Read Ebook: The Rainbow Cat by Fyleman Rose Grosvenor Thelma Cudlipp Illustrator

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Ebook has 663 lines and 24147 words, and 14 pages

"I don't think much of wizards," he said. "What can you do?"

"I can tell your thoughts, O Giant," was the reply.

"Oho!" laughed the giant, "and pray what am I thinking at this moment, Mr. Mewpus?"

"That is quite easy," said the Rainbow Cat. "You are thinking how your foot is hurting you, and how you would like to get hold of the person who trod on your corns." For the cat had heard all this from the swallow.

The giant was astonished.

"You're a rather wonderful fellow," he said. "It must be useful to be able to do that. Can't you teach me?"

"I dare say I might be able to," said the Rainbow Cat. "I'll see if you show any promise. Sit down, please."

The giant sat down and the Rainbow Cat walked three times round him, muttering to himself.

"Now, tell me what I am thinking," said he when he had done.

The Thunder Giant sat looking at him rather stupidly. He wasn't a very clever person.

"I suppose you're thinking what a fool I look, sitting here," he said.

"Wonderful--wonderful," said the cat. "You show immense promise, sir. I have never had such an apt pupil."

"May I try again?" said the giant, who began to think himself very clever.

"Certainly," said the Rainbow Cat. "What am I thinking of now?"

The giant tried to put on a very wise look and stared again at the Rainbow Cat with his stupid little eyes.

"Beefsteak and onions," he said suddenly.

The Rainbow Cat fell back and pretended to be lost in admiration.

"Perfectly right," he said. "How did you guess such a thing?"

"Oh, it just came into my mind," said the giant modestly.

"You know," said the cat seriously, "you ought to cultivate this gift. It's most unusual."

"How can I do it?" said the giant eagerly, for he thought it would be very delightful to be able to read people's thoughts. Which shows how stupid he was.

"Go home," said the cat, "and lie down for a couple of hours. Then take these three little pink comfits and lie down for another couple of hours. After that you may get up and have a cup of tea. But keep very quiet. Before going to bed eat this other little white comfit, and when you wake up in the morning you will be able to read people's thoughts."

The giant was all impatience to be gone, but he did not quite forget his manners.

"I am very much obliged to you," he said. "Can't I do anything for you in exchange, Professor Mewpus?"

The Rainbow Cat pondered for a moment.

"I should like a bit of lightning," he said, "a nice jumpy bit."

The giant put his hand in his pocket. "Here's a bundle of it," he said. "If you cut the string you can have quite a jolly little display at any moment."

The Rainbow Cat thanked him, and they parted most amicably.

The giant went back to his castle and did as he had been told. Ever since that day he believes he knows what people are thinking. This makes him feel very superior and it really doesn't do any one else any harm.

The Rainbow Cat returned to the party with the bundle of lightning stowed carefully away in his bag. Every one was most grateful for what he had done, and he was quite overwhelmed with attentions. He enjoyed himself very much in Cloud-land, and stayed for seven days. At the end of that time he packed up his little bag and set off once more on his travels, and you shall presently hear what next befell him.

TWO

The Princess Who Could Not Cry

There was once a little princess who could not cry.

That wouldn't have mattered so very much, but the trouble was that she laughed at everything, often on the most unsuitable occasions, and this was an extremely vexing and awkward habit, especially for a princess.

Her parents were very troubled about it, and they called in a wise old fairy in order to get her advice. She went into the matter thoroughly, and finally told them that if the princess could only once be made to cry, the spell would be broken for ever and she would thenceforward be just like other people.

This wasn't particularly helpful, but it gave them some hope, and they immediately set about the task of making the princess weep. Of course it was a rather difficult matter, because naturally they didn't want her to be really miserable, and they hardly knew how to begin. Finally they offered a reward of five hundred crowns to anybody who should succeed in making their daughter cry without doing her any harm.

Wise men came from all over the kingdom to see what they could do, and many things were tried, but all to no purpose.

"Look," she said, "my feet have grown so thin that I can't keep my slippers on." And she kicked her foot into the air and sent her slipper flying across the room, and laughed to see the scandalised face of the butler.

But her mother burst into tears. "My poor starved lamb," she said, "they shall not treat you so any longer." And she rushed into the kitchen and ordered soup and chicken and pink jelly to be sent up to the princess for her next meal.

Another wise man came who said that for six months he had been practising pulling the most awful faces and making the most terrible noises imaginable, in order to be able to cure the princess. Children, he said, were so frightened by him that they had to be carried shrieking and howling from the room, and even grown-up people were so terrified that they wept aloud. He requested that he might be left alone with the princess; but the queen waited outside the door and listened.

She trembled with anxiety as she stood there, for the noises the wise man made were so bloodcurdling that she could hardly bear to hear them herself, and it seemed dreadful that her child should be left alone to endure such a trial. But in a few minutes she heard peals of laughter coming from inside the room, and presently the wise man opened the door. He was quite done up, and blue in the face, with the efforts he had been making. "It's no use," he said rather crossly. "No use at all," and went away looking much annoyed.

The princess came running out to her mother.

Another wise man suggested that all her favourite toys should be broken up. But when he went into the nursery and began smashing her beautiful dolls and playthings, the princess clapped her hands and jumped about and laughed more heartily than ever.

"What fun, what fun," she said, and she too began throwing the things about. So that plan had to be given up also.

Other wise men came, but as many of their suggestions were cruel and unkind ones, naturally the king and queen would not hear of them, and at last they began to fear that nothing could be done.

Now in a small village on the borders of the king's great park, there lived a widow with her little daughter Marigold.

They were very poor, and the mother earned what she could by doing odd jobs of washing, sewing, or cleaning for her neighbours. But she fell ill, and poor Marigold was in great trouble, for she had no money to buy comforts for her mother.

Their little savings had to go for food to keep them alive, and every day these grew less and less.

Marigold knew all about the little princess at the castle. She had often heard speak of her, and had even seen her sometimes riding about the roads on her white pony. And one day as she was cooking the midday meal an idea came into her head.

As soon as dinner was over, she put on her hat and cloak and told her mother that she was going up to the king's palace to see if she could make the princess cry and so earn the five hundred crowns.

Her mother did her best to persuade her not to go.

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