This babu, who was in charge of the documents of a certain town, found that they were being seriously damaged by rats. He wrote a letter to the government, informing it of the danger to his records, and respectfully urging it to provide him with weekly rations for two cats to destroy the marauding rats.
The request was granted, and the two cats were installed—one, the larger of the two, receiving slightly better rations than the other.
All went well for a few weeks, when the supreme government of India received the following despatch:
"I have the honor to inform you that the senior cat is absent without leave. What shall I do?"
The problem seemed to baffle the supreme government, for the babu received no answer.
After waiting a few days he sent off a proposal:
"In re Absentee Cat. I propose to promote the junior cat, and in the meantime to take into government service a probationer cat on full rations."
The supreme government expressed its approval of the scheme, and things once more ran smoothly and without friction in that department.