Part 6

“The three Spekkums went home to dinner, a very good dinner of milk and herring. Their uncle Thomas was there and while they were at dinner a kind girl presented every one of them with a neck ribbon. The Charcoals and the Spekkums went out to play and Frisky Spekkum was naughty and gnawed the others’ neck-ribbons and made them gnaw hers. Their mother spoke to their uncle Thomas about it and he told Frisky that if she did not behave he should have to send word to the rats to carry her away, as they carried away Mab Fizz-Fuzz. She said she was not afraid.

“The two Charcoals went to their uncle Thomas’ house to supper and the four Spekkums stayed with their mother. When it was supper time their mother said to them softly, ‘Follow me and I will give you something good.’

“They followed her and she led them to the beautiful shiny box.

“‘You see what is inside,’ said she, ‘jump quick, when I lift up the door.’

“The young rat was inside. He had eaten the beautiful cheese and wished to stay no longer in the beautiful shiny box. He sprang out when the door was lifted. The four Spekkums sprang after him. They were not quick enough. He slipped through a rat-hole, though Frisky Spekkum was near enough to claw his tail as it went through. He was so frightened he knew not what he was doing and went straight into a bottle, and there was something bad left in the bottle, and he would have died of that if a friendly young frog had not found him. The young frog’s family and the young rat’s family had been friends ever since one of the young frog’s family saved the life of one of the young rat’s family, and that was a long, long time before. It was before the Janjibo.

“But all this belongs to another story and cannot be told now, for there is yet more to tell of the Charcoals and the Spekkums.

“One day their uncle Thomas put on his best clothes and his tall hat and got a sleigh box and two pair of rabbits and invited the Charcoals’ and Spekkums’ mother to go sleighing with him. Their mother smiled and quickly put on her best clothes and her bonnet with flowers and got her best muff.

“The Charcoals and Spekkums all wanted to go, but their uncle Thomas said so many would be too many for the rabbits and that he would take three and take the other three next time.

“They took three of the Spekkums and told Frisky Spekkum to stay and wait with the two Charcoals and go next time. Their uncle Thomas then helped their mother in, and took his seat, and the three Spekkums hopped in behind and sat looking over the side as happy as they could be. Their mother told them to hold on tight for their uncle Thomas would soon whip up, and they might fall out. Their uncle Thomas whipped up and the rabbits set off upon a gallop.

“Just as they were setting off, Frisky Spekkum ran away from the two Charcoals and climbed up behind the sleigh-box, and held on and tried to get in, but the rabbits went so fast that she fell off and rolled over and over.

“She went back to play with the Charcoals, but she did not behave well. She was too frisky with them. She bit ears, and she almost bit off the two Charcoals’ neck-ribbons and made them bite off her neck ribbon and was so frisky that one of the Charcoals would not play, and went away. Frisky then took the other Charcoal with her into pantries and a hen house and other places where cats ought never to go, and made her eat with her thick cream, and custard pie, and other things which cats ought never to eat. They also clawed a best carpet.

“Their uncle Thomas came home and found them in a cheese and butter closet, and they ran, and he ran and caught them by their tails and punished them severely.

“This did not cure Frisky Spekkum. She was still too Frisky. She frisked with tassels, she frisked with whip-lashes, she frisked with reins, she frisked with flies she frisked with rabbits, she frisked with dogs’ tails, she frisked with pigs’ tails. Her mother told her of Mab Fizz-Fuzz who was carried off by her tail by the rats, and told her that if she did not stop being too frisky then rats would have to be sent for. But Frisky would not believe there ever was any Mab Fizz-Fuzz, and would not stop being too frisky. Her mother spoke to her uncle Thomas about it, and her uncle Thomas said her mother had better send her to Goody Gumbo to be talked to. He said that as Goody Gumbo had been alive ever since real pussys grew on pussy-willow trees, she would know how to talk to her.

“Frisky Spekkum was sent to Goody Gumbo to be talked to, but when the talking began she made believe be deaf and not hear a word. Goody Gumbo kept ear-trumpets for deaf ones and she gave Frisky a heavy ear-trumpet and made her hold it till the talking was done.

“After she was talked to by Goody Gumbo, Frisky Spekkum was not too frisky for a very long time. She played with the two Charcoals and the other Spekkums, and behaved as well as any of them. They were all quiet and happy, and Frisky was as quiet and happy as the others. When they were playing together Frisky made no mischief with the tails of the others. She behaved as well as the others.

“This pleased their mother very much and she spoke to their uncle Thomas about it. Their uncle Thomas said he did not believe that Frisky Spekkum behaved as well as the two Charcoals and the other Spekkums. Their mother told him to come and see.

