Household Tales | Page 6

it has white paws, but with that exception,
it has not a single white hair on its whole body; this only happens once
every few years, you will let me go, won't you?" "Top-off! Half-done!"
answered the mouse, "they are such odd names, they make me very
thoughtful." "You sit at home," said the cat, "in your dark-grey fur coat

and long tail, and are filled with fancies, that's because you do not go
out in the daytime." During the cat's absence the mouse cleaned the
house, and put it in order but the greedy cat entirely emptied the pot of
fat. "When everything is eaten up one has some peace," said she to
herself, and well filled and fat she did not return home till night. The
mouse at once asked what name had been given to the third child. "It
will not please you more than the others," said the cat. "He is called
All-gone." "All-gone," cried the mouse, "that is the most suspicious
name of all! I have never seen it in print. All-gone; what can that
mean?" and she shook her head, curled herself up, and lay down to
sleep.
From this time forth no one invited the cat to be god-mother, but when
the winter had come and there was no longer anything to be found
outside, the mouse thought of their provision, and said, "Come cat, we
will go to our pot of fat which we have stored up for ourselves---we
shall enjoy that." "Yes," answered the cat, "you will enjoy it as much as
you would enjoy sticking that dainty tongue of yours out of the
window." They set out on their way, but when they arrived, the pot of
fat certainly was still in its place, but it was empty. "Alas!" said the
mouse, "now I see what has happened, now it comes to light! You are a
true friend! You have devoured all when you were standing godmother.
First top off, then half done, then --." "Will you hold your tongue,"
cried the cat, "one word more and I will eat you too." "All gone" was
already on the poor mouse's lips; scarcely had she spoken it before the
cat sprang on her, seized her, and swallowed her down. Verily, that is
the way of the world.
3 Our Lady's Child
Hard by a great forest dwelt a wood-cutter with his wife, who had an
only child, a little girl three years old. They were so poor, however, that
they no longer had daily bread, and did not know how to get food for
her. One morning the wood-cutter went out sorrowfully to his work in
the forest, and while he was cutting wood, suddenly there stood before
him a tall and beautiful woman with a crown of shining stars on her
head, who said to him, "I am the Virgin Mary, mother of the child Jesus.

Thou art poor and needy, bring thy child to me, I will take her with me
and be her mother, and care for her." The wood-cutter obeyed, brought
his child, and gave her to the Virgin Mary, who took her up to heaven
with her. There the child fared well, ate sugar-cakes, and drank sweet
milk, and her clothes were of gold, and the little angels played with her.
And when she was fourteen years of age, the Virgin Mary called her
one day and said, "Dear child, I am about to make a long journey, so
take into thy keeping the keys of the thirteen doors of heaven. Twelve
of these thou mayest open, and behold the glory which is within them,
but the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden thee.
Beware of opening it, or thou wilt bring misery on thyself." The girl
promised to be obedient, and when the Virgin Mary was gone, she
began to examine the dwellings of the kingdom of heaven. Each day
she opened one of them, until she had made the round of the twelve. In
each of them sat one of the Apostles in the midst of a great light, and
she rejoiced in all the magnificence and splendour, and the little angels
who always accompanied her rejoiced with her. Then the forbidden
door alone remained, and she felt a great desire to know what could be
hidden behind it, and said to the angels, "I will not quite open it, and I
will not go inside it, but I will unlock it so that we can just see a little
through the opening." "Oh no," said the little angels, "that would be a
sin. The Virgin Mary has forbidden it, and it might easily cause thy
unhappiness." Then she was silent, but the desire in her heart was not
stilled, but gnawed there