ome with me until
you can find a better."

So Little Mook was employed to look after the cats and kittens.

[Illustration: LITTLE MOOK.]

The kittens, I am sorry to say, used to behave very badly when the
old dame went abroad; and when she came home and found the house in
confusion, and bowls and vases broken, she used to berate Little
Mook for what he could not help.

While in the old lady's service he discovered a secret room in which
were magic articles, among them a pair of enormous slippers.

One day when the old lady was out the little dog broke a crystal
vase. Little Mook knew that he would be held responsible for the
accident, and he resolved to escape and try his fortune in the world
again. He would need good shoes, for the journey might be long; so
he put on the big slippers and ran away.

Ran? What wonderful slippers those were! He had only to say to
them, "Go!" and they would impel him forward with the rapidity of
the wind. They seemed to him like wings.

"I will become a courier," said Little Mook, "and so make my
fortune, sure."

So Little Mook went to the palace in order to apply to the king.

He first met the messenger-in-ordinary.

"What!" said he, "you want to be the king's messenger,--you with
your little feet and great slippers!"

"Will you allow me to make a trial of speed with your swiftest
runner?" asked Little Mook.

The messenger-in-ordinary told the king about the little man and his
application.

"We will have some fun with him," said the king. "Let him run a race
with my first messenger for the sport of the court."

So it was arranged that Little Mook should try his speed with the
swiftest messenger.

Now the king's runner was a very tall man. His legs were very long
and slender; he had little flesh on his body. He walked with
wonderful swiftness, looking like a windmill as he strode forward.
He was the telegraph of his times, and the king was very proud of
him.

The next day the king, who loved a jest, summoned his court to a
meadow to witness the race, and to see what the bumptious pygmy
could do. Everybody was on tiptoe of expectation, being sure that
something amusing would follow.

When Little Mook appeared he bowed to the spectators, who laughed at
him. When the signal was given for the two to start, Little Mook
allowed the runner to go ahead of him for a little time, but when