“Their mother made them sit close together, in a row, with their ears all turned the same way and their eyes all turned the same way, and their tails all turned the same way around their fore paws, and Frisky Spekkum sat so still that when their uncle Thomas came to see he could not tell which one was Frisky.

“Not long after this the same kind girl gave them all new neck-ribbons and their mother said that as they had new neck-ribbons and Frisky had stopped being too frisky, she would have a party. Then she thought it would be a good plan to have them go to singing-school and learn something to sing at the party. She spoke to their uncle Thomas about it and their uncle Thomas said he would try their voices and find out which had voices to sing. He tried their voices and found out that only one of the Charcoals and two of the Spekkums had voices to sing. Frisky Spekkum was not one of the two Spekkums that had voices to sing, and she did not go to the singing-school.

“The three that had voices to sing went to singing-school, and were put in a row by themselves where they sat very still with their tails around their fore paws as their mother and their uncle Thomas told them to, and had their voices tried and were taught to sing the song of The Two Tailed Mouse, every word of which was as true as cream.

“The party was to be in a barn-room on account of a large basket of fish and lobsters which had been placed there, and it was to be an evening party.

“Before it was time for the party to begin, the three who were to sing the song of The Two Tailed Mouse, were told by their mother to go to the barn-room and sit in a proper manner and sing the song until they could sing it well enough to sing it at the party and please all who might hear it. They obeyed her, and as Frisky Spekkum had not been too frisky for a very long time, she was allowed to go and hear them sing, if she would sit still. She sat still a great while, but hearing the singing and looking much at the lobster-feelers made her want to be too frisky and she frisked with the lobster-feelers, and went into the basket and frisked with lobster claws, and gnawed them, and clawed them, and gnawed and clawed some little fishes, and ate all she could of the fishes and the lobsters, and made herself sick, and could not stay up at the party. She had to go to bed in the haymow, and when she was asleep she dreamed that her name was Mab Fizz-Fuzz, and that rats dragged her off by the tail through a place that was too small.

“She woke up sorrowful. She was sorrowful long. She would not eat, she would not run, she would not catch, she would not play with the two Charcoals and the other Spekkums. Their mother spoke to their uncle Thomas about it, and their uncle Thomas said he thought that dream would do Frisky Spekkum good.”

* * * * *

“And that is the end of the story, your majesty,” said the lovely Pussyanita.

“End?” exclaimed the King. “It has no end. It leaves off short. Why does it leave off short? Why does it not come to a proper end, namely, by the way a cat’s tail does?”

“Because, your majesty, it is not a common sense story,” replied the lovely Pussyanita. “I told your majesty at the beginning your majesty would not like a story that’s not a common sense story.”

“I say I do like stories that are not common sense stories!” cried King Grimalkum. “Common sense makes my head ache. Tell me another. Tell the one you skipped; that about the Janjan’s.”

“Your majesty means The Janjibo,” said Pussyanita. “That is the silliest story that ever was.”

“I have always wanted to hear the silliest story that ever was,” said the King. “Tell it. And let it have an end, or you’ll be sorry.”

The lovely Pussyanita bowed and began the Story of the Janjibo, and of the Frog and the Rat.

“Once upon a time, a long time ago, a family of rats made a home for themselves in a haymow, and a good home it was. Corn, and potatoes, and hayseed and other things were handy. With all these good things handy, one of the young rats must needs walk into a trap. Two cats had long been watching the family, and when they saw this young rat go towards the trap, they sprang, and one of them caught him by the end of his tail just as he was going in, and pulled him out, but he got away and ran down-stairs, and the two cats after him, and at the bottom of the stairs he ran into something with a big hole at the big end and a small hole at the small end. He went in at the big hole, and the cats went in at the big hole after him. He went out at the small hole. It was just big enough for him to go through, and was not big enough for the cats to go through, and they turned round quick, and got tangled up in each other, and went out and went round outside and chased him, but the young rat had jumped out of a window. He was so frightened that he ran, and ran, and ran, across fields and hills, and got lost in a boggy swamp, and a great snapping turtle would have snapped him up, if a young frog had not begged the snapping turtle to let him live. The snapping turtle said he would let him live if the young frog would take care of him. The young frog said he would if his mother would be willing. The young frog’s mother said he might take care of him if the young rat would promise not to eat any tadpoles.

“The young rat promised not to eat any tadpoles, and the young frog took care of him and they lived together, and played tag together, and hide-and-seek together, and tiltered together, and did other things together. When the frog hid he croaked for the rat to come and find him, and when the rat hid he squealed for the frog to come and find him. When the frog hid among the cat-o’-nine-tails, the young rat wouldn’t play; and when they played tag, if the frog went among the cat-o’-nine-tails the rat wouldn’t chase. When they played tilter, they had to tilt high so that the frog’s legs need not touch the ground.

