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Pussy and Doggy Tales-E. Nesbit · Barks and Purrs

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Pussy and Doggy Tails. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Pussy and Doggy Tails by E. Nesbitt. Chapter one, Too
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  Speaker 1: Clever by half tell us a story, mother, said the
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  Speaker 1: youngest kitten. But three, you've heard all my stories, said
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  Speaker 1: the mother cat, sleepily, turning over in the hay. Then
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  Speaker 1: make a new one, said the youngest kitten, so pertly
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  Speaker 1: that missus buff boxed her ears at once. But she
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  Speaker 1: laughed too. Did you ever hear cat laugh? People say
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  Speaker 1: that cats often have occasion to do it. I do
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  Speaker 1: know one story, she said, but I'm not sure that
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  Speaker 1: it's true, though it was told me by a most
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  Speaker 1: respectable brindled gentleman, a great friend of my dear mother's.
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  Speaker 1: He said. He was a second cousin twenty nine times
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  Speaker 1: removed of missus Tabby White. The lady the story is about, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: do tell it, said all the kittens, sitting up very
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  Speaker 1: straight and looking at their mother with green anxious eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Very well, she said, kindly. Only if you interrupt, I
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  Speaker 1: shall leave off. So there was silence in the barn
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  Speaker 1: except for Missus Buff's voice and the soft sound of
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  Speaker 1: pleased purring which the kittens made as they listened to
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  Speaker 1: the enchanting tale. Missus Tabby White seems to have been
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  Speaker 1: as clever a cat as ever went rat catching in
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  Speaker 1: a pair of soft soled shoes. She always knew just
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  Speaker 1: where a mouse would peep out of the wainscot, and
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  Speaker 1: she had her soft, sharp paw on him before he
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  Speaker 1: had time to know that he was not alone in
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  Speaker 1: the room. She knew how to catch nice breakfasts for
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  Speaker 1: herself and her children, a trick I will teach you,
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  Speaker 1: my DearS, when the spring comes. She used to lie
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  Speaker 1: quite quietly among the ivy on the wall, and then
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  Speaker 1: take the baby birds out of the nest when the
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  Speaker 1: grown up birds had gone to the grub shop. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Tabby White was very clever, as I said, so clever
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  Speaker 1: that presently she was not satisfied with being at the
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  Speaker 1: very top of the cat profession. Cat people have more
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  Speaker 1: sense than human people, of course, she said to herself,
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  Speaker 1: but still there are some things one might learn from them.
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  Speaker 1: I must watch and see how they do things. So
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  Speaker 1: next morning, when the cook gave Missus Tabby White her breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: she noticed that the cook poured the milk out of
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  Speaker 1: a jug into a saucer. That afternoon, Tabby felt thirsty,
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  Speaker 1: but instead of putting her head into the jug and
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  Speaker 1: drinking in the usual way, you know, she tilted up
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  Speaker 1: the jug to pour the milk out, as she had
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  Speaker 1: seen the cook do. But cat's paws, though they are
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  Speaker 1: so strong to catch rats and mice and birds, are
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  Speaker 1: too weak to hold big brown jugs. The nasty, deceitful
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  Speaker 1: jug fell off the dresser and broke itself, just to
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  Speaker 1: spite me, I do believe, said missus Tabby, and the
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  Speaker 1: milk was all spilled. Now, how on earth could that
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  Speaker 1: jug have been broken, said the cook when she came in.
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  Speaker 1: It must have been the cat, said the kitchen maid,
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  Speaker 1: and she was quite right, but nobody believed her. Then
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tabby White noticed that human people slept in big, soft,
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  Speaker 1: cushioned white beds instead of sleeping on the kitchen hearth
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  Speaker 1: rug or in the barn like cat people. So she
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  Speaker 1: said to her children one evening, my DearS, we are
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  Speaker 1: going to move into a new house. And the kittens
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  Speaker 1: were delighted, and they all went upstairs very quietly and
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  Speaker 1: crept into the very best human bed, but unfortunately that
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  Speaker 1: bed had been got ready for a human uncle to
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  Speaker 1: sleep in. And when he found the cats there, he
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  Speaker 1: turned them out not gently and threw boots at them
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  Speaker 1: till they fled, pale with fright to the ends of
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  Speaker 1: their pretty tails. And next morning he told the mistress
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  Speaker 1: of the house that hurried cats had been in his bed,
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  Speaker 1: and he vowed that he would never pass another night
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  Speaker 1: under a roof where such things were possible. Missus Tabby
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  Speaker 1: White was very glad, because no lady can wish for
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  Speaker 1: the visits of a person who throw boots at her.
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  Speaker 1: But the mistress of the house said sadly, oh, Tabby,
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  Speaker 1: you have lost us a fortune. And Tabby, for all
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  Speaker 1: her cleverness, didn't understand what the mistress meant, but went
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  Speaker 1: on purring proudly and wondering what clever thing she could
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  Speaker 1: do next. And I don't know what it meant, either,
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  Speaker 1: so don't you interrupt with silly questions. I think we
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  Speaker 1: ought to wear shoes, was the next thing, Missus Tabby
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  Speaker 1: White said, But all the human shoes were too big
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  Speaker 1: for her. However, there was a nice pair of salmon
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  Speaker 1: colored kid's shoes quite new belonging to the human child's
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  Speaker 1: big doll, and Missus Tabby White put them on her
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  Speaker 1: eldest kitten's little brownie feet, now Brindle. She said, he
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  Speaker 1: was named after the gentleman who told me the story.
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  Speaker 1: You are grander than any kitten ever was before. And
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  Speaker 1: at first Brindle felt pleased, Then he tried to feel pleased,
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  Speaker 1: then he knew he wasn't pleased at all. Then the
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  Speaker 1: shoes began to hurt him hard, so he mewed sadly,
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  Speaker 1: and Missus Tabby White boxed his ears softly as mother cats,
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  Speaker 1: do you know how I mean? But when she was asleep,
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  Speaker 1: he took off the pink shoes and bit them to pieces,
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  Speaker 1: and nurse slapped him for it. Poor Missus Tabby White
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  Speaker 1: was very miserable when she saw her son being slapped,
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  Speaker 1: for it is one thing to box your son's ears
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  Speaker 1: softly as mother cats, do you know how I mean?
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  Speaker 1: And quite another to see another person do it heavily,
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  Speaker 1: as is the way with nurse maids. But the last
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  Speaker 1: and greatest effort Missus Tabby White made to imitate human
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  Speaker 1: manners was one Saturday night she saw the human child
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  Speaker 1: have its bath before the nursery fire, with hot water,
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  Speaker 1: pink soap, dry towels, and much fussing. And she said
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  Speaker 1: to herself, why should I waste hours every day in
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  Speaker 1: washing my children with my little white paws and my
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  Speaker 1: little pink tongue, when this human child can be made
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  Speaker 1: clean in ten minutes with this big bath. If I
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  Speaker 1: had more time, I could learn to be cleverer, and
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  Speaker 1: I should end by being the most wonderful cat in
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  Speaker 1: all the world. So she sat and watched and waited.
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  Speaker 1: When the human child was in bed and asleep, nurse
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  Speaker 1: went down to her supper, leaving the bath to be
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  Speaker 1: cleared away later. For it was a hot supper of
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  Speaker 1: baked onions and toasted cheese. And if you don't go
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  Speaker 1: to that supper directly it is ready, you may as
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  Speaker 1: well not go at all, for it won't be worth
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  Speaker 1: eating at least, so I have heard the kitchen maid say.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tabby White waited till she heard the last of
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  Speaker 1: nurses steps on the stairs below, and then she put
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  Speaker 1: both her cat children into the tub and washed them
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  Speaker 1: with rose scented soap and a turkey sponge. At first
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  Speaker 1: they thought it very good fun but presently the soap
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  Speaker 1: got in their eyes, and they were frightened of the sponge,
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  Speaker 1: and they cried, mewing piteously to be taken out. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how she could have done it. I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: have treated a kitten of mine like that. When she
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  Speaker 1: took them out, Missus Tabby tried to dry them with
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  Speaker 1: the soft towel, but somehow cat skin is not so
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  Speaker 1: easy to dry as child's skin. And the little cats
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  Speaker 1: began to shiver and moan, Oh, mother, we were so
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  Speaker 1: nice and warm, and now we are so cold. Why
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  Speaker 1: is it? What have we done? Were we naughty? Drat
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  Speaker 1: the cats? Said nurse when she came up from supper
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  Speaker 1: and found Missus Tabby White trying to warm her kittens
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  Speaker 1: against her own comfortable fur. If they haven't tumbled in
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  Speaker 1: the bath, Nurse dried the poor dear cruelly used kittens
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  Speaker 1: a little. Her hands were bigger than Missus Tabby's, so
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  Speaker 1: she could do it better, and put them in a
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  Speaker 1: basket with flannel. And next day tabby kit was quite well,
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  Speaker 1: though rather ragged looking, but Brindle had taken a chill,
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  Speaker 1: and for days he hung between life and death. Poor
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tabby was like a wild cat with anxiety. And
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  Speaker 1: when at last Brindle was well again, or nearly, for
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  Speaker 1: he always had a slight cough. After that, Missus Tabby
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  Speaker 1: White said to her children, my darlings, I was wrong.
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  Speaker 1: I was a silly old cat. No, purred the cat children, Darling, mother,
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  Speaker 1: you were always the best of cats. Missus Tabby kissed
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  Speaker 1: them both, for of course any one would be pleased
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  Speaker 1: that her children should think her the best of cats.
