“Are they really saying anything, madam?” asked the Prince.
“Certainly,” she answered. “We have excellent music here. If you stay with us a little while, you will soon learn to appreciate it.” [[161]]
“Indeed, I shall be a ready scholar,” said the Prince, politely.
Supper was now served by the mysterious hands. Soup made of white mice was brought to the White Cat. When a plate was put before the Prince he did not like to taste it. But the White Cat assured him that his soup was made of pigeons, and that none of the dishes intended for him contained either rats or mice. They talked together on different subjects, and the Prince found that she knew all about what was going on in the world, and was well informed along many lines.
After supper the White Cat invited her guest into another room fitted up with a stage, where the cats danced and acted for their amusement. Then the White Cat said good night to him, and the hands conducted him to an apartment just opposite the one he had been in before. It was hung with butterflies’ wings of every color; there were mirrors that reached from the floor to the ceiling; and his bed was draped in [[162]]gauze, fastened with a thousand knots of ribbon. The Prince went to bed in silence, for he did not know how to begin a conversation with the hands that waited on him.
In the morning he was awakened by noise and confusion outside, and the hands came quickly and dressed him in hunting costume. He looked out into the courtyard and saw more than five hundred cats making preparation for this holiday, for the White Cat was going hunting. He was led to a wooden horse, which he seemed to be [[163]]expected to mount. He did so, and to his surprise it galloped off gayly.
The White Cat was riding a monkey, which went very fast and carried her even to the tops of trees when she wanted to reach eagles’ nests. The cats ran after rabbits and hares and caught them, and the kittens climbed everywhere for birds. The Prince had never enjoyed a hunt more. When the hunt was over they returned to the castle, and the Prince and the White Cat supped together as before.
So the days passed in all kinds of amusements, and the Prince thought only of the little White Cat with whom he was so happy. But she knew when he ought to return, and as he had quite forgotten, she reminded him.
“Do you know,” she said, “that you have only three days in which to look for the little dog your father wants, and that your brothers have found beauties?”