“He would lift up his finger and say, ‘No, Tabby Furpurr. Go back!’ And I always went back. But when it was time for him to come home I went to the bridge and waited till he came and then went to the house with him. The boy’s dog did not like to have the boy like me so much. He was not so good as Nep. He would not let me warm my feet in his hair. He looked at me when I stole cream or custard. If they caught me stealing cream or custard, I hung my tail and went over to the grandma house to stay. When grandma caught me stealing I hung my tail and went back to the boy’s house to stay. A girl lived in the boy’s house, and she tamed a mouse. It stayed in a box. One day the boy looked at me hard, and lifted up his finger and said, ‘Tabby Furpurr, you have had enough to eat. This mouse is not for you. I am going to let this mouse out. Don’t you touch this mouse. Do you hear? Don’t you touch it!’
“I knew what he said, and I never did touch that mouse. The girl played with it and let it stay in her work-basket. It liked to nibble green things that were brought into the house.
“One day it got at a flower that the girl put in water and hung up, and it nibbled the flower. One day it was nibbling something green and it knocked over the thing the green was in and spilt the water on me and scared me, and made me jump, though I was quite an old cat then, and could not jump as spry as a kitten.
“It was at this time that I had my fight with a woods cat. She came to our barn. I never saw her before. I went to the barn to get some catnip. There was catnip among the hay, and when I felt that I needed catnip I went and picked it out of the hay. That woods cat came to get some of the catnip, but she had no right there. It was in a place under the haymow and a great deal of the catnip hay was there. The woods cat was sitting on it, pawing it with her paw.
“She flew at me, and we had a fight. She would have killed me if the girl had not come with a broom.
“I was a bad looking cat. I went lame and had salve on me. The girl took care of me, and as soon as I could walk she let me go in the garden with her when she picked flowers. I liked to go into the garden. She used to sit under a tree and read a book, and I used to sit on the seat close to her, and if she stroked me I purred loud.
“But she found out I liked birds. She saw me under a currant-bush eating a bird, and whipped me with a stick and said, ‘Shame, Tabby Furpurr! Shame on you to eat a little bird!’ And I went to the grandma house to stay.