Essays on Life 



game. She knew all about the glass in the 

 window, and was sure we could do nothing 

 to molest her, so she treated us with absolute 

 contempt, never even looking at us again. 



The game was this. She was to catch the 

 fly and roll it round and round under her paw 

 along the window-sill, but so gently as not to 

 injure it nor prevent it from being able to fly 

 again when she had done rolling it. It was 

 very early spring, and flies were scarce, in fact 

 there was not another in the whole window. 

 She knew that if she crippled this one, it 

 would not be able to amuse her further, and 

 that she would not readily get another instead, 

 and she liked the feel of it under her paw. It 

 was soft and living, and the quivering of its 

 wings tickled the ball of her foot in a manner 

 that she found particularly grateful ; so she 

 rolled it gently along the whole length of the 

 window-sill. It then became the fly's turn. 

 He was to get up and fly about in the win- 

 dow, so as to recover himself a little ; then she 

 was to catch him again, and roll him softly all 

 along the window-sill, as she had done before. 



It was plain that the cat knew the rules of 



