Previous - Next

blade-bone and jumped upon the footstool in front of the fire and
braided up her hair very quick for fear that the mouse should run
up it.

'Ah,' said the Cat, watching, 'then the mouse will do me no harm
if I eat it?'

'No,' said the Woman, braiding up her hair, 'eat it quickly and I
will ever be grateful to you.'

Cat made one jump and caught the little mouse, and the Woman
said, 'A hundred thanks. Even the First Friend is not quick
enough to catch little mice as you have done. You must be very
wise.'

That very moment and second, O Best Beloved, the Milk-pot that
stood by the fire cracked in two pieces--ffft--because it
remembered the bargain she had made with the Cat, and when the
Woman jumped down from the footstool--lo and behold!--the Cat was
lapping up the warm white milk that lay in one of the broken
pieces.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy, said the
Cat, 'it is I; for you have spoken three words in my praise, and
now I can drink the warm white milk three times a day for always
and always and always. But still I am the Cat who walks by
himself, and all places are alike to me.'

Then the Woman laughed and set the Cat a bowl of the warm white
milk and said, 'O Cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember
that your bargain was not made with the Man or the Dog, and I do
not know what they will do when they come home.'

'What is that to me?' said the Cat. 'If I have my place in the
Cave by the fire and my warm white milk three times a day I do
not care what the Man or the Dog can do.'

That evening when the Man and the Dog came into the Cave, the
Woman told them all the story of the bargain while the Cat sat by
the fire and smiled. Then the Man said, 'Yes, but he has not made
a bargain with me or with all proper Men after me.' Then he took
off his two leather boots and he took up his little stone axe
(that makes three) and he fetched a piece of wood and a hatchet
(that is five altogether), and he set them out in a row and he
said, 'Now we will make our bargain. If you do not catch mice
when you are in the Cave for always and always and always, I will
throw these five things at you whenever I see you, and so shall
all proper Men do after me.'

'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but
he is not so clever as my Man.'

The Cat counted the five things (and they looked very knobby) and
he said, 'I will catch mice when I am in the Cave for always and
always and always; but still I am the Cat who walks by himself,
and all places are alike to me.'

'Not when I am near,' said the Man. 'If you had not said that
last I would have put all these things away for always and always
and always; but I am now going to throw my two boots and my
little stone axe (that makes three) at you whenever I meet you.
And so shall all proper Men do after me!'

Previous - Next