“I put myself down flat and crept behind that rat. He went creeping through some wheat and corn and I crept behind, quicker than he, for I could creep quicker. He went up a large stalk to his nest. I sprang up and grabbed him, but alas! I could not take good hold and he got away and sprang at me and the mother rat sprang out at me and they bit me, and would have killed me, but I got away and ran with all my might, and lay down under some bushes, and pretty soon that same black and white kitten came and licked the blood off me and brought me a mole to eat, or I never should have stirred from that spot.
“As the weather grew colder I suffered more and more. I longed for a home.
“Often at evening I ran behind persons hoping to be invited to their houses, but they always drove me back.
“During all this time I was obliged to endure the distress of knowing that my fur was not perfectly clean.
“When winter came my unhappiness was greater than it had ever been before, though it had already been very great.
“But one day, oh joyful day! my unhappiness came to an end, oh joyful end! I will tell how this happened.
He Went Up a Large Stalk to His Nest.
The Kind Maiden.