!"

"What's that?" said the enchanter, halting the countryman. "You intend
to abandon these helpless creatures?"

"Alas, I must," replied the countryman, pulling a large blue bandanna
handkerchief from his pocket and applying it to the corners of his eyes.
"We are too poor to be able to feed them, and my children love them so
well that I cannot find it in my heart to do them harm. I am taking them
into these woods to abandon them, in the hope that, like the wild
animals, they will soon learn to shift for themselves."

"Give them to me," said the old enchanter, "I will bring them up." The
countryman nodded his head. "As for you, here is a golden florin. May it
bring you better fortune."

Thus did the white puppy and black kitten change hands.

Once he had led the animals safely home, the enchanter resolved to make
them the most wonderful animals that had ever been seen in the whole
wide world, whether in Fairyland or out of it. Being an enchanter, he
could, of course, do this more easily than other people. So he taught
the cat and the dog all the known languages, then history, arithmetic,
dancing, social deportment, and a variety of the best magic and spells.
The cat, as was to be expected, was particularly good on anything that
had 'cat' in it; he once catalogued all the principal catastrophes;
while the dog, although a good student, had a fancy for writing
doggerel. Many and many a time, when the enchanter and his wonderful
animals were seated in their armchairs round a blazing fire, talking
exactly as any three good friends might talk, a nose would flatten
itself against the panes, and the three companions would see looking in
at them some stranger whose curiosity had got the better of his manners.

The dog, I may say, had grown up to be a fine fellow of the
short-haired, white bull terrier family; the cat had grown to be as
aristocratic as a panther. When their education was complete, the
animals came to their teacher and begged him to let them go away and see
the world. For a long time the enchanter, who loved his charges very
much indeed, resisted their request; but as they continued to press him,
he came at length to yield. Calling them before him, he said to them:--

"Well, dear pupils, if you must go, you must go. I owe the Fairy Jocapa
twelve months rent for this house. She is now living with her nephew,
the King of the Land of the Runaway Rivers. You shall take twelve golden
florins to her. Your route w