VI.
Now, all this time a cat was lying comfortably upon a chair in the house that was running away.
The chair was covered with red velvet, and there was a bright fire in the room, that sparkled and glowed and made all the furniture in it shine.
The cat looked up and then she purred, saying—
"Till there is a place
Where gamekeepers are not,
My house shall not stay
In any spot."
And the house with the cat in it went on and on, until it came to a far-off place where there were no houses and no gamekeepers, and no fear of traps. Then it stopped with such a jerk that the front door flew open, and a woolly dog, with a red morocco collar and very stiff legs, came in, crying out—
"She is coming, she is coming,
She will like a cup of tea.
She must be quite hot with running,
She is coming after me."
"Who is she?" asked the cat.
Then said the dog—
"Little Nan, she ate the porridge,
And she grew quite tall,
But when she has reached your cottage
She will be quite small."
"Why?" asked the cat.
"Because the effect of the porridge only lasts whilst she is running."
"Oh!" responded the cat.
Upon which Nan herself came running in, and she was no larger than when her mother was kneeling beside her in the garden.
"O my dear, dearest, darling, little pussy-cat! I have found you again, and we will live together always, and you will let me play with you. I am so glad to see you again."
The cat purred and rubbed her head against Nan, as much as to say "Yes."
And the woolly dog barked for joy.
"'there are two girls running,' said ulick" ([p. 363]).
So Nan had won the race.
Nan looked out of the window and nodded to Ulick, who was panting in the distance. She also held up the cat for him to see.
There was no longer any need for Ulick to run, for everything round him was shouting—
"Nan has won the race!"
Yes, he knew that she had, and he wept bitterly and went home again. Perhaps if he had also eaten the porridge he might have outstripped Nan.
No one ever saw the house again, though once it returned to the spot upon which it had stood near Ulick's home. It did not stay long there, only just long enough for Nan's mother to pack up her clothes and join her little girl, who was too small to live by herself.
Then the front door shut quite tightly, and the house fled away faster than ever, and never stopped until it had reached a beautiful island far, far away in the middle of the sea. There it paused, for no gamekeepers, or traps, or cruel boys were to be found there. And in the house on the beautiful island Nan and her mother, and the cat, and the toy dog lived peacefully and happily for ever and ever.
Julia Goddard.