The Yellow Fairy Book | Page 5

sun,
and licked her lips whenever she thought of the little pot of fat. As soon
as it was evening she went home again.
'Ah, here you are again!' said the Mouse; 'you must certainly have had
an enjoyable day.'
'It went off very well,' answered the Cat.
'What was the child's name?' asked the Mouse.
'Top Off,' said the Cat drily.
'Topoff!' echoed the Mouse, 'it is indeed a wonderful and curious name.
Is it in your family?'

'What is there odd about it?' said the Cat. 'It is not worse than
Breadthief, as your godchild is called.'
Not long after this another great longing came over the Cat. She said to
the Mouse, 'You must again be kind enough to look after the house
alone, for I have been asked a second time to stand godmother, and as
this child has a white ring round its neck, I cannot refuse.'
The kind Mouse agreed, but the Cat slunk under the town wall to the
church, and ate up half of the pot of fat. 'Nothing tastes better,' said she,
'than what one eats by oneself,' and she was very much pleased with her
day's work. When she came home the Mouse asked, 'What was this
child called?'
'Half Gone,' answered the Cat.
'Halfgone! what a name! I have never heard it in my life. I don't believe
it is in the calendar.'
Soon the Cat's mouth began to water once more after her licking
business. 'All good things in threes,' she said to the Mouse; 'I have
again to stand godmother. The child is quite black, and has very white
paws, but not a single white hair on its body. This only happens once in
two years, so you will let me go out?'
'Topoff! Halfgone!' repeated the Mouse, 'they are such curious names;
they make me very thoughtful.'
'Oh, you sit at home in your dark grey coat and your long tail,' said the
Cat, 'and you get fanciful. That comes of not going out in the day.'
The Mouse had a good cleaning out while the Cat was gone, and made
the house tidy; but the greedy Cat ate the fat every bit up.
'When it is all gone one can be at rest,' she said to herself, and at night
she came home sleek and satisfied. The Mouse asked at once after the
third child's name.

'It won't please you any better,' said the Cat, 'he was called Clean
Gone.'
'Cleangone!' repeated the Mouse. 'I do not believe that name has been
printed any more than the others. Cleangone! What can it mean?' She
shook her head, curled herself up, and went to sleep.
From this time on no one asked the Cat to stand godmother; but when
the winter came and there was nothing to be got outside, the Mouse
remembered their provision and said, 'Come, Cat, we will go to our pot
of fat which we have stored away; it will taste very good.'
'Yes, indeed,' answered the Cat; ' it will taste as good to you as if you
stretched your thin tongue out of the window.'
They started off, and when they reached it they found the pot in its
place, but quite empty!
'Ah,' said the Mouse,' 'now I know what has happened! It has all come
out! You are a true friend to me! You have eaten it all when you stood
godmother; first the top off, then half of it gone, then----'
'Will you be quiet!' screamed the Cat. 'Another word and I will eat you
up.'
'Cleangone' was already on the poor Mouse's tongue, and scarcely was
it out than the Cat made a spring at her, seized and swallowed her.
You see that is the way of the world.

THE SIX SWANS
A king was once hunting in a great wood, and he hunted the game so
eagerly that none of his courtiers could follow him. When evening
came on he stood still and looked round him, and he saw that he had
quite lost himself. He sought a way out, but could find none. Then he
saw an old woman with a shaking head coming towards him; but she

was a witch.
'Good woman,' he said to her, 'can you not show me the way out of the
wood?'
'Oh, certainly, Sir King,' she replied, 'I can quite well do that, but on
one condition, which if you do not fulfil you will never get out of the
wood, and will die of hunger.'
'What is the condition?' asked the King.
'I have a daughter,' said the old woman, 'who is so beautiful that she has
not her equal in the world, and is well fitted to be your wife; if you will
make her lady-queen I