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  Speaker 1: But in her heart she knew well enough how silly
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  Speaker 1: she had been. Then she set about washing the kittens,
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  Speaker 1: not with pink soap and white towel this time, but
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  Speaker 1: with white paws and pink tongue, in the good old
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  Speaker 1: fashioned way. Thank you, mother, said all the kittens. What
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  Speaker 1: a nice, horrible story. What is the moral, asked the
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  Speaker 1: youngest kitten. But three. The moral, said Missus Buffy, is
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  Speaker 1: there is such a thing as being too clever by half.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not sure about the story being true, but I
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  Speaker 1: know the moral is why it's nearly tea time. Come along,
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  Speaker 1: children and get your tea. So they all crept quietly
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  Speaker 1: away to catch the necessary mice. And the youngest was
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  Speaker 1: so afraid of being too clever by half that she
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  Speaker 1: would never have caught a mouse at all if her
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  Speaker 1: mother had not boxed her years softly as mother cats.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know how I mean? End of chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: read by Kara Shallenberg www dot kraay dot org in
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  Speaker 1: January twenty twelve in San Diego, California. Chapter two of
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  Speaker 1: Pussy and Doggy Tails. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy and
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  Speaker 1: Doggy Tails by E. Nesbit, Chapter two, The White Persian
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  Speaker 1: I was a handsome, discreet, middle aged, respectable, responsible, domesticated
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  Speaker 1: tabby cat. I was humble. I knew my place and
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  Speaker 1: kept it. My place was the place nearest to the
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  Speaker 1: fire in winter or close to the sunny window in summer.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing to trouble me, not so much as
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  Speaker 1: a fly in the cream or an error in the
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  Speaker 1: leaving of the cat's meat, until some thoughtless person gave
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  Speaker 1: my master the white Persian cat. She was very beautiful
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  Speaker 1: in her soft, foolish namby Pamby blue eyed way. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: she did not understand English, and when they called Puss puss.
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  Speaker 1: She only ran under the sofa, for she thought they
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  Speaker 1: were teasing her. She was mistress of only two languages,
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  Speaker 1: Persian and cat talk. My master did not think of this.
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  Speaker 1: He called her puss, he called her pussy, He called
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  Speaker 1: her tittums and pussy. Then and a thousand endearments that
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  Speaker 1: had formerly been lavished on me were vainly showered on
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  Speaker 1: this unresponsive stranger. But when he found she was cold
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  Speaker 1: to all of them, my master sighed, poor thing, He said,
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  Speaker 1: she is deaf. I sat by the bright face and
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  Speaker 1: washed my face, and sleeked my pretty paws, and looked on.
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  Speaker 1: My master gave up taking very much notice of the
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  Speaker 1: new cat. But I had a fear that he might
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  Speaker 1: learn Persian or cat talk and make friends with her.
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  Speaker 1: So I resolved that the best thing for me would
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  Speaker 1: be a complete change in the persian's behavior, such a
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  Speaker 1: change as should make it impossible for her ever to
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  Speaker 1: be friends with him again. So I said to her,
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  Speaker 1: you wonder that our master looks coldly at you. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: you don't know that in England, a white cat is
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  Speaker 1: supposed to mew twenty times longer and to purt twenty
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  Speaker 1: times louder than a cat of any other color. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: thank you so much for telling me, she said, gratefully.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know. As it happens, I have a very
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  Speaker 1: good voice. And the next time she wanted her milk,
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  Speaker 1: she mewed in a voice you could have heard twenty
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  Speaker 1: miles away. Poor master was so astonished that he nearly
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  Speaker 1: dropped the saucer. When she had finished the milk, she
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  Speaker 1: jumped upon his knee, and he began to stroke her.
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  Speaker 1: She nearly gave herself a fit in her efforts to
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  Speaker 1: purr loud enough to please him. At first he was pleased,
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  Speaker 1: but when the purring got louder and louder, the poor
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  Speaker 1: man put his hands to his ears and said, oh dear,
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  Speaker 1: oh dear, this is worse than a whole hive of bees.
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  Speaker 1: Still he put her down gently, and I congratulated her
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  Speaker 1: on having done so well. She did better. She was
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  Speaker 1: an affectionate person, though foolish, and in her anxiety to
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  Speaker 1: do what was expected of a cat of her color
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  Speaker 1: in England, she practiced day and night. Her purr was
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  Speaker 1: already the loudest I have heard from any cat. But
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  Speaker 1: she fancied she could improve her mewing, and she mewed
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  Speaker 1: in the garden, she mewed in the house. She mewed
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  Speaker 1: at meals, she mewed at prayers. She mewed when she
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  Speaker 1: was hungry to show that she wanted food, and she
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  Speaker 1: mewed when she had had it, to show her gratitude.
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  Speaker 1: Poor things, the Master to a friend who had come
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  Speaker 1: to see him. She is so deaf she can't hear
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  Speaker 1: the noise she makes. Of course I understood what he said.
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  Speaker 1: But she hadn't yet picked up a word of English.
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  Speaker 1: And if the Master had begun to learn Persian, I
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  Speaker 1: don't suppose he had got much beyond the alphabet. The
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  Speaker 1: Persian's mew was rather feebler that day because she had
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  Speaker 1: a cold. I don't think it's so bad, said his friend.
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  Speaker 1: If you really wanted to get rid of her, she
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  Speaker 1: is very handsome. She would take a prize anywhere she
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  Speaker 1: is yours, said the Master instantly, And the strange gentleman
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  Speaker 1: took her away in a basket that evening. It was
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  Speaker 1: I who sat on my master's knee, I who superintended
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  Speaker 1: the writing of his letters on the green covered writing table,
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  Speaker 1: I who had all the milk that was left over
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  Speaker 1: from his tea in a few days he had a letter.
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  Speaker 1: I read it when he laid it down, And if
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  Speaker 1: you don't believe cats can read, I only say that
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  Speaker 1: it is just as easy to read a letter like
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  Speaker 1: the master's as it is to write a story like this.
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  Speaker 1: The letter begged my master to take back the fair
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  Speaker 1: persian her howls. The letter went on become worse and worse.
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  Speaker 1: The poor creature is, as you say, too deaf to
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  Speaker 1: be tolerated. My master wrote back instantly to say that
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  Speaker 1: he would rather be condemned to keep a dog than
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  Speaker 1: have the fair persian within his doors again. Then by
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  Speaker 1: return of post came a pitiful letter begging for help
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  Speaker 1: and mercy, and the friend came again to tea. I
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  Speaker 1: trembled blest my foreign rival should come back to live
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  Speaker 1: with me, but she didn't. The next morning my master
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  Speaker 1: took me on his knee, and, stroking me gently, said, ah, tabbykins,
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  Speaker 1: no more persians for us. I have sent her to
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  Speaker 1: my deaf aunt. She will be delighted with her a
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  Speaker 1: most handsome present. And as they are both deaf, the
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  Speaker 1: fair persian's shrieks will hurt nobody. But I will have
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  Speaker 1: no more prize cats, he said, pouring out some cream
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  Speaker 1: for me in his own saucer. You know how to behave.
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  Speaker 1: I will never have any cat, but you I do,
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  Speaker 1: and he never has. End of chapter two. Read by
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  Speaker 1: Kara Shallenberg w w W dot k ray dot org
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  Speaker 1: in January two thousand twelve in San Diego, California. Chapter
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: three of Pussy Ant Doggie Tails. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and Doggy Tails by E. Nesbitt, Chapter three, A powerful friend.
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  Speaker 1: My mother was the best of cats. She washed ust
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  Speaker 1: kittens all over every morning, and at odd times during
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  Speaker 1: the day she would wash little bits of us, say
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  Speaker 1: an ear or a paw or a tail tip. And
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  Speaker 1: she was very anxious about our education. I am afraid
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  Speaker 1: I gave her a great deal of trouble, for I
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  Speaker 1: was rather stout and heavy, and did not take a
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  Speaker 1: very active or graceful part in the exercises which she
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  Speaker 1: thought good for us. Our gymnasium was the kitchen hearth rug.
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  Speaker 1: There was always a good fire in the grate, and
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  Speaker 1: it seemed to me so much better to go to
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  Speaker 1: sleep in front of it, than to run round after
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  Speaker 1: my own tail, or even my mother's, though of course
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  Speaker 1: that was a great honor, as for running after the
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  Speaker 1: reel of cotton when the cook dropped it, or playing
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  Speaker 1: with the tassel of the blind cord, or pretending that
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  Speaker 1: there were mice inside the paper bag, which I knew
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  Speaker 1: to be empty. I confess that I had no heart
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  Speaker 1: or imagination for these diversions. Of course, you know best, mother,
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  Speaker 1: I used to say, But it does seem to me
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  Speaker 1: a dreadful waste of time. We might be much better employed.
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  Speaker 1: How better employed, asked my mother severely, Why I answered,
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  Speaker 1: in eating or sleeping? At first my mother used to
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  Speaker 1: box my ears and insist on my learning such little
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  Speaker 1: accomplishments as she thought necessary for my station in life.
