"Are farmers always so happy?" asked Puss when the man stopped singing.
The farmer smiled and said: "My good sir, when one is blessed with a fine wife and a good farm he can beat a canary-bird at singing."
"You don"t say so!" said Puss, Jr. "But suppose one has neither, what should such an unlucky one do?"
"Don"t ask me," said the farmer, setting to work again. "I"m a simple man, and what is happiness for me might not be for another."
As he swung his scythe back and forth the tall gra.s.s fell in graceful rows and the sweet scent of the new-mown hay was everywhere. Suddenly Puss saw a field-mouse scampering over the ground. This was too much for Puss. He had eaten nothing since breakfast, and he had not had a mouse to eat for so long that he had almost forgotten how mice tasted. Jumping down from his good gray horse, he gave chase.
"Go it, Sir Cat!" cried the farmer. "Don"t lose him."
Puss needed no words of encouragement. He longed for a good run, and his mouth fairly watered at the idea of a nice fat little mouse for lunch.
But the field-mouse saw him coming and wasted no time. Away he went, hopping over the gra.s.s and looking wildly about for a place in which to hide. A trunk of a fallen tree at no great distance attracted his attention, and with a final burst of speed he reached it and crawled into a hole before Puss had the opportunity to seize him by the tail.
"Oh, pshaw!" cried Puss, sitting down on the log. "I surely thought I had him."
"You did, eh?" squeaked the little mouse, peering out of his hole and laughing at poor Puss. "I prefer to be inside this log rather than inside even so famous a character as Puss in Boots, Junior."
"How do you know my name?" asked Puss, surprised at what he heard.
"Why, I"m one of the three blind mice whose tails the farmer"s wife cut off," said the mouse.
"I thought there was very little tail to you," said Puss, "or else you went into the hole so fast that it made your tail look very short, for I couldn"t even get a little hold on it."
"Well, having my tail clipped did me some good," said the mouse.
PUSS HELPS A STRANGER CATCH A RUNAWAY PIG
"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog, Home again, home again, jiggety jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun, Home again, home again, market is done."
A funny little man came dancing down the road. Before him he drove a fat pig, which squeaked and grunted loudly. To one of its hind legs was fastened a rope, the other end of which the funny little man held tightly in his hand.
"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again, jiggety jig."
sang the little old man. "How do you like my piggety pig?" he asked, looking up at Puss, Jr., who had stopped his good gray horse to watch the funny sight.
"He looks like a fine pig," replied Puss.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "TO MARKET, TO MARKET, TO BUY A FAT PIG"]
"Whoa, there, piggety pig!" cried the old man as the pig began to struggle to get away.
"Look out!" cried Puss. But the warning came too late. The pig had wriggled his foot out of the noose and went racing down the road.
"Take me up behind you!" cried the little old man. "Then let us follow and catch him."
"Jump up! Quick about it!" cried Puss, Jr.
In a moment the little old man was on the good gray horse, who immediately set off at a gallop to overtake the piggety pig. It was a long race, for he had a good head start and terror lent wings to his feet.
"Git up!" cried Puss, digging his heels into the sides of the good gray horse. "Git up! Don"t you see the pig is getting away from us?"
"Neigh, neigh!" cried the good gray horse as he gave a spring forward.
"Then go faster!" screamed the little old man.
"Gid ap!" yelled Puss, Jr. At this the horse with leaps and bounds came closer and closer to the fleeing pig.
"I"ve got the rope!" cried the little old man.
"Make a big noose at one end," said Puss, "and as we draw near throw it over his head."
"That I will," answered the little old man. "When I was young I was a cowboy. I hope I"ve not forgotten how to swing a lariat."
As good luck would have it, he had not. All at once the little old man swung the rope in the air and the noose fell over the pig"s head.
"I"ve got him! I"ve got him!" cried the old man, and Puss, Jr., pulled in his horse. The race was over and the old man, jumping down to the ground, thanked Puss again and again for his a.s.sistance.
PUSS HELPS A LITTLE BOY WHO IS IN TROUBLE
The town of Banbury Cross was very pretty, situated at the corner of two cross-roads, close to a sparkling river over which ran a bridge. As Puss, Jr., on his good gray horse, whose feet went rackety-rackety, rackety-tak over the broad planking, drew rein at the farther end a small boy, who stood by the side of a pretty little pony, began to sing:
"I had a little pony, His name was Dapple-gray, I lent him to a lady To ride a mile away.
She whipped him, she lashed him, She rode him through the mire; I would not lend my pony now, For all the lady"s hire."
"Neither would I," said Puss.
The little boy opened his eyes very wide. They were blue as the skies overhead and were full of tears. "She whipped him, she lashed him,"
continued the boy. "I"ll never again lend my pony to anybody."
"I wouldn"t lend my good gray horse," said Puss, "for one never knows whether a person is kind to animals or not."
"I never thought a lady would hurt my pony," sobbed the boy. "Just look at him. He"s all covered with mud."
"So he is," said Puss, consolingly; "but never mind. A good washing will fix him up."
"But my father will be angry," said the boy. "He doesn"t like to wash my pony, and I"m too little."