Oh, dear me! This is what was going to happen to the little girl who had told on her brothers. And all the little dogs were standing around, wagging their tails, as Puss, Junior, pa.s.sed by.
It was a wonder that the dogs didn"t rush out and bark at him, but they were so anxious to get a piece of the little girl"s tongue that they didn"t notice him at all. Perhaps a cat with boots and spurs, a hat and plume, and a trusty sword didn"t look like an ordinary cat to them. And neither was our little traveler.
You see, these little boys had gone into an alley to play marbles, on their way to school, and then the little girl had told her father how they had missed their lessons.
"And Jimmy Jones won all the marbles, and there was a fight! And the teacher kept them in after school!"
"Oh me! oh my!" cried Puss, Junior. "Please don"t slit her tongue!"
"But why did you tell tales on your brothers?" asked her father.
"Oh, please don"t slit her tongue!" cried Puss, Junior, again.
"That"s what they did in _Mother Goose_."
"It must have been very long ago in the dark ages," answered Puss, laying hold of his sword.
"Well, it"s only a rhyme!" laughed her father, picking up his little girl and hugging her. "Come on, Sir Cat, follow me. You are quite a Knight of the Round Table. If a fair lady be in distress you are her champion!"
Pretty soon all three came to a little house and Puss was invited to come in and play. There was a nice swing under an old apple tree, and soon he was swinging as high as the little girl could push him. All of a sudden he jumped out up among the branches and hung on to a limb, just like a trapeze performer.
"I once was with a circus," he explained, sliding down the rope and turning a somersault on the ground.
Just then the little boys came in the gate and how they did laugh! And Jimmy gave Puss all the marbles which he had won, and his father, who had been sitting on the porch watching the fun, gave Puss a dollar.
After that they all went in for lunch and Puss didn"t start out on his journey until late in the afternoon.
ON THE WAY
"ON the way, on the way, To see my father, old and gray.
Faster still, my good gray steed, Over hill and flowering mead.
"Faster, faster, Good Gray Horse, Hasten swiftly on your course, Till I see the stately towers Where my father spends his hours."
"Urge me not too much!" panted the faithful steed. "I"m doing my best, but these hills have made me short of breath."
Dear me! I forgot to tell you that the Good Gray Horse had run away from the famous Doctor Drake and had caught up to Puss, Junior, just as I commenced this story.
"Forgive me," cried little Puss, Junior. "In my anxiety to see my father I have been selfish." And he slipped a lump of sugar into the mouth of the Good Gray Horse.
Well, after several miles had gone by, Puss drew rein at a drinking trough beside the road, where his faithful steed drank long and deep.
And as they rested a while, who should fly by but a busy b.u.mblebee, buzzing from flower to flower.
He was a jolly-looking bee, and presently he said to Puss, "Whither are you bound, my good Sir Cat?"
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"To the castle of my Lord of Carabas," replied our little traveler. "I"m seeking my father, who is seneschal to my lord."
"Ah, is that so?" exclaimed the bee. "These are stirring times. I heard only last week that my Lord of Carabas was going to war!"
"What!" exclaimed our small hero, jumping to his feet and clapping his paw to his sword. "I must hurry on!"
"Bravely spoken," answered the bee. "I have seen many soldiers at the castle of late. Indeed, the country is all excitement--flags flying, drums beating, men drilling, women sc.r.a.ping lint. All is bustle and hustle."
"And what brings you so far from there?" inquired Puss, replacing his sword in his scabbard.
"My two good wings," replied the b.u.mblebee, and he laughed as he dove head first into a flower after its dewy sweetness.
"Come, little master," cried the Good Gray Horse. "I am rested. Let us hasten on our journey."
Puss bade good-by to the golden b.u.mblebee and sprang once more into the saddle. And the Good Gray Horse threw out his heels and galloped off toward the castle of my Lord of Carabas, but evening came upon them and they were still far from their destination, so Puss dismounted for the night beneath a grove of trees.
LITTLE BOY BLUE
YOU remember in the last story that Puss and his Good Gray Horse had camped in a grove of trees for the night. Well, just as Puss was about to curl up and take a little trip to dreamland he heard a voice singing:
"Little Boy Blue, Come, leave your toys.
It"s time to wash hands For little boys.
"Supper is ready, You must not wait.
Tuck in your napkin And don"t tip your plate.
"Oh, where is Boy Blue?
Let"s all take a peep.
He"s there on the sofa, Fast asleep."
Puss opened his eyes and saw a little light twinkling through the trees.
So he got up and went toward it to find that it shone from the window of a small cottage. As he knocked on the door he thought, "I may be asked to spend the night, and that will be much more comfortable than lying beneath the trees." And it turned out just as he thought. The pretty woman who opened the door asked him in, saying, softly:
"Tiptoe in, my dear Puss, Junior, for Boy Blue has just gone to sleep."
And you know how softly a cat can tiptoe! But of course he first slipped off his red-topped boots with their clanking spurs.
Then Boy Blue"s mother gave Puss, Junior, some milk and cake, and after that he put his Good Gray Horse in the stable and came back to sit down by the fire.
Over the mantelpiece hung a silver horn, and as Puss looked up at it he remembered long ago in Old Mother Goose Land a little Boy Blue who blew his horn to call the cows from the fields of corn.
"Does your little Boy Blue go to sleep in a haystack?"
"No, my dear," laughingly replied his mother, "but his father did. And that"s the horn he used to blow in the early morn to call the cows and the woolly sheep when under the haystack he"d fallen asleep."
"I met him once, a long time ago," said little Puss, Junior. "I remember the place quite well. He carried me on his shoulder over to see little Miss m.u.f.fet who sat on a tuffet, and she gave us some curds and whey till a horrid old spider sat down beside us and frightened her away."