Puss Junior and Robinson Crusoe

<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>PUSS FINDS A SUPPER</h2> <div class='cap'>FOR many days Puss, Junior, traveled in his boat down the river and towards evening he heard a voice on the shore singing:</div> <div class='poem'> "Rock-a-by baby, thy cradle is green,<br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Dad's a policeman, the finest yet seen;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And mother's a lady and goes to a ball,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And Johnny's a member of Tammany Hall."</span><br/></div> <p>Of course this made our little traveler laugh, for he didn't know there was a Tammany Hall in New Mother Goose Country and neither did I until Puss told me.</p> <p>Well, he pulled his boat up on the bank and got out, and after that he listened again for the song, but there wasn't a sound, so he thought the baby must be asleep. Then he tiptoed over to a little cottage nearby and looked in the window. There sat a pretty little woman with a baby in her arms. And when she saw Puss she lifted her finger very gently to let him know that her baby was in the Land of Nod, and after that she placed him gently in the cradle.</p> <p>"Come in," she whispered to our little pussy cat traveler and when they were in the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</SPAN></span> nice bright kitchen, for the fire in the stove made bright streaks of light over the clean floor, she said:</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/gs04.png" width-obs="332" height-obs="400" alt="Woman rocking baby" title="" /></div> <p>"Sir Cat, you are a traveler, I see. Tell me one of your adventures while I get the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</SPAN></span> supper. My good man will soon be home, hungry and tired from his day's work."</p> <p>Now Puss, Junior, was tired, too, and he didn't feel a bit like sitting down and telling a story. But he was an obliging little pussy and he knew, like Little Tommy Tucker, he must pay for his supper.</p> <p>"Once upon a time," he began, "there was a famous cat, and the reason he was so famous was because he had done a great favor for his master. You see, his master was the youngest of three sons, who, when his father died, got nothing but the cat, while the others got the farm and the money. But he never complained, which so pleased the cat that he made up his mind to help his young master. And what do you think he did? One day his master's clothes were stolen while in bathing, and the king, who was passing by at that moment in his coach, felt so sorry that he gave the young man a beautiful suit and asked him to drive with him. Of course the cat went, too, and as they passed along he waved his paw and said, 'All these lands belong to my master.' By and by they came to a castle where lived a giant. So the cat ran ahead, and said to the giant, who was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</SPAN></span> sitting in his big room; 'I hear you can change yourself into anything. Let me see if you can turn into a mouse!' 'That's easy!' laughed the foolish giant. Whereupon this wise cat ate him up. And when the king arrived, he said, 'Here is my master's castle;' which so pleased the king that he gave his daughter to wed and the young man never forgot how his cat helped him to fame and fortune. And this cat is my father," concluded little Puss, Junior, with a bow.</p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />