A lady had a tame bird which she was in the habit of letting out of its cage every day. One morning as it was picking crumbs of bread off the carpet, her cat, who had always showed before great kindness toward the bird, suddenly seized it, and jumped with it in her mouth upon a table. The lady was alarmed for the fate of her favorite, but on turning about, instantly saw the cause. The door had been left open, and a strange cat had just come into the room! After she had put it out, her own cat came down from her place of safety, and dropped the bird without having done it the least injury.
LXIV
THE LION AND HIS KEEPER
In a large menagerie there was a lion called Danco, whose cage needed some repairs. His keeper hired a carpenter to do the work, but when the workman came and saw the lion, he started back in terror. The keeper entered the animal's cage, and led him to the upper part of it, while the lower was being fixed. He there amused himself for some time playing with the lion, and being wearied, at last fell asleep. The carpenter, relying fully upon the vigilance of the keeper, went on rapidly with his work, and when he had finished it, he called him to see what was done. The keeper made no answer. Having repeatedly called him in vain, he began to feel alarmed at his situation, and he determined to go to the upper part of the cage, where, looking through the railing, he saw the lion and the keeper sleeping side by side. He immediately uttered a loud cry; the lion, awakened by the noise, started up and stared at the carpenter with an eye of fury, and then, placing his paw on the breast of his keeper, lay down to sleep again. At length the keeper was awakened by some of the attendants, and he did not appear in the least worried by the situation in which he found himself, but shook the lion by the paw, and then gently conducted him to his old cage.
