THE ENCHANTED CATS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 834, 30 November 1929, Page 31

THE ENCHANTED CATS

And How the Spell was Broken

Once upon a time, in a far away ! land, there was a beautiful castle * which stood on the top at' a ve. y , high mountain. This castle was surrounded by the most wonderful garden ever seen. . The flowers and fruit were all fairies. ; They were good fairies, too, and j wished to do all they could to m ike people happy. In this castle lived a King and , Queen and their little son, who was only three years of age. The King | and Queen were so good and kind to ! all their subjects, that they were ; dearly loved by everybody. As to the little Prince, he was suvh a dear baby ; that people simply worshipped him. Among the servants at the castle j there was a chief gardener, who was ; really a bad. wicked magician. lie was jealous of the King and Queen ; and of all the love they had shown l them. He wished to be King himself, and was quite sure people would I love him just as much. However, he did not quite see how : to manage this unless lie could do j away with the Royal Family. | Now the King was very fond of his chief gardener, and trusted him abso- j lutely, so the little Prince was often ; allowed to go into the garden and , play with him. The gardener would j tell him the most wonderful stories \ about the flowers and fruit, and the j little Prince would shout and clap his hands with joy, and ask for more ; and more! At last the gardener hit upon a ■ plan by which he thought he could j get rid of the Royal Kamils'. He . waited his chance, and one day. when j they came into the garden, he waved j his magic wand over them. Then a ' strange thing happened. The King and Queen were changed into a father and mother ‘cat, and the , baby Prince into a dear little kitten, j As soon as this happened, the gar- , dener caught the cats and kitten. 1 Then he put them into a big bag and carried them far away into the chirk dreary forest. Here he left them to die while he went back to the castle, where he hoped soon to be made King. When he got back, he set about Ins work as though nothing had happened. His thoughts were so occupied by what he had done, that lie did not even notice the sad condition of the flowers and fruit, who were all banging their heads in sorrow, at the loss of the Royal Family. There was also something he did not know, and that was that an apple had leapt from one of the trees and rolled into the woods after him! Tliis apple saw exactly what be did. and then it rolled back again and 1 lay down under the tree. } Now 7 great consternation reigned at I the castle because the Royal Family I was nowhere to be found. The sol- ! diers and the King’s guards scoured I the country far and wide: but could ! find no trace of them. The people : were all very sad, and everybody went i tearing round looking for them. Chief among these .was the wicked | gardener. He ran about and sugj gested all sorts of things that might : have happened to them, i While all this was going on, the I Lord High Chancellor, who was Loo old to join in the search,’ came out

into the garden and sti lying uml the tree where the apple vxusi lying. Tlu' old man wept bitterly becauM ho felt the loss ot the King and Queen so intensely, and he did not know hov. to find them. Suddenly he heard a rustle, and on looking down, ho saw an apple roll right up to his fee:. “If you please, sir." said the apple. ‘*l could tell you where to find th« Royal Family." Now the Chancellor was so gl . ! to hear news of the King, tiat he die not think it strange that an appd Should be talking to him. 'Tell me at once’” he said Then tlu* apple told him what it had seen. The Fin'd I’fano'llor picked up tinapple and went into the castle. Thi*i« ho called together some men whom lie knew he could trust. lie told th *m the apple’s story, and sent them off ■ once to fetch back the sack of Koval Cats. The apple went to guide them He told them to bring the sack straight back t«* him, and not <o tell anybody anything about It. While they wore away the laud High Chancellor sent for an old witch ! and told her all about it. She gave | him a saucer of magic milk which | she said, the cats were to have a-- won j as they were brought back, i The gardener now told the peoph i that it was the late King's wish tin ! be should be crpwned King, as there I was no heir to the throne. So he prepared a great feast, and : got himself ready to be crowned. I "While they were all eating ami ! drinking and making merry, the doorwere suddenly pushed open, and in j rushed the soldiers, the eldest of • whom was carrying a large sack. He took the sack straight up t< | the Ford High Chancellor, and laid it j down at his feet. j The Ford High Chancellor opened it, and out jumped the cats an ! kitten. “Poor little kitties, you must bvery thirsty!" said he, and he put th« | saucer of milk on the floor. I The three oats rushed at it. and began to lap up the milk. No soon* r liad they done this. when, much t* I everybody’s surprise, they disappeare d and ' there stood the dearly beloved King and Queen and baby Prince. The people were so overcome with joy, that they forgot all about th«* gardener whom they were gt>ing to crown. They threw their hats up int the air, and shouted: "Fong live our King! Fong live our Queen! Long live our dear little Prince!” When the gardener saw this, he slipped out and ran for his life. As ho was running lie suddenly found himself going down on all fours. Then lie saw that he had four paws and side whiskers, and a tail like a cat, and that he was pitch black. He tried to shout, but found he could only say "Me-ouw! Me-ouw! ” “Oh! Fook!” said the little Prince. ‘There is a lovely black cat. 1 want him.” liut the gardener was so asliamed of himself, that he would not come i f the castle, but jumped on to tingarden wall, where he lives to this day—and has boots thing at him ever-, night for saying "Me-ouw!" when people want to sleep.