PUSS IN mentality in the bosom of the king; he wiped his

BOOTS

eyes, and entreated the most noble marquess to
enter the carriage with him and his daughter;
and nudging the princess, he whispered: ‘I was
like that when I went a-sweethearting.’
The cat, delighted that his schemes had so well
succeeded, ran on ahead of the carriage; and
having passed through a field in which harvesters
were cutting and making stacks of golden corn,
he said to them: ‘Good people! unless you tell the
king who is coming this way that these cornfields
belong to the Marquess of Carabas, you will all be
made mincemeat of.’
The harvesters were somewhat alarmed at the
appearance of the cat in boots; they were exceed-
ingly afraid of being made into mincemeat.
Presently the gilded coach of the king passed.
He stopped it and inquired of the peasants to
whom these splendid fields of grain belonged.
They answered, as they had been instructed, ‘To
the most noble the Marquess of Carabas.’
‘Upon my word!’ said the king, addressing the
miller’s son, ‘you have a noble heritage.’
The young man bowed and blushed; and the
king and princess were pleased at his modesty.
The king nudged his daughter, and whispered:
‘I was tremendously shy—when I went a-courting.’
The cat ran ahead, and came into a meadow in
which were mowers making hay. He said to
them: ‘Good people! unless you tell the king who
is coming this way that these meadows belong to
the Marquess of Carabas, you will all be pickled
like young walnuts.’
When the king soon after came into the meadow
and smelt the sweet hay, he bade the coach stop,
and he inquired of the mowers to whom the
meadows belonged. They answered, as instructed,
that they belonged to the most noble the Mar-
quess of Carabas.

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