“Now,” said he, “will you be my horse and let me ride on you on fine nights?”
“Yes,” mewed the kitten, shivering; “if I must, I must.”
Then the Fairy opened her front door, which was in the side of the well, and took the wet kitten into her palace, where there was a blazing fairy fire. Fairy servants came and dried the kitten, and gave him warm milk to drink.
“Ah,” said the kitten, “you are something like a Fairy. I will be your horse with pleasure.”
“That’s better,” said the Fairy. “The willing horse does the most work, but he gets the most pay too. You shall never be cold, or hungry, or frightened again.”
And she sent the kitten home at once by fairy telegraph.
That’s why our black cat sleeps all day. He has to go out all night for the Fairy to ride him. He seems just like an ordinary cat: to look at him, you’d never think he was the Fairy’s horse. But he is.
E. Nesbit.