Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/88

76 But the barber refused to return him the tail, and so the cat stole one of the razors, as he had said he would, and left the shop.

Pussy, bent on a ramble, walked on until he met a fishwife, and perceiving that she had no knife to cut the fish with, said to her: "Here, my good woman, take this razor, and use it to cut your fish."

He then continued his walk, but he had not gone far when he repented giving the razor to the woman, so he retraced his steps until he met her, and, going up to her, he said: "Return me my razor, or I'll take one of your herrings."

The woman, however, refusing to restore the razor, pussy stole a herring, and went his way.

The cat now saw a poor miller, who was eating dry bread for his dinner, and feeling compassion for the man, he said to him: "My good man, take this fish and have it with your bread."

The miller very gratefully took the herring and ate it with his bread. After a while the cat was sorry to have parted with the herring, which would have made a pleasant meal for himself; so he went back to the miller and said: "Give me back my fish, or I'll take a sack of your flour."

The miller had already eaten up the fish, and could not restore it had he wished to do so; therefore the cat took a sack of flour and went off with it.

Pussy next paid a visit to a village school, and