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  Speaker 1: You see, she would say, all this playing with tails
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  Speaker 1: and reels and balls of worsted is a preparation for
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  Speaker 1: the real business of life. What is that, asked my
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  Speaker 1: sister mouse catching, said my mother, very earnestly. There are
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  Speaker 1: no mice here, I said, stretching myself. No, but you
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  Speaker 1: will not always be here, and if you practice the
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  Speaker 1: little tricks I show you now with the ball of
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  Speaker 1: worsted and the tips of our tails. Then when the
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  Speaker 1: great hour comes and a career is open to you,
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  Speaker 1: and you see before you the glorious prize the mouse,
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  Speaker 1: you will be quick enough and clever enough to satisfy
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  Speaker 1: the highest needs of your nature. And supposing we don't
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  Speaker 1: play with our tails and the balls of worsted, I said, Then,
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  Speaker 1: said my mother, bitterly, you may as well lie down
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  Speaker 1: for the mice to run over you. Thus, at first
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  Speaker 1: she used to try to show me how foolish it
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  Speaker 1: was to think of nothing but eating and sleeping. But
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  Speaker 1: after a while she turned all her attention to teaching
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  Speaker 1: my brother and sister. And they were apt pupils. They
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  Speaker 1: despised nothing small enough to be moved by their paws,
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  Speaker 1: which could give them an opportunity of practicing. They did
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  Speaker 1: not mind making themselves ridiculous, a thing which has always
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  Speaker 1: been impossible with me. I have seen Tabby, my sister,
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  Speaker 1: in the garden, playing with dead leaves, as excited and
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  Speaker 1: pleased as though they had been the birds, which she
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: foolishly pretended that they were. I thought her very silly then,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: But I lived to wish that I had taken half
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: as much trouble with my lessons as she did with hers.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: My mother was very pleased with her, especially after she
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: caught the starlings. This was a piece of cleverness which
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: my sister invented and carried through entirely out of her
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: own head. She made friends with one of the cows
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: at the farm near us and used to go into
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: the cow house and jump on the cow's back. Then
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: when the cow was sent out into the field to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: get her grassy breakfast, my sister used to go with her,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: riding on her back. Now, birds are always very much
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: on the lookout for cats, and if they can help it,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: never allow one of us to come within half a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: dozen yards of them without taking to those silly wings
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of theirs. I never could see why birds should have
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: wings so unnecessary. But birds are not afraid of cows,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: for cows are very poor sportsmen and never care to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: kill and eat anything. Now, the back of a cow
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: is the last place where you would think of looking
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: for a cat, so when the starlings saw the cow coming,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: they didn't think it worth while to use their wings.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: And when the cow was quite close to the birds, beautiful, fat,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: delightful birds, my sister used to pick out with her
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: eye the fattest starling, and then leap suddenly from the
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: cow's back on to her prey. She never missed. I
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: have never known, said my poor mother, with tears of
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: pride in her green eyes. I have never known a
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: cat do anything so clever. It's all your doing, mother, dear,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: said my sister, prettily. If you hadn't taught me so
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: well when I was little, I should never have thought
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of it. And they kissed each other affectionately. I showed
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: my claws and growled. My mother shook her tabby head. Oh, buff,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: she said, If you had only been willing to learn
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: when you were little, you might have been as clever
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: as your sister, instead of being the great anxiety you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: are to me. And why am I anxiety, I said,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: ruffling up my fur and my tail, for I was
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: very angry because you are useless, she said, and not
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: particularly handsome. And when a cat is useless and not
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: particularly handsome, they sometimes, what I said, turning pale to
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the ends of my ears, they sometimes drown it buff,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: she said in a whisper, and turned away to hide
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: her feelings. Judge of my own. Next day, when they
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: came into the kitchen and took me up and put
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: me into a basket. I knew all about drowning. These
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: tales of horror are told at twilight time in all
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: cat nurseries, and I knew that if three large stones
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: were put into the basket with me, I might consider
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: my fate sealed. It was very uncomfortable in the basket.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: They carried me upside down part of the way, and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: it was drafty and hard, but so far there were
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: no stones. When they took off the lid of the basket,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I found myself under the shade of a huge moving
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: mountain that seemed about to fall and crush me. It
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: was an elephant. I found that the people where my
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: mother lived had given me to the cook, who had
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: given me to her cousin, who was engaged to be
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: married to a young man whose brother in law was
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the elephant's keeper. And so I found myself in the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: elephant's house. There was no milk for me, no heads
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and tails of fish, no scraps of meat, no delicious
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: unforeseen morsels of butter. The elephant was very kind to me.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: He had once had a friend exactly like me, he explained,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: but had unfortunately walked upon him, and now I had
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: come to fill the vacant place in his large heart.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I resolved at once that he should not walk upon me.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: But in order to insure this, I was compelled to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: enter upon a more active existence than I had ever known.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: When I asked what I was expected to eat, he said, mice,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I suppose, or you can have some of my buns
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: if you like. You might like them at first, but
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: you will soon get tired of them. But I couldn't
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: eat buns. I was never, from my kitten fond of
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: such things. I got very hungry. Again and again, the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: mice rushed through the straw, and I, heavily, helplessly, in
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: my unpracticed way, rushed after them. At first, the elephant
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: laughed heartily at my inexpertness, but when he saw how
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: hungry and wretched I was, he said, they won't give
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: you any milk, and if they find you don't catch
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the mice, they will take you away from me. Now,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: you are a nice little cat, and I don't want
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: to part with you. We must try and arrange something.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Then the great thought of my life came to me.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: You walked on the other cat. I said, what he
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: trumpeted in a voice of thunder. I beg your pardon,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I said hastily. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And indeed I could not have imagined that an elephant
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: would have been so thin skinned. But a great idea
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: has come to me. Why shouldn't you walk on mice?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Not too hard, but just so that I could eat
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: them afterwards? Well, said the elephant, showing his long tusks
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: in a smile. You are not very handsome, and you
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: are not very brisk, but you certainly have brains. My dear,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: he dropped his great foot as he spoke. When he
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: lifted it, there lay a mouse. I had an excellent supper,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: and before the week's end I heard the keeper say,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: this cat has certainly done the trick. She has kept
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the mice down. We must keep her. They have kept me.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: They even go so far as to allow me to
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: moisten my mice with milk. There is no moral to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: this story, except that you should do as you are
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: told and learn everything you can while you are young.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: It is true that I get on very well without
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: having done so, but then you may not have my
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: good luck. It is not every cat who can get
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: an elephant to catch her mice for her end of
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: chapter three. Read by Karrish Allenberg w w W dot
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Kay dot org in January two thousand twelve in and Diego, California.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Chapter four of Pussy and Doggie Tales. This is a
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Pussy and Doggie Tails by E. Nesbit, Chapter four. A
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: silly question, How do you come to be white when
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: all your brothers are tabby? My dear Dolly asked her kitten.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: As she spoke, she took it away from the ball
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: that was playing with and held it up and looked
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: in its face, as Alice did with the Red Queen.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you if you'll keep it a secret and
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: not hold me so tight, the kitten answered. Dolly was
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: not surprised to hear the kitten speak, for she had
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: read her fairy books as all good children should, and
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: she knew that all creatures answer if one only speaks
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: to them properly. So she held the kitten more comfortably,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: and the tail began. You must know, my dear Dolly,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the kitten began, and Dolly thought it dreadfully familiar. You
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: must know that when we were very small, we all
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: set out to seek our fortunes. Why interrupted Dolly, You
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: were all born and brought up in our barn. I
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: used to see you every day. Quite so, said the kitten.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: We sought our fortune every night, and it turned out
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: to be mice mostly. Well, one night I was seeking
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: mine when I came to a hole in the door
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: that I had never noticed before. I crept through it
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: and found myself in a beautiful, large room. It smelt delicious.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: There was cheese there, and fish and cream, and mice
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: and milk. It was the most lovely room you can
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: think of. There's no such room, began Dolly. Did I
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: say there, was, asked the kitten. I only said I
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: found myself there. Well, I stayed there some time. It
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: was the happiest hour of my life. But as I
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: was washing my face after one of the most delicious
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: herring's heads you ever tasted, I noticed that on nails
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: all round the room were hung skins, and they were
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: cat skins, it added slowly. Well, may you tremble? Dolly
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: hadn't trembled. She had only shaken the kitten to make
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: it speak faster. Well, I stood there, rooted to the
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: ground with horror, and then came a sort of horrible
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: scramble rush, and a barking and squeaking, and a terrible
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: monster stood before me. It was something like a dog,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: and something like a broom, something like being thrown out
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: of the larder by cook. I can't describe it. It
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: caught me up, and in less than a moment it
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: had hung my tabby skin on a nail behind the door.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: I crept out of that lovely fairyland a cat without
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: a skin. And that's how I came to be white.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I don't quite see, began Dolly, No, Why what would
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: your mother do if someone took off your dress and
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: hung it on a nail where she could not get it?
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Buy me another? I suppose exactly. But when my mother
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: took me to the cat skin shop, they were unfortunately
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: quite out of tabby dresses in my size, so I
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: had to have a white one. I don't believe a
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: word of it, said Dolly, No. Well, I'm sure it's
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: as good a story as you could expect in answer
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: to such a silly question. But you were always oh, well,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: said the kitten, showing its claws. If you know more
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: about it than I do, of course, there's no more
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: to be said. Perhaps you could tell me why your
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: hair is brown. I was born so, I believe, said
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Dolly gently. The kitten put its nose in the air.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: You've got no imagination, it said, But kitty, really and truly,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: without pretending you were born white? You know if you
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: know all about it, why did you ask me? At
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: any rate? You can't expect me to remember whether I
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: was born white or not. I was too young to
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: notice such things. Now you are in fun, said poor Dolly, bewildered.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: The kitten bristled with indignation. What you really don't believe me?
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: I'll never speak to you again, it said, And it
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: never has. End of chapter four, Chapter five of Pussy
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: and Doggie Tails. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy and Doggie
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Tails by E. Nesbit, Chapter five. The selfish pussy, Yes,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: said the tortoise shell cat to the gray one, as
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: she thoughtfully washed her left ear. I have lived in
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: a great many families. You see, it's not every trade
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: that deserves to have a cat about the place. My
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: first master was a shoemaker, and I lived with him
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: happily enough until one morning in winter when I found
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: the wicked man sewing strips of let me whisper cat's
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: fur on a pair of ladies slippers. I mewed as
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I saw it, and he, thinking I want milk, put
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: down his work to get me some, for he was
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: fond enough of me. I drank the milk, and then
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I ran away. I could not live with such a man.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: My next home was in a garret with a half
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: starved musician who made violins. A violin is a musical
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: instrument that mewls when you touch it, just as we
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: cats do, and it was amusing to live with a
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: man who could make things with voices like my own.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: He was very poor and often had not enough to eat,
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: but he always got me my cat's meat, and when
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: there was no fire on he nursed me to keep
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: me warm. But one day I learned from the talk
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: of one of his friends, a man as lean as himself,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: who came to see him, that the strings of the
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: violins were taken from the bodies of dead cats. No
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: wonder the voices were like my brother's voices. Since they
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: were stolen from my brother's bodies, he might take my
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: own voice some day. So next day, after the cat's
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: meat man had called, I walked quietly out and never
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: saw that bad violin maker again. I was picked up
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: in the street by a child who took me home
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: to her mother's house. They were rich folk. They had
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: curtains and cushions and couches, and they did very little
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: but nurse me or sometimes, not wishing to hurt his feelings,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: the Italian greyhound. But they liked me best. Of course.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: They were a noble family, and I should have been
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: living with them still. But one year, when they went
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: to the sea side, they forgot to provide for my
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: board and lodging, and I had to go into trade again.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Milk Ahoy, milk Ahoy. I heard that well known music
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: as I sat lonely on the doorstep of the deserted
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: mansion in the square. The milkman looked lonely too, so
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: I thought it would be only kind to go home
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: with him. I did. He was a very well meaning man,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: but his tastes were low. He took skim milk in
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: his tea and gave me the same. Of course, after
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: that I could not stay another hour under his roof.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: I tried two or three other houses, and I could
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: have been happy with a very nice butcher who kept
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: a corner shop. But he kept a dog, also a
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: dog that no cat in her senses would live in
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: the same street with. So I came away rather hurriedly,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I remember, and the dog saw me off. Now I
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: live with a worker in silver, and I have cream
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: every day, and when he makes a cream jug, and
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: I remember what will be put in it some day.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: I lick my lips and think, what a happy cat
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I am to live with such a good man. Where
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: do you live with a poor widow in an attic?
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I never have enough to eat? And indeed the gray
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: cat was thin. Why do you stay with her? Because
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: I love her, said the gray cat, love, replied the
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: tortoiseshell cat. Nonsense, I never heard of such a thing,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: poor pus, said the parrot in the window. The gray
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: cat thought it was speaking to the tortoiseshell, and the
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: tortoises shell was certain it meant the gray which do
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: you think it meant end of chapter five.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: Chapter six of Pussy and Doggy Tales. This is a
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: For more information are to volunteer this visit LibriVox dot org.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: According by Carmen H. Who See and do details by
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: eating speed Chapter six Medicine pu Sea, I was separated
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: from my mother at a very early age and sent
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: out into the warlorde, long before I had had time
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: to learn to say please and thank you, and to
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: shut the door up to me, and little things like that.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: One of the things I had not learned to understand
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: was the difference between milk and a saucer on the
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: floor and milk in a jog on the table. Other
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: cats tell me there is a difference, but I can't
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: see it. The difference is not in the taste of
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: the meal that is precisely the same. It is not
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: so easy to get the meal out of the jog.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: And I should have taught some credit whould attached to
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: a cat who performed so clever a feat the world,
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: my dear things. Otherwise, this difference of opinion has true
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: life been a fruitful source of sorrow to me. I
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: cannot tell you how much I have suffered for it.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: The first occasion I remember was a beautiful day in June,
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: when the sunshine and all the world looked fair. I
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: was distined to remember that day. The fishmonger talk of
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: statues to heroes. I would raise one to that nobleman.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: The fishmonger, I say, brought his usually a present to me.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: I let the cook take it and prepare it for
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: my eating. I am always generous enough to permit the
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: family to be surfaced, and then I have my dinner
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: quietly at the back door well. He had brought the salmon,
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: and I followed the cook in to see that it
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: wasn't pot where those dogs could get it. And then
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: the dining room nab being opened. I walked in the
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: breakfast things were lying littered about, and on the tea
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: tray was a job, of course. I walked across the
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: table and look into the jog. There was milk in it.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: It was a sensible, white mouthed jock, and I should
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: have been quite able to make a comfortable breakfast if
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: some clumsy, careless servant hadn't rushed into the rooms crying
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: she scaped. This startled me of course I am very sensitive.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: I started, the jug went over, and the mail ran
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: on to the cloth and down on the new carpet.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: You will hardly believe it, but that servant, to conceal
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: her own carelessness, bit me with a feather brush and
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: threw me out of the back door. And cook, who
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: was always a heartless person those thout, gave me no dinner.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: Ah if my fishmonger had only known that, I never
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: tasted this beautiful present after all. But though I admired
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: him so much, I could not talk to him. I never,
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: from a kitten, could speak any foreign language lunely, so
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: he never knew. My next meat's adventure was on an
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: afternoon when the family expected company and the best china
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: was set out. Why best? Why should the saucer, all
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: blue and gold and red with a crown on the
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: back be better than a white one with more flops
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: on it? I never could see milk tastes equally well
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: from both. I went into the drawing room before the
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: guests arrived, just to be sure that everything was as
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: I could wish, and seeing the tea set out, I
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: got on the table as usual to see whether there
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: was anything in the saucers there was not, But in
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: the best melt job there was cream. The neck of
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: the best melt job was narrow. I could not get
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: my head in, so I turned it over with my paw.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: It fell with a crash, and I paused a moment.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: These little shocks always upset me. All was still. I
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: began to laugh. Oh, that cream, I shall never forget it.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: Then came a rush, and the fainter cried. Of shoes scaped,
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: always presaging disaster. I saw the door open, and, by
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: an instinct I cannot explained, I lived from the table.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: In my hurry, my foot caught in the handle of
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: the silver tray. We fell together, neither the train nor
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: I was hurt by the best china. I picked myself
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: up and look around me. The family had come in.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: I read in their faces that their servant's unlocky interruption
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: of my meal had destroyed what was dearer to them
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: than life. Than my life at any rate, I fled.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: I went out, homeless and hopeless into the golden afternoon.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: I live now with a saint, a maiden lady who
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: takes condensement in her own tea andvites me to a
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: pennyworths of cream night and morning, and catch me too,
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: and a glorious fishmonger still leaves his offerings at my door.
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: And of chapter six.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: Chapter seven of Pussy and Doggy Tails. This is a
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggie Tales by E. Nesbit. Chapter seven, Nine Lives,
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: mother said the yellow kitten. Is it true that we
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: cats have nine lives? Quite, my dear, the brindle cat replied.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: She was a very handsome cat, and in very comfortable circumstances.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: She sat on a warm turkey carpet and wore a
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: blue satin ribbon round her neck. I am in the
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: ninth life myself, she said. Have you lived all your
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: lives here? Oh dear, No, were you here? The white
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: kitten asked, in a sleepy voice. When the turkey carpet
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: was born? Rovers says it is only a few months old. No,
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: said the mother. I was not. Indeed, it was partly
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: the softness of that carpet that made me come and
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: live here. Where did you live before? The black kitten
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: said a dreamy look came into the brindled cat's eyes.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: In many strange places, she answered, slowly, adding more briskly,
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: and if you will be good kittens, I will tell
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: you all about them. Goldie, come down from that stool
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: and sit down like a good kitten. Sweep. Leave off
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: sharpening your claws on the furniture that always ends in
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: trouble and punishment. Snowball, you're asleep again. Oh well, if
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: you'd rather sleep than hear a story, Snowball shook herself awake,
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: and the others sat down close to their mother, with
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: their tails arranged neatly beside them, and waited for the story.
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: I was born, said the brindled cat, in a barn.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: What is a barn, asked the black kitten. The barn
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: is like a house, but there there is only one room,
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: and no carpets, only straw. I should like that, said
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: the yellow kitten, who often played among the straw in
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: the big box which brought groceries from the stores. I
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: liked it well enough when I was your age, said
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: the mother indulgently. But a barn is not all a
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: genteel place to be born in. My mother had had
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: a little unpleasantness with the family she lived with, And
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: of course she was too proud to stay on after that,
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: and so she left them and went to live in
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: the barn. It wasn't at all the sort of life
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: she had been accustomed to. What was the unpleasantness, sweep asked, Well,
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: it was about some cream which the woman of the
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: house wanted for her tea. She should have said so.
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: Of course, my mother would not have taken it if
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: she had had any idea that any one else wanted it.
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: She was always most unselfish. What is tea? A kind
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: of brown milk? Very nasty, indeed, and very bad for you. Well,
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: I lived with my brothers and sisters very happily for
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: some months, for I was too young to know how
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: vulgar it was to live in a barn and play
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: with straw? What is vulgar? Mother, dear, dear, how you
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: do ask questions? Said the brindled cat, beginning to look worried.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: Vulgar is being like everybody else. But does everybody else
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: live in a barn? No, nobody does. Who is respectable?
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: Vulgar really means not like respectable cats? Oh, said the
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: black kitten, and the yellow trying to look as if
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: they understood, But the white one did not say anything
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: because it had gone to sleep again. Well, the mother
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: went on. After a while they took me to live
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: in the farmhouse, and I should have liked it well enough,
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: only they had a low habit of locking up the
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: dairy and the pantry. Well, it would be tiresome to
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: go into the whole story. However, I soon finished my
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: life at the farmhouse and went to live in the stable.
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: It was very pleasant there. Horses are excellent company. That
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: was my third life. My fourth was at the miller's.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: He came one day to buy some corn. He saw
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: me and admired me, as indeed every one has always done.