“The young rat was happy, and had no wish to return to his family. He went to all the frog concerts, and tried to get the frog tunes, but as he could only squeak them, or squeal them, and could not croak them, he could not get the frog tunes.

“At last his family heard where he was, and begged his aunt to go fetch him home, as she had no children, and could leave home as well as not. His aunt said she would go as soon as news should come from the King of the Cats. The King of the Cats was expected to die. He had caught a bad cold wading for eels on a damp day, and had taken to his bed, and called in Doctor Bowwow, and Doctor Bowwow had looked at his tongue and told him he could not live. The young rat’s family begged his aunt to go right off. She said she wished to wait and hear of the death of the King of the Cats, for that would be good to hear.

“As soon as word came that the King of the Cats was dead, the young rat’s aunt set off to the far-off swamp, and found it, but by that time the young rat had gone with the young frog to live on the edge of the pond. She looked all through the swamp, and got her feet wet, and lost her way, and tangled herself in the swamp-vines, and caught herself in a swamp-vine string and could not get away, and there she stayed until the day of the Wonderful News.

“The Wonderful News was brought by a travelling kangaroo. As the young rat and the frog were sitting one evening by the edge of the pond, a kangaroo came leaping past, and stopped between two of his leaps and said, ‘Wonderful News! Peace between the cats and the rats and mice! All friends!’ and the kangaroo leaped on.

“‘Wonderful news indeed!’ said the young rat. ‘I must let the water rats know.’

“The frog said he would attend to that, and he got upon a log and croaked, ‘Wonderful news! Peace between the cats and the rats and mice!’

“Other frogs heard him, and sat upon logs, stones, rocks and stumps, and croaked, ‘Wonderful news! Peace between the cats and the rats and mice!’ and other frogs heard these other frogs, and croaked the same, and the great bull-frogs got hold of it and bellowed it, and frogs and bull-frogs in other ponds and swamps and bogs heard it, and croaked it and bellowed it, and before morning the Wonderful News was known to every water rat far and near; and the water rats told the land rats as quickly as they could.

“The young rat’s aunt heard it in the swamp, and jumped hard and broke the swamp-vine string, and set off on a gallop, this way and that way, and the wrong way, and lost her way, and away she went.

“The young rat said he must travel off somewhere and hear how it all happened, and he and the frog set out together and travelled. Sometimes the young rat let the frog ride on his back, because he could go faster by runs than the frog could by leaps. The rat could not go frog-back, because it was so hard to keep on. When they had travelled a long way they met a mother rat, with her baby in her mouth, running as fast as she could go.

“The young rat asked her to stop and speak to him, and she stopped. The young rat then asked the mother rat where she was going so fast, and the mother rat said her baby was too sick to be left alone, and that she could not stay away from the Janjibo, and she was carrying the baby to stay at its grandfather’s till she should come back from the Janjibo. The young rat asked her what there was to be a Janjibo for.

“She asked him if he had not heard the ‘Wonderful News.’ He said he had, and that he wished to know how it all happened. The mother rat then said that if they would come to her baby’s grandfather’s, they could then go with her to the Janjibo, and on the way there she would tell them how it all happened. They went with her to her baby’s grandfather’s and then to the Janjibo, and this is what the mother rat told.”

“After the King of the Cats died, and the King of the Cats’ son had been made king, the rats and mice sent to ask if the cats and the rats and mice could not be friends, so that there might be peace between them. The new king said he did not think it would be a good plan at all, but he would see what the dogs had to say about it, for dogs had the name of knowing more than cats. He picked out three of his wisest cats, and sent them to the dogs, and the dogs picked out two of their chief dogs, one named Know and the other named Quick, and the two dogs and the three cats met together. Quick asked Know what cats could live upon if they did not eat rats, and mice. Know said that if cats should give up catching, then people would feed them more. People kept from feeding them so as to make them catch.

“The wisest of the three wise cats said that dogs were not expected to catch; they were fed by people.

“Know asked if it was great trouble to catch rats and mice. The next wisest of the three cats said that if he should try it he would find that it was much easier to eat off a plate, or even off the floor, than to sit half the night in a cold barn, or cellar, or garret, tired and hungry, watching rat-holes and mouse-holes. Quick asked if rat-holes and mouse-holes could not be in rooms people lived in where it would be pleasant for a cat to sit and watch. Know said that could not be, for rats and mice did not like people as well as cats did.

“The end of it all was that the dogs thought it would be a good thing for the cats to be friends with the rats and mice, and a little bird that heard all the talk told the Kangaroos.

