“You dare come into my presence, and tell me that there is some one living in my kingdom who is more handsomely housed than I, the king!” shouted the king, beside himself with rage. He came near wringing the cat’s neck.
“You might wait until you see it,” said the cat. And the king said yes, he would wait. “But if you have told me a falsehood, you shall die, and though you had seven lives,” said he.
In the morning the king and the whole court set out to travel to Ebe Ashpeter’s castle. The cat was in the little hut, and called for Ebe, thinking it would be best if both of them got underway an hour earlier. After they had gone a while, they met some folk who were herding sheep; and the sheep were bleating and grazing over the whole plain. They were as large as full-grown calves, and their wool was so long that it dragged along the ground after them. “To whom do the sheep belong?” asked the cat. “To Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill,” said the shepherds.
“The court is coming past in a moment,” said the cat, “and if then you do not at once say that they belong to Ebe, I will scratch out your eyes, and drive you over rock and precipice!” said the cat, and spat and arched her back, and showed her teeth. Then the shepherds were so frightened that they at once promised to do as the cat had ordered.
“But to whom do all these sheep belong?” asked the king, when he came by with the court somewhat later. “They are every bit as handsome as my own!”
“They belong to Ebe,” said the shepherds.
Then the cat and Ebe wandered on for a while, and came to a dense forest slope. There they met folk who were tending goats. The goats skipped and leaped about everywhere, and gave such fine milk that better could no where be found.
“To whom do the goats belong?” asked the cat.
“To Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill,” said the herdsmen. Then the cat again went through her ferocious preparations, and the herdsmen were so frightened that they did not dare oppose her wishes.
“Now who in the world can be the owner of so many goats?” asked the king. “I myself have none finer!”