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: He and the farmer were disputing about the price of
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: the corn, and at last a miller said, look here,
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: you shall have your price if you will throw me
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: that cat into the bargain. The kittens all shuddered. What
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: is a bargain? Is it like a pond? And were
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: you thrown in? I was thrown in, I believe, But
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: a bargain is not like a pond. Though I heard
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: the two men talk of wetting the bargain, but I
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: suppose they did not do it. For I arrived at
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: the mill quite dry. That was a very pleasant life
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: full of mice. Who was full of mice? Asked the
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: white kitten, waking up for a moment. I was said
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: the mother sharply, and I should have stayed in the
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: mill for ever. But the miller had another cat sent
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: him by his sister. However, he gave me a way
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: to a man who worked a barge up and down
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: the river. I suppose he thought he should like to
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: see me again sometimes as the barge passed by. Life
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: in a barge is very exciting. There are such lots
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: of rats, some of them as big as you kittens.
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: I got quite clever at catching them, though sometimes they
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: made a very good fight for it. I used to
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: have plenty of milk, and I slept with a bargee
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: in his warm little bunk, and of nights I sat
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: and pasted myself in front of his fire in the
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: small cozy cabin. He was very fond of me and
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: used to talk to me a great deal. It is
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: so lonely on a barge that you are glad of
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: a little conversation. He was very kind to me, and
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: I was very grieved when he married a lady who
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: didn't like cats, and who chased me out of the
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: barge with a barge pole. What is a barge pole,
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: the yellow kitten asked lazily, The only leg a barge has.
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: I ran away into the woods, and there I lived
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: on birds and rabbits. What are rabbits? Something like cats
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: with long ears, Very wholesome and nutritious. And I should
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: have liked my six life very much, but for the keeper. No,
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: don't interrupt to ask what a keeper is. He is
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: a man who, when he meets a cat or a rabbit,
• 46:45
  Speaker 4: points a gun at it and says bang, so loud
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: that you'd die of fright. How horrible, said all the kittens.
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: I was looking out for my seventh life, and also
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: for the game keeper, and was sitting by the river
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: with both eyes and both ears open, when a little
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: girl came by, a nice little girl in a checked pinafore.
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: She stopped when she saw me and called pussy, pussy.
• 47:12
  Speaker 4: So I went very slowly to her and rubbed myself
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: against her legs. Then she picked me up and carried
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: me home in the checked pinafore. My seventh life was
• 47:25
  Speaker 4: spent in a clean little cottage with this little girl
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: and her mother. She was very fond of me, and
• 47:31
  Speaker 4: I was as fond of her as a cat can
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: be of a human being. Of course, we are never
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: so unreasonably fond of them as they are of us.
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: Why not, asked the yellow kitten, who was young and affectionate.
• 47:46
  Speaker 4: Because they're only human beings and we are cats, returned
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: the mother, turning her large, calm, green eyes on Goldie,
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: who said, oh, and no more. Well what happened, then
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: asked a black kitten, catching its mother's eye. Well, one day,
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: the little girl put me into a basket and carried
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: me out. I was always a fine figure of a cat,
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: and I must have been a good weight to carry.
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: Several times she opened the basket to kiss and stroke me.
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: The last time she did it, we were in a
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: room where a sick girl lay on a bed. I
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: did not know what to bring for you for your birthday,
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: said my little girl, So I've brought you, my dear pussy.
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: The sick girl's eyes sparkled with delight. She took me
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: in her arms and stroked me. And though I do
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: not like sick people, I felt flattered and pleased. But
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: I only stayed a very little time with her, Why,
• 48:46
  Speaker 4: asked all the kittens at once, Because but no, that
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: story's too sad for you children. I will tell you
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: it when you're older. But that only makes eight lives,
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: said Sweep, who had been counting on his claws. And
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: you said you had nine, which was the ninth. Why this,
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: you silly child, said the brindle pussy, sitting up and
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: beginning to wash the kitten's face very hard. Indeed, and
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: as it's my last life, I must be very careful
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: of it. That's why I'm so particular about what I
• 49:21
  Speaker 4: eat and drink, and why I make a point of
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: sleeping so many hours a day. But it's your first life, Snowball,
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: and I can't have you waste in it all in sleep.
• 49:31
  Speaker 4: Go and catch a mouse at once, Yes, mamma, said Snowball,
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: and went to sleep again immediately, Ah, said missus Brindle.
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: I'll wash you next. That'll make you wake up, My dear,
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: Snowball's always sleepy, said the yellow kitten, stretching itself. But mamma, dear,
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: she doesn't care for history, and yours was a very
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: long tail. You can't have too much of a good thing,
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: said the mother, looking down at her long briin. If
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: it's a good tale, the longer it is the better.
• 50:06
  Speaker 4: End of chapter seven. Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas.
• 50:18
  Speaker 4: Chapter eight of Pussy and Doggy Tales. This is a
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 50:27
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggie Tales by E Nesbit, Chapter eight. Tinker.
• 50:39
  Speaker 4: My name is Stumps, and my mistress is rather a
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: nice little girl. But she has her faults like most people.
• 50:47
  Speaker 4: I myself, as it happens, am wonderfully free from faults.
• 50:53
  Speaker 4: Among my mistress's faults is what I may call a
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: lack of dignity, joined to a desire to make other
• 51:00
  Speaker 4: people undignified too. You will hardly believe that before I
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: had belonged to her a month, she made me learn
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: to dance and to jump. I am a very respectable
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: doxon of Cobby build and jumping is the very last
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: exercise I should have taken too, of my own accord.
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: But when Miss Daisy said, now jump Stumps, there's a darling,
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: and held out her little arms, I could not well refuse.
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: For after all, the child is my mistress. I never
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: could understand why the cat was not taught to dance.
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: It seemed to me very hard that when I was
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: having those long, miserable lessons, the cat should be allowed
• 51:46
  Speaker 4: to sit down doing nothing but smile at my misfortunes.
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: Trapowis said, we ought to feel honored by being taught,
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: And the reason why Pussy wasn't asked to learn was
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: because she was so dreadfully stupid and had no brains
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: for anything but the pleasures of the chase and the
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: cares of a family. But I didn't think that could
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: be the reason, because the doll was sought to dance,
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: though she never learned, and I am sure she was
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: stupid enough. Another thing which Miss Daisy taught me to
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: do was to beg And the action fills me with
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: shame and pain every time I perform it, and as
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: the years go on, I hate it more and more.
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: For a stout, middle aged dog, this action is absurd
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: and degrading. Yet such is the force of habit that
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: I go through the performance now quite naturally. When I
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: want anything, Trap does it too, and says, what does
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: it matter? But then he has no judgment and besides
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: he's thin. But one of the most thoughtless things my
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: little mistress ever did was one day last summer when
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: she was without me. I chose to stay at home
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: because it was very hot, and I knew that the
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: roads would be dusty, and she was only going down
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: to the village shop, where no one ever thinks of
• 53:11
  Speaker 4: offering a dog anything to drink. If she had been
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: going to the farm, I should have gone with her,
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: because the lady there shows proper attention to visitors and
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: always sets down a nice dish of milk for us dogs. Besides,
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: I was a little unwell just then. The family had
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: had duck for dinner, and I always feel a little
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: faint after duck, all our family do, so I stayed
• 53:38
  Speaker 4: at home. Well, miss Daisy had gone out only with
• 53:43
  Speaker 4: Trap and her hoop. I wish I had been there,
• 53:46
  Speaker 4: for Trap is far too easy going, and a hoop
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: never gives any advice worth listening to. Trap told me
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: all about it as well as he could. Trap can't
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: tell a story very well, poor fellow. It seems that
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: as miss Daisy went across the village green, she saw
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: a crowd of children running after a dog with I
• 54:09
  Speaker 4: hardly like to mention such a thing. A tin saucepan
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: tied to his tail. The dog bolted into an empty
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: dog kennel by the blacksmith's shop and stayed there, growling,
• 54:22
  Speaker 4: go away, bad, children, said Miss Daisy, how dare you
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: treat a poor dear doggie? So the children wouldn't go
• 54:30
  Speaker 4: away at first, Very well, said miss Daisy, I shall
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: tell Trap what I think of you all. Then she
• 54:37
  Speaker 4: whispered the trap, and he began to growl so fiercely
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: that the children dared not come nearer. Any one can growl. Presently,
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: the children got tired of listening to him and went away.
• 54:50
  Speaker 4: Then Miss Daisy coaxed the unpleasant tin tailed creature out
• 54:55
  Speaker 4: of that kennel and untied the string and took off
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: the pan. Then, if you'll believe a dog of my character,
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: and of course you must, she carried that low dog
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: home in her arms, and washed him, and set him
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: down to eat out of the same plate as Trap,
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: and myself. Trap was friends with him directly. Some people
• 55:17
  Speaker 4: have no spirit, But I hope I know my duty
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: to myself too well for that. I snarled at the
• 55:24
  Speaker 4: base intruder till he was quite ashamed of himself. I
• 55:28
  Speaker 4: knew from the first that he'd be taught jumping and
• 55:31
  Speaker 4: begging and things like that. I hate those things myself,
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: but that's no reason why every low dog should be
• 55:39
  Speaker 4: taught them. Miss Daisy called him Tinker because he once
• 55:43
  Speaker 4: carried a tin pan about with him, and she tried
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: very hard to make me friendly to him. But I
• 55:50
  Speaker 4: can choose my own friends. I hope every one made
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: a great fuss about one thing he did, but actually
• 55:57
  Speaker 4: it was nothing but biting. And if biting isn't natural
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: to a dog, I should like to know what is.
• 56:04
  Speaker 4: And why people should be praised and petted and have
• 56:07
  Speaker 4: new collars in everybody else's share of the bones, only
• 56:11
  Speaker 4: for doing what is quite natural to them. I have
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: never been able to comprehend. Besides, barking is as good
• 56:20
  Speaker 4: as biting any day, and I'm sure I barked enough.