“In order to be sure that the cats and the rats and mice should do right by each other, the dogs said that the rats must give up a baby rat to be kept by the cats, and the cats must give up a baby cat to be kept by the rats. This was done. The baby rat was youngest of a family of four children, and the baby cat was the youngest of a family of four. The dogs said this would make it even.

“The three cats walked in procession with the baby in front, and their oldest sister walked after them all, and the three rats walked in procession with their baby in front and their oldest sister walked after them all. But when they came in sight of each other, the rats were afraid of the cats and went behind their oldest sister. The oldest sister of the rats then took the baby cat in her mouth, and the cat procession started, and when the oldest sister of the cats came to the baby rat she took that in her mouth and then the rat procession started, and both processions walked away, and the baby rat is now staying with the cats, and the baby cat stays with the rats, and all is well. We do not have to hide in holes and under floors and behind walls, and our children will all live to grow up, unless they get sick from eating poison, as my baby did.

“And now that we are all friends, the cats and the rats and mice are going to meet together and have a Janjibo, and there is to be fine music and the tables are to be spread with everything nice. The dogs said that as the rats and mice were the ones to ask to be friends they must be the ones to bring things to eat, and they are working with all their might to get ready the pies, and cakes, and jellies, and ice-creams, and nuts, and sweet corn, and cheeses, and eggs, and dishes, and knives, and forks, and spoons. We shall soon see them, for we are near the place where the Janjibo is to be.

“As the frog and the young rat and the mother rat came near the place where the Janjibo was to be, they saw rats hurry skurrying as fast as they could with cakes, pies, dishes and other things. They met gentlemen rats in their best clothes, carrying knives, forks and spoons, and looking everywhere for eggs.

“Three of these gentlemen rats in their best clothes, found an egg and began to roll it. ‘We shall break it doing this way,’ said one to the others. ‘I am afraid we shall,’ said the others, and they stopped to think. The mother rat went to them and said: ‘The shells of eggs are too thin. Shells of eggs should be thicker.

“‘But I can tell you a way. Let one of you gentlemen lie flat on his back and hold the egg with all four of his legs and let the other two gentlemen draw that one by his tail; then the egg will go safe and the gentleman will get a ride.’

“They did so. The gentleman rat that had the knife gave the knife to the gentleman rat that had the fork and lay down flat on his back, and held the egg in all four of his legs and the other two drew him by his tail and the egg went safe and he got a ride.

“Next came a lively young cat with a pudding-bag string. She said she was frolicking with the rats and was running away with their pudding-bag string. She said she did not care about the Janjibo. She did not care about the peace. She wanted to have a good time. She did not know if she should like to be friends with the rats and mice. Sometimes it was good fun to catch them.

“The mother rat told her that she was very naughty, and the rats could not do without their pudding-bag string and that she must carry it back to them. She did not. She went dancing away with it.

“Next came a great many rats with a pie so big they could hardly lift it. They were afraid they should drop it, and they held it up with all their might by their heads and their backs, and their shoulders. The Pie-cutter with his knife came close behind. The young rat went to help.

“The frog said he should be willing to help, but he should have to go with leaps, and going with leaps was not a good way to go with a pie. The mother rat said to them, ‘You’d better set it down and cut it, and then it will be all ready to be passed round. Set it down and cut it, and you can rest while you are cutting it. Cut it first in large pieces, and then cut the large pieces into small pieces. The pie must all be cut in small pieces or there may not be enough to go round.’ They set it down, and the mother rat told the Pie-cutter the right way to cut it, and he cut it the right way. Just as the Pie-cutter had done cutting it, the young rat looked at a light-colored rat that was among the other ones, and said, ‘There’s my aunt.’

“It was his aunt. The one that was tangled in the swamp-vine string, and broke it in jumping when she heard the Wonderful News, and got away, and lost her way. She did not find the way she lost, but she found her way to the Janjibo, and was helping.

“‘So you are my nephew!’ she said. ‘How you have grown! Do you know that the cats and the rats and mice are friends?’

“‘Oh yes,’ said the young rat. ‘A travelling kangaroo told me.’

“‘Friends indeed!’ said his aunt. ‘Look yonder. Do you see what is doing yonder? That is your little brother. Perhaps you never knew that your little brother could take pictures.’

“‘Never,’ said the young rat. ‘Can he?’

“‘Yes; he can,’ said his aunt. ‘Yonder he is now, taking the picture of a Tabby. He has plenty to do. There is another close by, waiting for her turn.’

“‘Why!’ cried the young rat. ‘They are the very same ones that chased me when I was a little rat and made me run away!’

“‘Yes’ his aunt said. ‘They are friendly now. What are you going to do? Do you want to help us get ready?’

“‘I do,’ said the young rat.