9. But no sooner were the dishes set in front of them, in plates of gold and silver, than a rushing sound was heard. In an instant a whole army of mice and rats came running in.
10. They were so bold that they leaped on the table and began to devour the food from the king"s own plate. In a few minutes nothing would have been left.
11. The guests had to drive them away, and s.n.a.t.c.h a few hasty morsels before they came back again. But the creatures seemed to care for nothing, for they ran back as fast as they were made to go.
12. The captain was full of surprise. "Are not these mice and rats a great trouble to you?" he asked the king. "Oh yes, they are indeed!"
said he.
13. "They not only eat up almost all we have, but they disturb us even in our own bedrooms. We are sadly afraid that there will be a famine next year, for they are eating up all the seed and corn in the land."
14. The captain was ready to jump for joy when he heard this, for he called to mind the cat, which d.i.c.k had left in the ship.
15. As it was not far off, he bade d.i.c.k run and fetch her at once. "I think we can help you," he said to the king; but he only shook his head, for he had tried all ways to get rid of the rats and mice, without success.
_Write:_ The captain sold the goods for a good price. He went to see the king of that land. He found that there were many rats and mice at the palace.
Questions: 1. What misfortune happened to the ship? 2. What sort of people did the captain find on the coast where he landed? 3. What did they give instead of the goods? 4. Where did the captain go with his friends next? 5. What went on at the king"s dinner-table? 6. What did the captain tell d.i.c.k to fetch?
6. THE QUEEN AND THE KITTENS.
1. Taking puss in his arms, d.i.c.k was surprised to find that she tried to get away from him again, and to run down to the cabin below. This was the first time that she had done so, and he could not make it out.
2. She struggled to get away each time that d.i.c.k tried to carry her out of the ship, making an odd sort of "miew," and trying to coax him to come where she led him.
3. At last he ran after puss, down the cabin steps, and at the bottom, in a dark corner, he found that puss had hidden five pretty little kittens!
4. She was purring with all her might over them, and she tried to say, "Did you ever see five such sweet little things? How could you ask me to leave them? They would die if I did. Though I love you dearly I cannot go away."
5. So d.i.c.k found a warm piece of flannel, and wrapping the baby p.u.s.s.ies up in it, he took the whole lot with him. Puss was ready enough to come when she saw this.
6. He made as much haste as he could. Soon he came into the palace with the kittens under one arm and their proud mother purring under the other.
7. No sooner did d.i.c.k enter than the cat began to sniff the air. Then she caught a glimpse of the rats and mice, which were still feasting on the table. The cloth was black with them.
8. In one instant she sprang from his arms. She laid a dozen rats and mice dead at the king"s feet in half a minute, and all the rest were scared out of their wits, and ran away.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SWEET LITTLE THINGS.]
9. They had never seen a cat before, for there were none in that land.
The king had never seen one either; and his queen did not know what sort of beast puss was at all. But she thought her very pretty.
10. "What is this strange, useful creature; what is it called?" said the king, "and where did you get it? I will give all I have to buy it from you, rather than be left without one."
11. But though the king sent for a great sack of gold, so heavy that it took three men to bring it into the room, d.i.c.k would not hear of selling his friend.
12. "What is that bundle under your arm?" said the captain to d.i.c.k. And then the boy showed him the kittens.
13. "Why these are even more pretty than the beast itself," said the queen, and she wished to have all the kittens in her lap. Poor woman!
she had never before nursed a kitten in her life!
14. "You had better sell these to the king," the captain said in a whisper to d.i.c.k. "Tell him that some day they will grow up to be cats like yours, and in due time will have little ones of their own."
15. "But it would be cruel to take them all away from their mother,"
said d.i.c.k, for he had seen how quickly his cat had run to the queen to beg for her little ones.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE KING AND THE QUEEN.]
16. The cat was not afraid to stare even into the face of a king, and ask him bravely to put down the little kit which he had taken into his royal hands.
17. Puss had at last taken all her treasures to a mat near the door, where she was busy washing their faces. She did not care to have so many folks pulling them about.
18. "You must leave one for the mother, and sell the rest," said the captain. "She will not fret long if you leave her one child. And we cannot take them all five back on the ship. There would be too many."
_Write:_ d.i.c.k found that his cat had five little kits. He took them with him to the house of the king. The queen was pleased; she had never seen a kitten before.
Questions: 1. What was d.i.c.k surprised to find when he took up his cat? 2. Where did she try to lead him? 3. What had puss got in a corner? 4. How did d.i.c.k manage to bring the kittens to the palace? 5. What did his cat do when she got there? 6. What did the queen wish?
7. THE END OF p.u.s.s.y.
1. "But I should like them to stay little always," said the queen, after she had been told that the kittens would soon grow big enough to catch mice.
2. "That is a foolish remark, my love," said the king. "They are here to kill mice, and the sooner they get big, the better.
[Ill.u.s.tration: p.u.s.s.y"S GRAVE.]
3. "And you forget that they will have kittens by-and-by," added the king. "In time we shall have,--what is their name? oh, cats.
4. "Well, we shall have cats enough to keep the whole land free from mice and rats." And he was ready to dance and clap his hands. Only that would not have been proper for a king.
5. The end of it was that d.i.c.k and the captain set sail for England with a shipload of gold, and puss went with them, with her one baby.
She did not miss the rest much after a time.
6. When d.i.c.k reached London again, he was very rich indeed. But as he grew older he learned that money cannot make people happy, unless they do good to others with it.
7. He gave his friend the captain a handsome present of gold, and he did not forget one of his old friends at home. To each one he gave what they most needed.
8. Even the cross cook was not pa.s.sed over, for d.i.c.k thought that her bad temper might be made better by a gift, and so it was.
9. But there was one above all to whom he showed the greatest care.
This was his cat. Of course she did not live so long as d.i.c.k did, for the lives of cats do not often last more than about sixteen years.
10. By the time that d.i.c.k was the father of some dear little children, his faithful old puss was very very old and weak. Alice was now his wife.