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the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.

Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't
even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him
that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a
nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in;
and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire
of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse
skin, tail-down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said,
'Wipe you feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep
house.'

That night, Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot
stones, and flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild
duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild
coriander; and marrow-bones of wild oxen; and wild cherries, and
wild grenadillas. Then the Man went to sleep in front of the fire
ever so happy; but the Woman sat up, combing her hair. She took
the bone of the shoulder of mutton--the big fat blade-bone--and
she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she threw more wood
on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the First Singing
Magic in the world.

Out in the Wet Wild Woods all the wild animals gathered together
where they could see the light of the fire a long way off, and
they wondered what it meant.

Then Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, 'O my
Friends and O my Enemies, why have the Man and the Woman made
that great light in that great Cave, and what harm will it do
us?'

Wild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast
mutton, and said, 'I will go up and see and look, and say; for I
think it is good. Cat, come with me.'

'Nenni!' said the Cat. 'I am the Cat who walks by himself, and
all places are alike to me. I will not come.'

'Then we can never be friends again,' said Wild Dog, and he
trotted off to the Cave. But when he had gone a little way the
Cat said to himself, 'All places are alike to me. Why should I
not go too and see and look and come away at my own liking.' So
he slipped after Wild Dog softly, very softly, and hid himself
where he could hear everything.

When Wild Dog reached the mouth of the Cave he lifted up the
dried horse-skin with his nose and sniffed the beautiful smell of
the roast mutton, and the Woman, looking at the blade-bone, heard
him, and laughed, and said, 'Here comes the first. Wild Thing out
of the Wild Woods, what do you want?'

Wild Dog said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, what is this
that smells so good in the Wild Woods?'

Then the Woman picked up a roasted mutton-bone and threw it to
Wild Dog, and said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods,
taste and try.' Wild Dog gnawed the bone, and it was more
delicious than anything he had ever tasted, and he said, 'O my
Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, give me another.

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