CHAP. X.] 'THE WIDOW AND THE BABBITS.' Ill 



In the course of Thursday, the Laird, who was still afraid, and very ill 

 from the effects of the brandy which he had drunk and from the fright he 

 had received, sent his trusty forester, Mr. Treecarer, to the village, to say, 

 that he would compensate all those who had suffered injury from, the 

 rabbits, and he begged them at once to make out their accounts that he 

 might discharge them. When the villagers heard this, their joy was 

 unbounded, and they cried : " Away with misery and woe ; now come back 

 happiness and joy." One old man, however, said, " Do not waste your 

 time in merry-making too soon : we should not be wasteful, if we were rich ; 

 but now we are poor, we should waste nothing. Remember that a good 

 cat-skin is worth fourpence, so skin the cats and sell the skins." All the 

 villagers thought this good advice, and started off at once with a hurrah, 

 and up to Saturday night got as many skins as realized 2,500 exactly, at 

 fourpence each. Thus it is proved that 150,000 rabbits existed before 

 they were turned into cats ; and as the valley contained 15,000 acres, it is 

 proved that there were 10 rabbits to every acre of land. But this is not 

 quite exact, for rain set in on the Sunday, which spoilt the skins of many of 

 the black cats, and many of the white cats had been passed over, as they 

 could not be seen in the white snow. It is possible that the total amount 

 of rabbits which lived in the valley were 15 per acre, or 225,000 in the whole. 

 After much consultation and consideration the villagers were compensated 

 by a return of five years' rents, which actuaries consider fair under the cir- 

 cumstances ; because the rabbits had been brought to the valley ten years 

 back. At first there were very few rabbits, and they did but little harm ; 

 gradually they increased, by a geometric progression, till the above enormous 

 quantity was bred. By accepting five years' rents as compensation, a fair 

 average was struck, and a very difficult discussion avoided. The lawyers 

 indeed wanted to go into fractions, because in some years the rabbits 

 multiplied more than in othprs, and hence the progression was not uniform. 

 One lawyer, Mr. Stirupstrife, desired to file amicable Bills in Chancery as 

 to the appropriation of the money ; but the villagers were too sensible by 

 far to listen to this proposition, although Mr. Barrister Helplawyer 

 strongly advised that course. All legal difficulties were surmounted : and 

 the lawyers were prevented from eating up the funds, which they very much 

 wanted to do, by each payment of the Laird being a free gift, subject to 

 the terms and conditions of the giver, which were equitable in each par- 

 ticular case where the money had to be divided amongst the children who 

 had lost their parents. 



On Thursday the birds, seeing that the cats were dead, returned to 

 their own haunts ; and on Sunday a rapid thaw took place, which caused a 

 great flood, and on Monday morning the salmon returned by shoals to the 

 river ; and all was again prosperity and peace. 



The villagers, out of the proceeds of the sale of the cats-skins, bought 

 the poor widow a new house, with a farm of thirty-five acres of arable and 

 grass land, and seven roods of wood. She also had ample compensation 

 for the damage done by the rabbits. The remainder of the money was 

 spent in building a new church which was badly wanted the round 

 arches of which exist to this day. Unfortunately the builder, who came 

 from a town called Cheatem, took the villagers in, or they would have 

 been able to construct a bridge over the river. To this day, 1,000 years 

 afterwards, the river has to be crossed by a ford, to the great peril of 



