Page:Swahili tales.djvu/271

Rh it. So then, master, what are we to do, things being in this state?"

And he said, "I think in your souls you hate this cat; you want me to kill it, and I shall not kill it; the cat is mine, and these things it eats are mine."

So the people were astounded; there was no one who dared to kill it, and people had been already eaten by the cat. And it stayed on the road by Mnazimoja. And then, people not passing that way, the cat removed to another road, preying in the same way.

And they went and told the Sultan, "The cat is injuring the people." And he said to them, "I hate your messages; your words are little with me. I will neither listen to such messages, nor will I kill the cat."

The people removed from that road and did not pass along it. And it removed to another road and did as before. And the Sultan was told, "The cat has got worse, master; it is become perfectly savage, not a thing passes before it but it has seized it." And he said, "The cat is mine, and this which it takes is mine." And the people removed and did not pass along that road.

The Sultan found that the messages from the people were become many, and he placed a man at the door. "Every one who shall come here with accusations against the cat, tell him the master is not to be seen." And he said, "All right, master."

Well then at night the cat used to come into the town, seizing everything it could get hold of, and in the morning used to return and go away into the outskirts. Till there in the suburbs there were no people. Those who ran away had run away, and those who were caught had been caught. And the cat moved on a little further into the country, catching there people and animals; and at night it used to come into the town, and caught what it