• 56:24
  Speaker 4: Though it wasn't my business. Miss Daisy had gone away
• 56:29
  Speaker 4: to stay with her cousins in London, and she had
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: taken Trap with her. Why she should have taken him
• 56:35
  Speaker 4: instead of me is a matter on which I can
• 56:38
  Speaker 4: offer no opinion. If my opinion had been asked, I
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: should have said that I thought it more suitable for
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: her to have a heavy, middle aged dog of good
• 56:48
  Speaker 4: manners than a Harum scarum young stripling like Trap. Tramp
• 56:53
  Speaker 4: told me afterwards that he thought the reason he was
• 56:56
  Speaker 4: taken was because Miss Daisy would have had to pay
• 56:59
  Speaker 4: more for the dog ticket of such a heavy dog
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: as I am, but I can't believe that dogs are
• 57:05
  Speaker 4: charged by the weight like butter. As I was saying.
• 57:10
  Speaker 4: Miss Daisy took Trap with her, and also her father
• 57:14
  Speaker 4: and mother, and Tinker and I were left to take
• 57:16
  Speaker 4: care of the servants. We had a very agreeable time,
• 57:20
  Speaker 4: though I confess that I missed miss Daisy more than
• 57:24
  Speaker 4: I would have believed possible. But there was more to
• 57:27
  Speaker 4: eat in the kitchen than usual, and the servants often
• 57:31
  Speaker 4: left things on the table when they went out to
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: take in the milk or to chat with the gardeners.
• 57:37
  Speaker 4: And if people leave things on tables, they have only
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: themselves to thank for whatever happens. There was a young
• 57:44
  Speaker 4: man who wore a fur cap and who used to
• 57:47
  Speaker 4: call with fish, and I was more surprised than I
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: care to own when I met him walking out with
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: the cook one Sunday afternoon, For I thought she had
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: a soul above fish. Yet when the servants began to
• 58:01
  Speaker 4: ask this young man to tea in the kitchen, I thought,
• 58:04
  Speaker 4: of course it must be all right. But Tinker would
• 58:07
  Speaker 4: do nothing but growl the whole time the young man
• 58:10
  Speaker 4: was there, so that at last the cook had to
• 58:13
  Speaker 4: lock us up in the butler's pantry till the young
• 58:16
  Speaker 4: man was gone. I had not growled, but I was
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: locked in too. The world is full of injustice and ingratitude. Now.
• 58:26
  Speaker 4: One night, when the servants went to bed, Tinker and
• 58:29
  Speaker 4: I lay down in our baskets under the hall table,
• 58:32
  Speaker 4: as usual. But Tinker was dreadfully restless, which must have
• 58:37
  Speaker 4: been only an accident, because he said himself he did
• 58:41
  Speaker 4: not know what the matter was with him, and he
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: would not go to sleep. But he kept walking up
• 58:47
  Speaker 4: and down, as if he were going to hide a
• 58:49
  Speaker 4: bone and couldn't find a good place for it. Do
• 58:54
  Speaker 4: lie down, for goodness sakes, Tinker, I said, and go
• 58:57
  Speaker 4: to sleep. Any One can see you have not been
• 58:59
  Speaker 4: brought up in a house where regular hours are kept.
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: I can't go to sleep. I don't know what's the
• 59:05
  Speaker 4: matter with me, he said gloomily. Well, I tried to
• 59:10
  Speaker 4: go to sleep myself, and I think I must almost
• 59:13
  Speaker 4: have dropped off when I heard a scrape scraping from
• 59:16
  Speaker 4: the butler's pantry. I wasn't going to bark. It wasn't
• 59:20
  Speaker 4: my business. I have often heard Miss Daisy's relations say
• 59:24
  Speaker 4: that I was no house dog. Still, I think Tinker
• 59:28
  Speaker 4: ought to have barked then, but he didn't, only just
• 59:32
  Speaker 4: pricked his ears and his tail, and he waited and
• 59:35
  Speaker 4: the scraping went on. Then Tinker said to me, don't
• 59:40
  Speaker 4: you make a noise for your life. I Am going
• 59:42
  Speaker 4: to see what it is. And he trotted softly into
• 59:46
  Speaker 4: the butler's pantry. It was rather dark, but you know,
• 59:50
  Speaker 4: we dogs can see as well as cats in the dark,
• 59:53
  Speaker 4: although they do make such a fuss about it and
• 59:56
  Speaker 4: declare that they are the only creatures who can. There
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 4: was a man outside the window, and I tapped Tinker
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 4: with my tail to show him that he ought to bark,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 4: but he never moved. The man had been scraping and
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 4: scraping till he had got out one of the windowpanes.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 4: It was a very little window pane, only just big
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 4: enough for his hand to go through. And the man
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 4: took out the window pane and put his hand through,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 4: making a long arm to get at the fastening of
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 4: the window, and just as he was going to undo
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 4: the hasp, Tinker made a spring on to the window
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 4: ledge and caught the man's hand in his mouth, and
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: the man gave a push, and Tinker fell off the
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 4: window ledge, but he took the man's hand with him,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 4: and there was the man's arm dragged through the window pane,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 4: and Tinker hanging on to his fingers. The man broke
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 4: some more of the panes and tried to get his
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 4: other hand through, and if he had he would have
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 4: done for Tinker, but he could not manage. And now
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 4: I thought, this is the time the bark, and I bark.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 4: I barked my best. I barked nobly, though I am
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 4: not a house dog, and I don't think it's my business.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 4: In less than a minute, down came the gardener and
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 4: the undergardener, and Tinker was still holding on, and they
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 4: took the man, and he was marched off the prison.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 4: And it turned out to be the man in the
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 4: fur cap. But though they made fuss enough about Tinker's
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 4: share in the business, you may be sure it didn't
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 4: make me think much more of him. I should never
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 4: have had anything to say to him, but for one thing.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 4: Early one morning, we three dogs. It's all over long ago,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 4: and I hope I can be generous and let by
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 4: gones be bygones. He is one of us. Now went
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 4: out for a run in the paddock by the wood,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 4: and while Trap and I were trotting up and down
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 4: chatting about the weather, that Tinker dog bolted into the wood,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 4: and unless in a minute came out with a rabbit.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 4: I saw it once that he could never get it
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 4: eaten before Miss Daisy came out, and I knew that
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 4: if he were found with it, his sufferings would be awful.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 4: So I helped him to eat it. I know my
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 4: duty to a fellow creature. I trust it was a
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 4: very young rabbit and tender, not too much fur fur
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 4: gets in your throat and spoils your teeth. Besides, we
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 4: had just finished it when my mistress came out. Trap
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 4: would not eat a bit even the help Tinker out
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 4: of his scrape. But I have a kind heart. Well
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 4: after that, I thought I might as well consent to
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 4: be friends with Tinker in spite of his low breeding.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 4: You see, I had helped him out of a dreadful scrape,
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 4: and one always feels kindly to people one has helped.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 4: He has caught several more rabbits since then, and I
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 4: have always stood by him on those occasions, and I
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 4: always mean to I am not one to turn my
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 4: back on a friend. I believe so. Now he has
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 4: a collar like ours, and I hardly feel degraded at
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 4: all when I sit opposite to him at the Dolls
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 4: Tea Parties. End of chapter eight. Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 4: Chapter nine of Pussy and Doggy Tales. This is a
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggie Tales by E. Nesbit, Chapter nine. Rats.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 4: He has no nose, said my master. He is a
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 4: handsome dog, but he has no nose. This annoyed me
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 4: very much, for I have a nose, a very long,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 4: sharp black nose. I wear tan boots and gloves, and
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 4: my coat is a beautiful, shiny black. I am a
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 4: Manchester Terrier, and I fulfill the old instructions for such
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 4: a dog. I am necked like a drake headed like
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 4: a snake, tailed like a rat, and foot it like
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 4: a cat. And then they said I had no nose.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 4: But Carrie explained to me that my master did not
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 4: mean to find fault with the shape of my nose,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 4: but that what he wanted to be understood was that
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 4: I had no nose for smelling rats. Carrie has, and
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 4: he is ridiculously vain of this accomplishment. And you have
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 4: no nose, you know, old boy, said Carrie, why he
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 4: would let rats run all over you and never know it.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 4: I turned up my nose, my beautiful, pointed, handsome nose,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 4: and walked away without a word. A few weeks afterwards,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 4: my Master brought home with him some white rats. Carrie
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 4: was out at the time, but my Master showed me
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 4: the rats through the bars of their cage. He also
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 4: showed me a boot and a stick. Although I have
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 4: no nose, I was clever enough to put two and
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 4: two together. Did I mention that there were two rats.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 4: We were not allowed to go in the study either
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 4: of us, and my Master put the rats in there
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 4: in their cage on the table. That night, when everybody
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 4: had gone to bed, I said to carry I may
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 4: have no nose, old man, But I smell rats. Carrie
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 4: sniffed contemptuously. Hugh, he said, curling himself round in his basket.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 4: I don't believe you could smell an elephant if there
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 4: were one in the dresser drawer. I kept my temper.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 4: I am not feeling very well, Carrie, I said gently,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 4: or I would go and see myself. But I am
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 4: sure there are rats. I smell them plainly. They seem
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 4: to be in the study. Go to sleep, he said,
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 4: you're dreaming, old man. Why don't you go and see?
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 4: I said, if I didn't feel so very faint, I
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 4: would go myself. Carrie got out of his basket reluctantly.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 4: I suppose I ought to go, if you are quite certain,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 4: he said, and he went. In less than a minute,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 4: he returned to the kitchen, trembling all over with excitement. Chappy,
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 4: he said, Chappy, well there are rats, he whispered hoarsely,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 4: there are rats in the study. Did you go in?
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 4: I asked, no. You know we're forbidden to go in.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 4: But I smelt them quite plainly. I can't smell them
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 4: at all here, he said, regretfully. What a nose you've
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 4: got after all? Chappy, what are you going to do, Carrie,
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 4: I asked, why nothing? He said, we mustn't go in
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 4: the study. Oh, I said, rules weren't made for great
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: occasions like this. It's your business to kill rats wherever
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 4: they are. And that misguided, wired haired person went up.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 4: He got them out of the cage and killed them.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 4: The next morning, when the master came down, he thrashed
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 4: Carrie within an inch of his life. He knows I
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 4: don't touch rats, And besides, I was so unwell that
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 4: nobody could have suspected me. And I explained to Carrie
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 4: that good as my nose is, I couldn't possibly tell
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 4: by the smell that the rats were white and therefore sacred.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 4: It was not worth while to mention that I had
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 4: seen them before. Carrie looks up to me now has
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 4: a dog with a nose, and I am much happier
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 4: than formerly. But Carrie is not nearly so keen on rats. Now.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 4: I thought somehow he wouldn't be. End of chapter nine.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 4: Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas, Chapter ten of
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggy Tails. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 4: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy and
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 4: Doggy Tails by E. Nesbit, Chapter ten. The tables turned.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 4: We knew it was a dog directly. The basket was
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 4: set down in the hall. We heard it moving about inside.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 4: We sniffed all round. We asked it why it didn't
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 4: come out. The basket was tightly tied with a string.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 4: Are you having a good time in there? Said Roy?
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 4: Can't you show your face? Said I. He's ashamed of it,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 4: said Roy, waving his long bushy tail. Then he growled
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 4: a little, and the dog inside growled too, and then
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 4: has as Roy had an appointment with a butcher at
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 4: his own back door. I went out to see him home.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 4: I am so sorry. I am going away for Christmas
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 4: with my master, he said when we parted. But you
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 4: must introduce that new dog to me when I come home.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 4: We mustn't stand any of his impudence, eh. I was
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 4: sorry Roy was going away for Roy is my great friend.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 4: He always fights the battles for both of us. I
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 4: dare say I might have got into the way of
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 4: fighting my own battles, but I never liked to interfere
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 4: with anybody's pleasure. And Roy's chief pleasure is fighting. As
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 4: for me, I think the delights of that recreation are overestimated.
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 4: When my master came home, he opened the basket and
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 4: a dog of Irish family tumbled out, growling and snarling,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 4: and hid himself under the sofa. They wasted more biscuits
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 4: on him than I have ever seen wasted on any
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 4: deserving dog. And at last they got him out and
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 4: he consented to eat some supper. They gave him a
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 4: much better basket than mine, and we went to bed.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 4: Next morning, the Irish terrier got out of his basket,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 4: stretched himself, yawned, and insisted on thrashing me before breakfast.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 4: But I am a dog of peace, I said, I
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 4: don't fight, but I do, you see, he answered, that's
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 4: just the difference. I tried to defend myself, but he
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 4: got hold of one of my feet and held it up.
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 4: I sat up and howled with pain and indignation. Have
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 4: you had enough, he said, and, without waiting for my answer,
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 4: proceeded to give me more. But I don't fight, I said,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 4: I don't approve of fighting. Then I'll teach you to
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 4: have better manners than to say so, said he, and
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 4: he taught me for nearly five minutes. Now, then he said,
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 4: are you licked? Yes, I answered, or indeed I was.
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 4: Are you sorry you ever tried the fight with me? Yes?
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 4: Still seemed to be the only thing to say. And
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 4: do you approve of fighting? He seemed to wish me
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 4: to say yes, and so I said it very well.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 4: Then he said, now we'll be friends if you like.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 4: Come along. You have given me an appetite for breakfast.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 4: Any society worth cultivating about here? He asked after the meal,
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 4: in his overbearing way. I have a very good friend
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 4: who lives next door, I said, but I don't know
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 4: whether I should care to introduce you to him. He
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 4: showed his teeth and asked what I meant? You see,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 4: you might not like him, and if you didn't like him,
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 4: but he's a most agreeable dog, a good fighter, asked Rustler.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 4: I scratched my ear with my hind foot and pretended
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 4: to think, Oh, I see he's not, said Rustler contemptuously. Well,
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 4: you shall introduce him to me to directly he comes back.
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 4: Rustler's overbearing and disagreeable manners so upset me that I
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 4: was quite thin when at the end of the week,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 4: Roy came home. I told him my troubles at once.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 4: Bring your Rustler along, he said, grandly, and introduce him
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 4: to me. So I did. Rustler came along, with his
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 4: ears up and his miserable tail in the air. Roy
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 4: lay by his kennel, looking the image of serenity and peacefulness.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 4: To judge by his expression, he might not have had
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 4: a tooth in his head. Rustler stood with his feet
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 4: as far apart as he could get them, and put
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 4: his head on one side. I have heard so much
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 4: about you, mister. What's your name? He said that I
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 4: have come to make a closer acquaintance. Delight it, I'm sure,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 4: said Roy, who had splendid manners. If you will get
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 4: on your legs, said Rustler rudely, I will tell you
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 4: what I think of you. Roy got on his legs,
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 4: still looking very humble, and the next minute he had
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 4: Rustler by the front and foot and was making him
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 4: sit down and scream, just as Russeler had made me.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 4: It was a magnificent fight. Have you had enough, said Roy,
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 4: and then gave him more without waiting for an answer.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 4: I don't want to fight any more, said Rustler at last.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 4: I am sorry I spoke then I'll teach you to
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 4: have more pluck than to own it, said Roy, And
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 4: when he had taught him for some time, he said,
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 4: are you lick? Yes, said Rustler, glaring at me out
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 4: of his uninjured eye. Are you sorry you tried the
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 4: fight with me? Yes? Will you promise to leave my
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 4: little friend here alone? Yes? Then Roy let him go.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 4: We shook tails all round, and Rustler and I went home.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 4: Poor Rustler, I said, I know exactly how you feel,
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 4: you little Humbuggy said with half a laugh, for he
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 4: is not an ill natured fellow. When you come to
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 4: know him. You managed it very cleverly. And I am
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 4: not one to bear malice, but I say your friend
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 4: is a one. We are now the most united trio,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 4: and Roy and Rustler have licked all the other dogs
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 4: in the neighborhood. End of chapter ten. Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 4: Chapter eleven of Pussy and Doggy Tales. This is a
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggy Tales by E. Nesbit. Chapter eleven a
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 4: noble dog. Rover would go in into the water fast
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 4: enough for a bath or a swim, but he would
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 4: not bring anything out. The children used to throw in sticks,
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 4: and Rover and I used to bound in together, but
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 4: I would bring the stick back while he swam around
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 4: and round, enjoying himself. I am not vain, but I
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 4: could not help feeling how much superior I was to
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 4: such a dog as Rover. He is a prized new fundman,
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 4: and I am only a humble retriever of obscure family.
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 4: So one day I said to him, why don't you
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 4: fetch the sticks out when the children throw them in?
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 4: I don't care about sticks, he said. But it's so
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 4: grand and clever to be able to fetch them out,
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 4: is it? He answered? I know it is for the
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 4: children tell me, so do they? He said? I wonder
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 4: you are not ashamed. I went on a little nettled
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 4: by his meekness, never to do anything useful. I should
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 4: be if I were you. Ah, he said, but you
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 4: see you are not. Good night. We used to spend
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 4: a great deal of time by the river. The children
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 4: loved to play there, and we dogs were always expected
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 4: to go with them. One day, as I was lying
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 4: asleep on the warm grass by the river bank. I
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 4: heard a splash. I jumped in, but there was no stick,
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 4: only one of the children floating down on the stream
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 4: and screaming whenever her head came from under the water.
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 4: I thought it was a new kind of game, not
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 4: very interesting. So I swam out again, and just as
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 4: I was shaking the water out of my ears, I
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 4: heard another great flop and there was Rover in the water,
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 4: holding on to that child's dress. He pulled her out
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 4: some ten yards down the stream. And oh, if you
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 4: could have seen the fuss that the master and mistress
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 4: and the rest of the children made of that black
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 4: and white spotted person. Why, Rover, I said afterwards, when
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 4: we had got home and were talking it over. Whatever
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 4: made you think that the child wanted to be pulled
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 4: out of the water. It's my business to pull people
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 4: out of the water, he said, But I urged. I
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 4: always thought you were too stupid to understand things, did you,
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 4: he said, turning his mild eyes on me. Why didn't
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 4: you explain to me that you, my dear dog, he said,
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 4: I never think it worth while to fetch sticks out
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 4: of the water, and I never think it worth while
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 4: to explain things to stupid people. End of chapter eleven.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 4: Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas. Chapter twelve of
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 4: Pussy and Doggy Tails. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 4: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. Information or to volunteer,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 4: please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy and Doggie Tails by E. Nesbit,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 4: Chapter twelve, The Dyer's Dog. She was beautiful, with a strange,
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 4: unearthly beauty. She had a little black nose. Her eyes
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 4: were small, but bright and full of charm. Her ears
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 4: were long and soft, and her tail curled like one
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 4: of the ostrich plumes in the window of the dire
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 4: with whom she lived. I have met many little dogs
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 4: with noses as charming, and eyes as bright, and tails
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 4: as curly, but never one who, like my Bessie, was
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 4: a rich, deep pink all over. I lived with a baker.
