Chapter IV: Part 4

“As the frog and the young rat and the mother rat came near the place where the Janjibo was to be, they saw rats hurry skurrying as fast as they could with cakes, pies, dishes and other things. They met gentlemen rats in their best clothes, carrying knives, forks and spoons, and looking everywhere for eggs.

The Way the Egg Went Safely.
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“Three of these gentlemen rats in their best clothes, found an egg and began to roll it. ‘We shall break it doing this way,’ said one to the others. ‘I am afraid we shall,’ said the others, and they stopped to think. The mother rat went to them and said: ‘The shells of eggs are too thin. Shells of eggs should be thicker.

“‘But I can tell you a way. Let one of you gentlemen lie flat on his back and hold the egg with all four of his legs and let the other two gentlemen draw that one by his tail; then the egg will go safe and the gentleman will get a ride.’

“They did so. The gentleman rat that had the knife gave the knife to the gentleman rat that had the fork and lay down flat on his back, and held the egg in all four of his legs and the other two drew him by his tail and the egg went safe and he got a ride.

“Next came a lively young cat with a pudding-bag string. She said she was frolicking with the rats and was running away with their pudding-bag string. She said she did not care about the Janjibo. She did not care about the peace. She wanted to have a good time. She did not know if she should like to be friends with the rats and mice. Sometimes it was good fun to catch them.

The Cat Ran Away With the Pudding-Bag String.
]

“The mother rat told her that she was very naughty, and the rats could not do without their pudding-bag string and that she must carry it back to them. She did not. She went dancing away with it.

“Next came a great many rats with a pie so big they could hardly lift it. They were afraid they should drop it, and they held it up with all their might by their heads and their backs, and their shoulders. The Pie-cutter with his knife came close behind. The young rat went to help.

The Rats, the Pie and the Pie-Cutter.
]

The Mother Rat Told the Pie-Cutter How to Cut It.
]

“The frog said he should be willing to help, but he should have to go with leaps, and going with leaps was not a good way to go with a pie. The mother rat said to them, ‘You’d better set it down and cut it, and then it will be all ready to be passed round. Set it down and cut it, and you can rest while you are cutting it. Cut it first in large pieces, and then cut the large pieces into small pieces. The pie must all be cut in small pieces or there may not be enough to go round.’ They set it down, and the mother rat told the Pie-cutter the right way to cut it, and he cut it the right way. Just as the Pie-cutter had done cutting it, the young rat looked at a light-colored rat that was among the other ones, and said, ‘There’s my aunt.’

“It was his aunt. The one that was tangled in the swamp-vine string, and broke it in jumping when she heard the Wonderful News, and got away, and lost her way. She did not find the way she lost, but she found her way to the Janjibo, and was helping.

“‘So you are my nephew!’ she said. ‘How you have grown! Do you know that the cats and the rats and mice are friends?’

“‘Oh yes,’ said the young rat. ‘A travelling kangaroo told me.’

“‘Friends indeed!’ said his aunt. ‘Look yonder. Do you see what is doing yonder? That is your little brother. Perhaps you never knew that your little brother could take pictures.’

“‘Never,’ said the young rat. ‘Can he?’

“‘Yes; he can,’ said his aunt. ‘Yonder he is now, taking the picture of a Tabby. He has plenty to do. There is another close by, waiting for her turn.’

“‘Why!’ cried the young rat. ‘They are the very same ones that chased me when I was a little rat and made me run away!’

“‘Yes’ his aunt said. ‘They are friendly now. What are you going to do? Do you want to help us get ready?’

“‘I do,’ said the young rat.

“‘Step in here then,’ said his aunt. ‘Step in to this Ice-cream Place, and stir up the ice-cream. Stir it up with your fore paws.’ They two stepped into the Ice-cream Place, and the young rat’s aunt showed him how to stir up the ice-cream with his fore paws. While he was doing this a cat peeped through the door at him. His aunt thought by the looks of the cat’s eye that it was a cat that had not heard of the peace.

