PUSS FOLLOWS WEE WILLIE WINKIE
Reading edition
THE vesper bells were ringing as Puss, Jr., entered the great gate that led into the city of Babylon. Along the street the lamps were being lighted and their flickering gleams sent the shadows hiding in building and alley.
Puss, however, in spite of shadows, trudged on with a brave heart, waiting for an opportunity to get his supper and a comfortable place to sleep.
Suddenly he was startled by a strange sight. A small boy in his nightgown came racing down the street:
"Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Up-stairs and down-stairs in his nightgown, Rapping at the windows, crying through the lock, 'Are the children in their beds? It's past eight o'clock!'"
"Wait for me!" cried Puss, Jr., but Wee Willie Winkie did not stop. On he ran, turning the next corner before Puss could overtake him. Half-way down the block Puss stopped and ran up the steps of a small house. Lifting the big brass knocker, he let it fall with a rap that soon brought a maid to the door.
"Goodness me!" she exclaimed. "What have we here?"
"Is anybody at home?" said Puss, flicking the dust off the red tops of his boots in a most unconcerned way, as if, indeed, he had been accustomed to making calls all his life.
The maid held out a little silver tray. "I will take your card."
Poor Puss! He didn't have any!
"But I'm Puss in Boots, Junior," he said, with such a lovely purr that the maid opened the door wide:
"Come in, dear Puss, Junior."
Just then Wee Willie Winkie ran down the stairs, crying: "Are the children in their beds? It's past eight o'clock." Closing the front door, he whispered through the keyhole, "Are the children in their beds?" And before he reached the sidewalk he turned back and, rapping on the window, cried, "It's past eight o'clock!"
"Little kittens don't need Wee Willie Winkie, I guess," said the maid, tickling Puss, Jr.'s, head.
"Hush-a-bye, baby, lie still with thy daddy; Thy mammy has gone to the mill To get some meal to bake a cake, So pray, my dear baby, lie still."
The lullaby made Puss, Jr., sleepy, for the man's voice was low and tender, and Puss was very tired.
In a sleepy voice he asked, "And has the mother gone to the mill to get the meal for the cake?"
"Indeed she has," replied the maid.
After this she went into the kitchen. Puss gazed about him for a while and then dropped off to sleep, hearing the drowsy voice of the man up-stairs singing:
"Hush-a-bye, baby, lie still with thy daddy."
All was very quiet. "Tick-tock, tick-tock," said the big clock, and a mouse peeped out of his hole and laughed to himself when he saw Puss fast asleep. He tiptoed over to the red-topped boots that had fallen off Puss, Jr.'s, tired little feet, and even crawled inside. Perhaps he wanted to tell his father how brave he had been to go inside a big cat's high-top boots while the owner snored close by. Presently he ran over to the hole in the wall. I imagine it did not take him long to tell his story, for in a few minutes three little mice crept out and tiptoed over to where Puss lay sleeping so soundly.
"Did you ever see any nicer boots than these?"
Mr. Mouse put on a very wise expression.
"They are certainly a very fine pair of boots," said he, "and they have the mark of a royal cobbler."
"Gracious me! how interesting!" cried Mrs. Mouse; "let me take a look." And she inspected Puss, Jr.'s, footwear with much interest. "Beautifully made," she said. "This must be a royal cat, for otherwise why should he have a royal cobbler?"
"I only hope he is not a royal mouser," replied Mr. Mouse, "and I think, now that we have seen all we have, we had better return, for who knows when he may awake?"
So they scampered off, leaving Puss, Jr., still sound asleep.