246 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



giddy partridges and innocent quails, and foolish 

 young rabbits ran helter-skelter into the bag. Ac- 

 cording to us, the game of the entire canton was 

 bagged. One day the cat defied the ogre to take the 

 form of every kind of animal in turn, as he pretended 

 he had the power to do. The stupid ogre hastened 

 to change himself into a lion first, then into a mouse. 

 But in a half a jiffy out shoot the cat's claws, the 

 mouse is caught, and the ogre is gobbled up. 

 Thenceforth the castle belongs to the miller's son, 

 who has become the Marquis of Carabas, as true as 

 can be. Then the wedding is celebrated with great 

 magnificence. Isn't that the way it goes, Uncle?" 



" Precisely; only I must say to you that I object 

 to the boots in that performance. How, with such 

 foot-gear thumping and creaking on the gravel in 

 the road, can the cat approach the game without be- 

 ing heard?" 



4 * That 's so. Let us take off the boots. "We will 

 suppose the cat leaves them at the mill while it is 

 out hunting, and that it only wears them on great 



occasions." 



"How much wiser the real cat is than the one in 

 the story! It would not wear noisy boots and run 

 the risk of making the garret floor creak under its 

 footsteps. If the mouse heard the slightest sound 

 of hard soles, it would never come out of its hole. 

 What the cat really needs is slippers and not boots 

 or wooden shoes slippers thick and soft so as to 

 muffle the footfall completely. 



"Let us examine the underside of the cat's paw. 



