The King was so struck with his appearance that he insisted upon his getting into the carriage to take a drive with them.
The Cat, delighted with the way his plans were turning out, ran on before. He reached a meadow where some peasants were making hay.
"Good people," said he, "if you do not tell the King, when he comes this way, that the meadow you are mowing belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall all be chopped up into little pieces."
When the King came by, he stopped to ask the haymakers to whom the meadow belonged.
"To the Marquis of Carabas, if it please Your Majesty," answered they, trembling, for the Cat's threat had frightened them terribly.
The Cat, who continued to run before the carriage, now came to some reapers.
"Good people," said he, "if you do not tell the King that all this corn belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall all be chopped up into little pieces."
The King again stopped to ask to whom the land belonged, and the reapers, obedient to the Cat's command, answered—