"TAKE IT!"
[150]
The very old story that follows is taken from Halliwell, and is, according to Jacobs, scarcely more than a variant of "The Old Woman and Her Pig." Like that story, "The Cat and the Mouse" appeals to small people by its pronounced rhythmical structure, accentuated by the rhyme which marks the transition to each new section, and by the "run" at the close.
THE CAT AND THE MOUSE
The cat and the mouse
Played in the malt-house:
The cat bit the mouse's tail off. "Pray, puss, give me my tail."
"No," said the cat, "I'll not give you your tail till you go to the cow and fetch me some milk."
First she leapt, and then she ran,
Till she came to the cow, and thus began:
"Pray, cow, give me milk, that I may give cat milk, that cat may give me my own tail again."
"No," said the cow, "I will give you no milk till you go to the farmer and fetch me some hay."