THE GREEDY CAT
Once on a time there was a man who had a Cat, and she was so awfully big, and such a beast to eat, he couldn’t keep her any longer. So she was to go down to the river with a stone round her neck, but before she started she was to have a meal of meat. So the goody set before her a bowl of porridge and a little trough of fat. That the creature crammed into her, and ran off and jumped through the window. Outside stood the goodman by the barn-door threshing.
“Good day, goodman,” said the Cat.
“Good day, pussy,” said the goodman; “have you had any food to-day?”
“Oh, I’ve had a little, but I’m ’most fasting,” said the Cat; “it was only a bowl of porridge and a trough of fat—and, now I think of it, I’ll take you, too,” and so she took the goodman and gobbled him up.
When she had done that, she went into the byre, and there sat the goody milking.
“Good day, goody,” said the Cat.
“Good day, pussy,” said the goody; “are you here, and have you eaten up your food yet?”