My great-grandfather was a catamount and his
grandmother was a tiger-cat. I've been in a hundred battles. I've had
one eye knocked out and an ear bit off. I left a piece of my tail in a
trap. I've been scalded with hot water and peppered all over with shot.
_I'll_ teach you how to get a living without being a house-cat. I hate
houses and the people who live in them, and I do them all the mischief
I can. I eat up their chickens and I suck their eggs. I climb in at the
pantry window and skim their milk. Once when the cook left the kitchen
door open I snatched the beefsteak from the gridiron and made off with
the family dinner. They hate me--they do. They've tried to kill me a
dozen times; but I'm Robber Grim, ha! ha! and I've got nine lives!'
"At this instant there came a flash of lightning, followed by a peal of
thunder that shook the barn to its foundations, and every cat fled in
terror to its hole.
"The next morning Mrs. Tabitha Velvetpaw took a stroll round the garden
and down the lane a little way, where the catnip grew. The ground was
wet after the shower, and she was daintily picking her way along, very
careful not to soil her beautiful feet, of which she was justly proud,
when suddenly there glided from behind a tree and stood directly in her
path a small yellow cat.
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