rolled over
and over.
“She went back to play with the Charcoals, but she did not behave well.
She was too frisky with them. She bit ears, and she almost bit off the
two Charcoals’ neck-ribbons and made them bite off her neck ribbon and
was so frisky that one of the Charcoals would not play, and went away.
Frisky then took the other Charcoal with her into pantries and a hen
house and other places where cats ought never to go, and made her eat
with her thick cream, and custard pie, and other things which cats ought
never to eat. They also clawed a best carpet.
“Their uncle Thomas came home and found them in a cheese and butter
closet, and they ran, and he ran and caught them by their tails and
punished them severely.
[Illustration:
Frisky Spekkum Tries to Steal a Ride.
]
“This did not cure Frisky Spekkum. She was still too Frisky. She frisked
with tassels, she frisked with whip-lashes, she frisked with reins, she
frisked with flies she frisked with rabbits, she frisked with dogs’
tails, she frisked with pigs’ tails. Her mother told her of Mab
Fizz-Fuzz who was carried off by her tail by the rats, and told her that
if she did not stop being too frisky then rats would have to be sent
for. But Frisky would not believe there ever was any Mab Fizz-Fuzz, and
would not stop being too frisky. Her mother spoke to her uncle Thomas
about it, and her uncle Thomas said her mother had better send her to
Goody Gumbo to be talked to. He said that as Goody Gumbo had been alive
ever since real pussys grew on pussy-willow trees, she would know how to
talk to her.
[Illustration:
In a Cheese and Butter Closet.
]
“Frisky Spekkum was sent to Goody Gumbo to be talked to, but when the
talking began she made believe be deaf and not hear a word. Goody Gumbo
kept ear-trumpets for deaf ones and she gave Frisky a heavy ear-trumpet
and made her hold it till the talking was done.
[Illustration:
Goody Gumbo Talking to Frisky.
]
“After she was talked to by Goody Gumbo, Frisky Spekkum was not too
frisky for a very long time. She played with the two Charcoals and the
other Spekkums, and behaved as well as any of them. They were all quiet
and happy, and Frisky was as quiet and happy as the others. When they
were playing together Frisky made no mischief with the tails of the
others. She behaved as well as the others.
“This pleased their mother very much and she spoke to their uncle Thomas
about it. Their uncle Thomas said he did not believe that Frisky Spekkum
behaved as well as the two Charcoals and the other Spekkums. Their
mother told him to come and see.
[Illustration:
The Charcoals and the Speckkums on Their Good Behavior.
]
“Their mother made them sit close together, in a row, with their ears
all turned the same way and their eyes all turned the same way, and
their tails all turned the same way around their fore paws, and Frisky
Spekkum sat so still that when their uncle Thomas came to see he could
not tell which one was Frisky.
[Illustration]