up
on to the cat's back, and cuddled down in the soft fur near her neck,
feeling very safe and warm there. The owl would certainly not attack
him there, he thought, and the cat could not possibly hurt him. It was
one thing to pounce down on a defenceless little creature running on
the ground amongst the barley, quite another to try and snatch him
from the very neck of a cat.

The cat of course expected the mouse to begin to nibble through
the string at once, and became very uneasy when she felt the little
creature nestle down as if to go to sleep, instead of helping her. Poor
Pussy could not turn her head so as to see the mouse without drawing
the string tighter, and she did not dare to speak angrily lest she
should offend him. "My dear little friend," she said, "do you not
think it is high time to keep your promise and set me free?"

Hearing this, the mouse pretended to bite the string, but took care not
to do so really; and the cat waited and waited, getting more miserable
every minute. All through the long night the same thing went on:
the mouse taking a little nap now and then, the cat getting weaker
and weaker. "Oh," she thought to herself, "if only I could get free,
the first thing I would do would be to gobble up that horrid little
mouse." The moon rose, the stars came out, the wind murmured amongst
the branches of the banyan tree, making the unfortunate cat long to be
safe in her cosy home in the trunk. The cries of the wild animals which
prowl about at night seeking their food were heard, and the cat feared
one of them might find her and kill her. A mother tiger perhaps would
snatch her, and take her to her hungry cubs, hidden away in the deep
forest, or a bird of prey might swoop down on her and grip her in his
terrible claws. Again and again she entreated the mouse to be quick,
promising that, if only he would set her at liberty, she would never,
never, never forget it or do any harm to her beloved friend.

9. What do you suppose the mouse was thinking all this time?

10. If you had been the mouse, would you have trusted to what the
cat said in her misery?

CHAPTER VI

It was not until the moon had set and the light of the dawn had put
out that of the stars that the mouse, made any real effort to help
the cat. By this time the hunter who had set the snare came to see if
he had caught the cat; and the poor cat, seeing him in the distance,
became so wild with terror that she nearly killed herself in