THE OGRE CHANGES HIMSELF INTO A LION
Puss was so terrified that he sprang through the window and scrambled up the roof, though he almost slipped and fell on account of the boots. There he sat spitting and trembling.
Then the ogre turned himself back into his own shape, and he laughed and laughed. “Come back, Puss,” he called, “I will not hurt you; but now you see that everything they told you was true.”
Puss came scrambling back into the room, and he looked very meek and timid.
“Yes, I see it was all true,” he said. “But, Mr. Ogre, could you turn yourself into a small animal as well? That must be a great deal harder. Could you turn yourself into a mouse?”
Yes, the ogre could do that, too, and at once he turned himself into a mouse, and ran, scampering gayly about the room. But he did not scamper long. “Ps-s-s-t!” with a bound Puss caught him and swallowed him down in a moment before he could even squeak, and that was the end of the ogre.
Meanwhile the King and the Princess and Jack were rolling along together in the fine coach and talking pleasantly together. The King was so pleased with Jack’s talk that he told the coachman to drive slowly, so they could have the more time together.
Presently they came to the field of grain where the harvesters were at work.
“That is a fine field of grain,” said the King; and he leaned from the coach and called to the harvesters to know to whom the grain belonged.