II. A YEAR OF SPORT
Just then he looked up and saw a small figure coming toward him. It was covered with a long black veil, and was not more than a foot high. On each side walked a cat dressed in black, and behind came a great number of cats, some carrying cages full of rats, and others mouse-traps filled with mice.
The Prince did not know what to think. The little figure drew near, and drew aside her veil. It was a cat, a beautiful White Cat, but looking sad and gentle. She said to the Prince:—
“You are welcome, Prince. It makes me glad to have you come.”
“Madam,” said the Prince, “I thank you for all your goodness to me. I cannot help thinking you must be a wonderful being, to have this beautiful palace, to be able to speak, and yet to be a cat!”
“That is true,” said the Cat, “but I do not like to talk, and I do not like to hear fine things said to me. Let us sit down to supper.”
The Hands then placed some dishes on the table, in front of the Prince and the White Cat.
The Prince had a pie made of young pigeons, but the White Cat had one made of fat mice. The Prince at first did not like to touch his food. He was not quite sure what it was, but the White Cat told him not to be afraid. The dishes before him had no bit of rat or mouse in them.
When supper was over, the Prince noticed that the White Cat carried a little picture hung by a cord upon one of her feet. He asked to look at it. It was a portrait of a young man. To his great surprise, it was his own likeness.
He did not ask the White Cat to explain this, for she had a look which forbade him. They talked together about many things, and then the White Cat bade the Prince good-night. The Hands, with torches, led him to his chamber, and there he slept.
He was waked in the morning by a noise outside. He got up, and the Hands brought him a handsome hunting-jacket. The noise kept on, and he looked out of the window. There he saw more than five hundred cats in the open space before the palace. They were making ready for a hunt.
The White Cat soon came and asked him to join their sport, and he was given a wooden horse to ride on. The White Cat mounted a monkey. She wore a dragoon’s cap, which made her look very bold and fierce.
The horns sounded, and away they went. The cats ran faster than the hares and rabbits, and when they caught any, they brought them to the Prince and the White Cat. They chased birds as well as rabbits. Up the trees they went, and the White Cat on the monkey climbed more quickly than any, and mounted the highest trees, to the eagle’s nest.
When the chase was over, they all went back to the palace. The White Cat sat down at the table with the Prince, and they had a fine supper. Again the Hands led the Prince to his chamber, and he slept soundly.
So it went on day after day. Every day there was some new pleasure, and the White Cat was so gentle, so sweet, and so thoughtful, that the Prince could not bear to think of leaving the palace.
“How can I go away from you?” he cried one day. “Can you not make me a cat to live here always? or, can you not make yourself a lady?” But the White Cat only smiled, and made no answer.
At last a year had almost gone. The White Cat knew what day the Prince must return to his father, and told him that he had but three days left.
“Alas!” said the Prince. “What shall I do? I have not yet found a dog small enough.”
“Never fear,” said the White Cat. “I will see that you have a dog, and I will also give you a wooden horse, so that you can ride home in a few hours.”
When the day came, the White Cat gave the Prince an acorn, and told him to put it close to his ear. He did so, and could hear a little dog barking inside the acorn. He was delighted, and thanked the White Cat a thousand times.