THE ‘Ithank you, gracious Cat,’ said the Prince, ‘but
WHITE what advantage will that be to me, if I have nota

CAT a dog suitable to present to his majesty, my
father ?’
‘See here,’ said the White Cat, holding up an
acorn. ‘In this is a prettier one than exists even
at the dog star.’
‘Oh! dear White Cat!’ exclaimed the Prince,
‘why do you make fun of me?’
Then he heard distinctly a little bow-wow! bow-
wow ! inside the acorn.
The Prince was delighted, for a dog enclosed in an
acorn must indeed be a beauty. He wanted to
take it out and look at it, but this the White Cat
would not allow. She said that the little dog must
on all accounts be preserved from the chance of
catching a chill on the journey; and the Prince
saw that in this as in all else, there was reason in
what the Cat said. He thanked her heartily, and
was quite sad when it was necessary for him to
part from her.
‘The days,’ said he, ‘have flown in your charming
society. I would it were possible for me to take
you with me.’
The White Cat shook her head and gave a faint
mee-aw in answer.
The Prince was the first to be at the meeting-
place, where it was agreed that the brothers should
assemble before proceeding to the palace, and
great was their amusement and astonishment to
see the wooden horse, painted with great red
spots, and with a brush of hair on its arched neck,
standing in the courtyard, stiff and stark as if it ,
had just come out of a toy-shop. The Prince met
his brothers joyously, and they told him their
adventures, but he was very reticent about his,
and they did not think much of the dog that ran
at his heels, and which was that he had with him
when received into the White Cat’s palace.

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