"How do I know my Good Gray Horse can fly with these wings?" asked Puss.
"He may try them first," said the voice, and out from behind a stump jumped a little dwarf, dressed in green, with a red turban on his head. Quick as a wink he fastened a wing to each foot of the Good Gray Horse. And then he clicked his tongue against his teeth and away went the Good Gray Horse up in the air like a great bird.
"Hold on!" shouted the dwarf. "Don't forget to give me the diamond," and he held out his little hat for Puss to drop it in as the Good Gray Horse sailed away on his winged feet over the mountain.
Well, as soon as he crossed the top of the great high mountain he came down to earth and, strange to say, as soon as he touched the ground the wings on his feet changed into long, silky hairs, and, but for these, he was just the same as he was before meeting the dwarf.
"Come, little master, since I have lost my wings, to yonder inn. I am hungry for oats." So Puss rode forward and, after leaving him in the stable, sat down in the inn and waited for his dinner. Pretty soon a little bird settled on the window sill and sang:
"From my snug little nest in the old apple tree,
All covered with blossoms so fair,
I never have seen, though I'm over thirteen,
A horse that could fly thro' the air."
Just then the innkeeper's wife came in, and when she saw the little bird on the window sill close to Puss, Junior, she cried, "Time for little birds to be in their nests." So the little bird flew away, and as soon as Puss had eaten his dinner he again mounted his Good Gray Horse. After a while he met an old man and a little dog. The little dog was carrying a basket in his mouth and the little old man a big pipe, from which the smoke curled up in the shape of a bird. All of a sudden he gave a puff and, would you believe it, a glossy gray pigeon flew away.
Pretty soon the smoke again curled up from the pipe into the form of a pigeon, and then, just as before, the little old man gave a puff, and away flew a pigeon, only this time it was grayish blue.
I don't know how long this would have gone on if the little old man had not suddenly turned around.