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 4: Then I was sitting on his doorstep when she first
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 4: delighted my eyes. I ran across the road to give
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 4: her good morning. She seemed pleased to see me. We
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 4: had a little chat about the weather and the other
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 4: dogs in the street, and about buns and rats and
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 4: the vices of the domestic cat. Her manners and her
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 4: conversation were as bright and charming as her eyes. Before
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 4: we parted, we had made an appointment for the next afternoon,
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 4: and as I said good bye, I ventured to ask,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 4: how is it, lady, that you are of such a
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 4: surpassingly beautiful color. It is natural to our family, she said,
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 4: tossing her pretty ears. My mother was the royal crimson
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 4: dog at the court of the King of India. I
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 4: bowed with deep respect and withdrew, for I heard them
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 4: calling me at home the next day. I looked for
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 4: my beautiful, pink colored lady, but I looked in vain Instead.
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 4: A dog of bright sky blue with a yellow ribbon
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 4: round its neck, sat in the sun on the dyer's
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 4: door step. Yet, could I be mistaken that knows those ears,
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 4: that feathery, those bright and beaming eyes. I went across.
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 4: She received me with some embarrassment, which disappeared as I
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 4: talked gaily of milk and guinea pigs and the habits
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 4: of the cat's meat man. Before we parted, I said,
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 4: you have changed your dress. Yes, she said, it's so
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 4: common and vulgar to wear always one color. But I thought,
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 4: I hesitated that your mother was the royal crimson dog
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 4: at the Court of so she was, replied the lady promptly.
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 4: But my father was the well known sky blue terrier
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 4: at the Crystal Palace dog show. I resembled both my parents.
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 4: I retired, fascinated by her high breeding and graceful explanations.
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 4: Through my dreams. That night wandered a long procession of
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 4: blue and crimson dogs. The next day, when I hurried
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 4: to keep the appointment she had been good enough to
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 4: make with me, I found her a deep purple again.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 4: I concealed my surprise while we talked of subjects of
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 4: common interest, of dog collars and chains and kennels, of biscuits, bones,
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 4: and the outrage of the musling order. And at last
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 4: I said, you have changed your dress again. Your mother
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 4: was the royal Oh don't she said? It's so tiresome
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 4: to keep repeating things. My father was red and my
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 4: mother was blue, and I myself, as you see, am purple.
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 4: Don't you know that crimson and blue make purple? Any
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 4: child with a shilling box of paints could have told
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 4: you that. I thanked her and came away. Purple seemed
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 4: to me the most beautiful color in the world. But
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 4: the next day she was green, as green as grass.
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 4: After the customary exchange of civilities, I remarked firmly, blue
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 4: and crimson may make purple, but but green is my
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 4: favorite color. She said briskly. I suppose a dog is
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 4: not bound down by the prejudices of its parents. I
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 4: went away very sadly, and as I went I noticed
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 4: that there were some curtains in the dyer's window of
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 4: exactly the same tint as my friend's dress. The next
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 4: day she was gone. I sought her in vain. The
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 4: day after, a French poodle appeared on the dier's doorstep,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 4: dressed in stripes of orange and scarlet. I went boldly
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 4: across to him. Good morning, old man. How do you
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 4: come to be that color? I said, They dye me
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 4: so he answered gloomily, it's a dreadful lot for a
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 4: dog that respects himself. I never saw Bessie, but once
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 4: again she seemed then to be living with a tinsmith,
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 4: and her color was a gingerly white. I hope I
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 4: am too much of a gentleman to taunt any lady
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 4: in misfortune, but I couldn't help saying, why don't you
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 4: wear any of your beautiful colored dresses now? She answered
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 4: me curtly, for she saw that she had ceased to charm.
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 4: I gave up wearing my pretty dresses, she said, because
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 4: silly people asked me so many questions about them, as usual.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 4: I accepted her explanations in silence. But when I see
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 4: the poodle opposite in his varying glories of blue and green,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 4: and orange and purple, I can't help thinking that perhaps
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 4: my fair Bessie did not always speak the truth. End
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 4: of chapter twelve. Recording by Richard Kilmer, Real, Medina, Texas.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 4: Chapter thirteen of Pussy and Doggytails. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 4: All abrivox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 4: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Pussy
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 4: and Doggy Tales by E. Nesbit, Chapter thirteen. The vain
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 4: Setter ours is one of the most ancient and noble
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 4: families in the land, and I contend that family pride
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 4: is an exalted sentiment. I still hold to this belief
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 4: in spite of all the suffering that it has brought
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 4: upon me. My father, whose ancestor came over with the
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 4: conqueror has taken prizes at many a country show, and
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 4: my mother, the handsomest of her sex, took one prize
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 4: and would have taken more, but for the unfortunate accident
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 4: of having her tail cut off in a door. I
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 4: early determined, to be worthy of my high breeding and
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 4: undoubted descent, the setter should have long, silky ears. I
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 4: made my brother pull mine gently for an hour at
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 4: a time in order to lengthen them. I combed their
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 4: fringes with my paws. My father's brow was lofty and narrow.
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 4: The unfortunate accident, which removed my mother from public life,
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 4: suggested to me a way of cultivating our most famous
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 4: family characteristic. I used to place my head between the
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 4: door post and the door, while my brother leaned gently
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 4: against the ladder, so as to press my skull to
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 4: the requisite shape. My legs, I knew, ought to be straight.
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 4: I never indulged in any of those field sports to
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 4: which my brother early turned a light hearted attention, for
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 4: I knew that undue exercise tends to curve the legs.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 4: My tail was my special care. Regardless of comfort, I
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 4: twisted myself into the shape of a capital O, and
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 4: holding the end of my tail gently but firmly in
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 4: my teeth, I stretched myself, and it so much pains
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 4: devoted to such a noble object, could not be thrown away.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 4: I became the handsomest setter in the three counties. My brother,
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 4: in the meantime, grew expert in the coarse sporting exercises
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 4: to which he devoted his energies. He had no pride.
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 4: He tramped the mud of the fields, he tore his
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 4: ears in bramble bushes. And I have seen him so
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 4: far lose all sense of our family's dignity as to
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 4: grovel at the feet of his master and raise one
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 4: of his paws to indicate that birds were near common birds.
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 4: I believe they are called partridges. You might as well,
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 4: I said to him, bitterly, you might as well have
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 4: been born a pointer. Why not, he said, I know
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 4: a pointer. He went on laughing in his merry, careless way.
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 4: I know a pointer who lives at the Pines Farm.
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 4: A capital fellow, he is, my dear boy, I said,
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 4: Just come and squeeze my head in the door a little,
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 4: will you, and let me tell you that for one
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 4: of our family to associate with a pointer his social
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 4: ruin common coarse, smooth coated persons related I should suppose
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 4: to the vulgar plum pudding dog. My brother only laughed,
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 4: but he was a good natured fellow, and pinched my
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 4: head in the door until my forehead could stand the
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 4: strain no longer. I was sent to the Crystal Palace
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 4: Dog Show, and as I looked round on the hundreds
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 4: of dogs of all families and nationalities, I breathed a
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 4: sigh of contentment and blessed the fate that had made
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 4: me in this England of ours, a well born English setter.
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 4: My brother was not at the show, of course, but
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 4: I think even he would have admired me if he
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 4: could have seen how far superior I was to all
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 4: about me. Of course, I took the first prize. My
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 4: mission was fulfilled, my family pride was satisfied. The judges
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 4: unanimously pronounced me to be the most perfect and beautiful
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 4: sporting dog in the whole show. My master, wild with delight,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 4: patted my silky forehead, and then turned aside to talk
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 4: with a stout gentleman in gaiters. I thought of what
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 4: my life would be one long joyous round of shows, applause,
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 4: pats on the head from a grateful master, delicious food
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 4: and first prizes. But my master's base nature his ancestors
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 4: came over with George and the Hanoverians struck all my
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 4: hopes to the ground. I woke from my dream of
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 4: triumph to find myself sold to the stout man in Gaiters.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 4: I never saw my brother again, and I was never
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 4: able to tell my fond and doting mother that I,
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 4: like her, had taken a prize. I was never able
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 4: to chat with my father over a bone, comparing with
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 4: him experiences of the show bench. The stout gaitered man
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 4: took me away into a far country. The next morning.
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 4: He took me out into the fields and looked at
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 4: me from time to time as if he expected me
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 4: to do something unwilling to disappoint him. I sat down
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 4: and began my usual exercise of lengthening my tail. He
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 4: at once struck me violently. We went a little farther,
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 4: and I noticed that he looked more and more displeased.
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 4: But I could not imagine what it could be that
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 4: so distressed him. Presently, one of those common partridge birds
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 4: had the impertinence to fly out close to me. I
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 4: caught it at once and looked round for applause. There
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 4: only came another shower of blows. What's the good of
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 4: you taking prizes? He said, If you're such an idiot
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 4: in the field, might as well have a greyhound. I
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 4: wish you had, I said under my breath. I spent
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 4: a week in torment, and then it occurred to me
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 4: that this low born, gaitered person would have been better
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 4: pleased with my brother. So I tried to recall the
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 4: tricks with which my brother had particularly aggravated me. And
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 4: the next time I smelt a partridge, I lay down
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 4: as I had seen my brother do, and lifted a
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 4: foolish foot. I was rewarded with a pat and encouragement.
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 4: I have now sunk entirely to my brother's level. My
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 4: master pronounces me to be the most excellent sporting dog.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 4: But I shall never forget the blows and angry words
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 4: that were necessary to make me renounce my ideal of
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 4: what a should be. And deep in my heart I
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 4: still cherish with passionate devotion my views on duty and
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 4: my honorable family pride. End of chapter thirteen. Recording by
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 4: Richard kilmer Rio, Medina, Texas. End of Pussy and Doggy
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 4: Tales by E. Nesbit