THE CAT: 



The Young Man and His Cat 



A young man owned a cat with which he was 

 wont to sport, and which he greatly loved. Day 

 and night he prayed to Venus, that she would show 

 favour to him and to his cherished pet. The kindly 

 goddess heard his prayer, and changed the cat into 

 the most beautiful of maidens, whom the youth 

 married that very day. But alas! even on their 

 wedding night, when the bride lay clasped in her 

 husband's arms, she heard a mouse scamper across 

 the room, and leaped lightly from her bed to pur- 

 sue it. Venus, angry at this profanation of wife- 

 hood, and perceiving that, however altered in form, 

 a cat remains a cat at heart, changed her back into 

 a beast, in order that soul and body might be in 

 conformity. 



M sop's Fables. 



131 



