118 



Whittington and His Gat. 



served that every man had a stick in his hand. His surprise still 

 increased, when, iipou the turning up of the dishes, he saw swarms of 

 mice sally out from the wall, and make such an attack upon the vic- 

 tuals as to require the greatest vigilance of the guests in keeping them 

 off with their sticks. This extraordinary scene brought the cat of the 

 old woman of Siraf into the merchant's mind. When he dined a sec- 

 ond time with the king he put the cat under his arm, and no sooner 

 did the mice appear than he let it go, and to the delight of the king 

 and his courtiers, hundreds of mice were laid dead about the floor. 

 The king, of course, longed to possess so valuable an animal, and the 

 merchant agreed to give it up, provided an adequate compensation 

 were made to its real owner. AYhen the merchant was about his de- 

 parture, he was shown a ship finely equipped, laden with all sorts of 

 merchandise, which he was told was to be given to the old woman 

 for her cat. She, of course, could scarcely yield credit to his tale, but 

 when she found that he was in earnest, and that she was possessed of 

 such vast wealth, she imparted her good fortune to her sons, who 

 came over to her, and after having made merry with the ready money, 

 embarked with their mother and the rest of the property, and estab- 

 lished themselves at Kais. Here they traded with great success, until 

 their name became so famous that twelve ships all at one time were 

 consigned to them. They managed by stratagem to make away with 

 the owners of these ships, seized their property, and commenced to be 

 pirates. In this new character they were again successful, and became 

 so powerful that they braved the king of the country, who was too 

 weak to destroy them. In the course of time, indeed, their descend- 

 ants became the kings of Kais, and are known in Persian history 

 under the name of Beni Kaiser. At length their power was destroyed 

 by Atta Beg, then king of Ears; and since then, their possessions have 

 been annexed to the Persian dominions. This is the legend of Persia, 

 current before Whittington was born. 



Italy furnishes us with another story, told by Count Lorenzo 

 Magalotti, a Florentine nobleman, who flourished in the latter part of 

 the 17th century; the story, however, is no invention of his own, but 

 an old legend current many years in Italy, and it is as follows : 



You must know that at the time our Amerigo Vespucci discov- 

 ered the new world, there was in our city (Florence) a merchant whose 

 name was Messer Ansaldo degli Ormanni, who, though he was very 

 rich, being, perhaps, desirous of doubling his wealth, freighted a large 

 ship, and began to sell his merchandise in the newly-discovered parts 

 of the west. And having made two or three good voyages thither, 

 and gained immensely in his dealings, he determined to return there 



