THE CAT AND THE PARROT.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3265, 19 December 1881, Page 4

THE CAT AND THE PARROT.

Theophile Gautier, who has lately given the world an account of what he calls his 'Private Menagerie,' mentions one of the rare cases in which pussy was most completely taken aback, and lost all presence of mind and self-reliance at once. The cat was accustomed to live in perfect intimacy with the writer, sleeping at his feet on his bed, dreaming on the arm of his easy chair while he was writing ; following him in his garden as he walked up and down the long avenues; keeping him company at meals, and, as he adds, not unfrequently intercepting the morsel on the road between the plate and the lips. One fine day a friend, setting out on his travels, left his parrot in his charge during his absence. The poor bird sat disconsolate on the top of his stand, while the cat stared at the strange sight, and tried to gather up all the strays and waifs of natural history which she might have picked up on the roof, or in the yard and the garden. The writer followed her thoughts in her large green eyes, and read there clearly the words, 'It must be a green chicken!' Thereupon pussy jumped down from his writingtable, and assumed, in a dark corner, the air of a panther in the jungle, lying in wait for a delicate deer; crouching flat down, the head low, the back stretched out at full length, the elbows out, and the eyei fixed immovably on the bird. The poor parrot had followed all her movements with nervous anxiety ; he raised his feathers, sharpened his bill, stretched out his claws, and evidently prepared for war. The cat lay still, but the writer read again in her eyes, 'No doubt, though green, the chicken must be good to eat,' Suddenly her back was arched like a bow that is drawn, and, with one superb bound, she was on the perch. The parrot seeing the great danger, lifted up his sharp, eager voice and screamed out, ' Have you breakfasted, Jack ?' The voice frightened pussy out of her wits. A trumpet sounded in her ears, a pile of crockery breaking near her, a pistol fired closed to her head, could not have frightened her more terribly. All her ideas were overthrown ; her eyes said clearly, ' This is not a chicken ; this is a gentleman.' And the parrot rang out, louder than ever : Quand j'ai bu dv yin elairet, Tout tourne, tout tourne an cabaret. The cat cast an anxious glance at her master, leaped down in sheer terror, and hid under the bed, from whence no threat and no caresss could bring her out for the day.