“She was so afraid the cat did not know of the peace and would eat the young rat that she caught hold of his tail quick and pulled him with all her might and they ran out of the Ice-cream Place by two rat-holes. The mother rat and the frog were waiting for the young rat and he travelled on with them.

Afraid He Had Not Heard of the Peace.
]

“That cat would not have hurt the young rat. She did know of the peace and she was gathering up rats for the Janjibo. The young rat and the frog and the mother rat saw her afterwards showing a great many rats that had come from afar, the way into the Janjibo and even taking up the tired ones in her mouth and carrying them in.

Taking Up the Tired Ones in Her Mouth.
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“Three young kittens sat watching her while they waited for their mother. They were dressed in their best clothes and white gloves, all ready to dance a jig at the Janjibo.

“They were waiting for their mother to go in with them. Their mother taught them the jig and she was coming to fiddle for them to dance. They were in a hurry for her to come because they were afraid of a fierce black rat who stood near by with his gun. The fierce black rat had been ordered to stand there with his gun to keep off the rabbits. The rabbits had been heard to say they did not like the peace between the cats and the rats and mice, and that they meant to break it up, and meant to break up the Janjibo.

The Sentinel.
]

“As soon as the mother rat and the frog and the young rat went into the Janjibo, the mother rat met with her oldest daughter, just from home, and she kept with her mother and the young rat was polite to her.

“A very great number came to the Janjibo. The supper was good, and after supper the ones who could tell stories told stories, and the ones who could sing songs, sang songs, and the ones who could talk, talked. A mouse with a lame hind leg said she hoped all cats would know of the peace and told a Spinning Story.

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A Spinning Story.
]

“She said that one day when she and her sisters sat spinning in the barn, a cat looked in at the window. They did not run, for why should they run when cats and mice were friends? The cat that was looking in the window had not heard of the peace and she jumped at them. Then they ran but she and one of her sisters did not run quick enough, and her sister was bitten in the head and she herself was bitten in the hind leg, and made lame for life.

“Three blind and feeble mice without any tails then told the Blind Mice Story.

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The Blind Mice Story.
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“They were born blind, and were obliged to find their way by their noses. A farmer’s wife had been giving corn to the hens and some of the corn was left in her pocket, and they smelled the corn and ran after the farmer’s wife, and she cut off their tails with a carving knife. Now they could not run very fast, for no rat can run fast unless he feels his tail behind him.

“A cat of the name of Henry, said this story made him think of the Air-Ball Story.

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The Air-Ball Story.
]

“Three kittens, Faw, Sol, and Law, were once playing in a yard when a short boy named Chickerchecker came and tied air-balls to their tails so that he might have the fun of seeing the air-balls take Faw, Sol, and Law up in the air.

“When Faw, Sol, and Law began to feel the back ends of themselves going up they did not know what to do to keep them down and they mewed and mewed and stuck the claws of their fore paws into the ground. Chickerchecker was much pleased.

“Their mother was the other side of the wall and near enough to hear them mew. She knew that if they mewed so, something was the matter. She sprang to the top of the wall and looked over and when she saw what had been done she was very angry, and jumped down, and took the air-balls off of Faw, Sol, and Law’s tails and tied them to Chickerchecker, and Chickerchecker went over the wall and blew into a tree.

“Faw, Sol, and Law were so much pleased that they danced up and down. Their mother also was much pleased.

“At the end of this story the singing Tommies sang the funny song of the Bold Young Fishbone and the Gay Young Wishbone.

“It began with

There was a bold young Fishbone,
Finnery, finnery fi!
There was a gay young Wishbone,
Winnery, winnery, wi!

and ended in the same manner.

“The singing Tommies had new jackets and trousers and new gloves, as of course any singers would have who were to sing at a Janjibo.

“After this song and others were sung the kittens who came to dance a jig, danced it. Their mother played the fiddle well, and they danced their steps well and gave much pleasure to all present. All present were happy in the peace and no doubt the peace would have lasted to this day if the rabbits and the hens had not broken it up.

