Then he walked along in the middle of the road again. After a while he spied a great cloud of dust, and he heard a great tramping of feet. It was the king riding in his chariot, and behind him marched all his soldiers and his elephants.
“Scat, scat, pussy,” said the king, “my elephants might step on you.”
“Step on me, indeed,” said the cat, “I have eaten my friend the mouse, I have eaten an old woman, I have eaten an old man and a donkey. What is to hinder my eating a king and a few elephants?”
So the cat opened his mouth wide, and down his throat went the king and the soldiers and all the elephants.
Then the cat started on again, but more slowly. He was really not hungry any more. As he traveled he met two land crabs, scuttling along in the dust.
“Scat, scat, pussy,” squeaked the crabs.
“I have eaten my friend the mouse,” said the cat, “I have eaten an old woman, and a man and a donkey, and a king and all his soldiers and all his elephants. What is to hinder my eating you, too?”
Then the cat opened his mouth wide, and down his throat went the two crabs.
But the crabs began to look about them there in the dark. There were the soldiers trying to form in fours, but there was not room. The elephants were stepping on each other’s toes. The old woman was scolding, and in a corner sat the poor little mouse, her paws and ears all drooping.
“We must go to work,” said the crabs.