"No, my good woman—a pair of boots!"
"Well, then," she replied, "keep on your way until you reach yonder village. Then cross the bridge and you will soon come to a bootmaker. He will, no doubt, be able to fit a pair of boots to Your Royal Highness's feet." Then she turned up a lane and left Puss to continue his way alone.
"Ah, me!" sighed Puss. "I don't feel a bit like myself without my red-topped boots. Indeed, I feel like an imposter. How will anyone believe that I am Puss in Boots, Junior, if I have no boots?" And, for the first time in his life, he felt discouraged. He had met with many disappointments on his journey through Mother Goose country, but to be without boots seemed almost too hard to bear. Still, with a brave heart, he rode on toward the village. "I have at least the money with which to buy them," he said, "and this is much to be thankful for." Which was a wise saying, I think, for a cat who had been out in the world for so short a time as had little Puss, Junior.
THE COBBLER
"CAN you make me a pair of boots?" asked Puss, Junior, reining in his Good Gray Horse.
The cobbler, who was sitting close to the open window of his little shop, looked up from his bench.
"Will you need two pair?" he asked.
"One pair, my good man," replied Puss, Junior, haughtily. "Do you imagine I wear boots on my front paws?"