“The rabbits and the hens did not like the peace. The rabbits said that cats must eat and if they did not eat rats and mice they must eat rabbits. The hens said that if no rats were eaten they would every one live to grow up and would eat all the corn and the hens and other fowl would wear themselves out scratching for worms. They said they should like to get hold of the frogs, for if the frogs had kept still, so many rats would not have heard the Wonderful News.

They Danced Their Steps Well.
]

“The rabbits said they did not believe the Lion knew of the peace and they meant to send him word and ask him to stop it. The cats would have to do whatever he should say, for the Lion was the head of their family besides being king of all the animals.

“The cat that ran away with the Pudding-Bag String was known to think not very well of the peace and she was asked to go and speak to the Lion. She said she would go, but must first borrow her grandmother’s boots of swiftness. Her grandmother was just taking her tea and felt very well. She said she was not using her boots and was willing to lend them if they could be taken good care of. The cat that ran away with the Pudding Bag String put them on and went to speak to the Lion.

“The Lion said the peace was the funniest thing he ever heard of, and made him almost die a laughing. He told the cat that ran away with the Pudding Bag String to tell the cats there never could be peace between the cats and the rats and mice, and never should be so long as Lions were Lions, and to tell the rabbits and the hens and other fowl to break up the Janjibo.

The Frog Going Ratback.
]

“As soon as the rabbits and hens and other fowl heard this they got together from all parts and went leaping and running and flying into the Janjibo, crying ‘No peace! No peace! The Lion says no peace.’ The hens cackled it, the roosters crowed it, the geese squawked it, the turkeys gobbled it, the guinea fowl squalled it, the peacocks screamed it, and the Janjibo was broken up and the rats and mice ran away quick, for if there was no peace they were in dreadful danger.

“The young rat was in a hurry to get away from the cats, and the frog was in a hurry to get away from the hens and other fowl. The young rat said that as he could go faster by runs than the frog could by leaps, he would take the frog ratback. The frog threw on a hat and cloak to hide himself, as he had to sit high, in plain sight, and got on the young rat’s back, and they went so swift that the frog lost his hat off behind.

“The mother rat and her daughter kept as near them as they could. When the young rat grew tired he begged the frog to whip him and make him go fast, for he would rather be whipped than be caught by the cats.

“He was not caught. They both reached their home at the edge of the pond, and left that home no more. The young rat married the mother rat’s daughter, and they had many children, and the frog married the frog he loved best, and had a large family of little tadpoles, and the little tadpoles played with the little rats and the little rats played with the little tadpoles, and the little rats told rat stories, and the little tadpoles told tadpole stories, and they all lived happily all their lives.”

* * * * *

“And that is the end of the story, your majesty,” said the lovely Pussyanita. “And a good end,” said King Grimalkum. “I knew I should like the story. Is it truly the silliest story that ever was?” “Yes, your majesty,” replied Pussyanita. “The silliest, I mean, of our kind of stories. Of course it is not as silly as the stories the little tadpoles told the little rats.”

“Were the stories the little tadpoles told the little rats, sillier than the ones the little rats told the little tadpoles?” asked the king.

“Much sillier,” replied Pussyanita.

“Tell them,” said the king.

“But your majesty,” replied Pussyanita, “there were swarms of little tadpoles and I have not long to live.”

“You shall live as long as you can, you lovely creature!” cried the king. “Do you think I would put an end to the life of a sweet young story-teller who can tell both common sense stories and not common sense stories? No! Live! Live and be happy!”

“Alas!” replied the lovely Pussyanita. “I cannot be happy when so many of my kind are in danger. Oh, take back your cruel command! Let our whole race live!”

“I do take it back,” answered the king. “For your sake the whole race shall live.”

* * * * *

The cruel command was taken back. The whole race of cats were allowed to live. Those which were “white, or yellow, or which had more white or yellow hairs than dark ones,” all these as well as the “black, Maltese and gray,” were for Pussyanita’s sake allowed to live.

* * * * *

“Here, uncle Fred, is your Cats’ Arabian Nights Story Book,” said cousin Lucia, “all ready for the children when they shall come next summer with their fathers and mothers; and I hope they will have as much fun in hearing it as I had in writing it.”

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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).