again. Puss praised
him a great deal, and then said, "Can your ogreship become a small
animal as well as a large one?"

"Oh, yes," said the vain ogre; and he changed himself into a little
mouse. Directly Puss saw him in this form she jumped at him and killed
him on the spot.

_THE MARQUIS OF CARRABAS._

Then Puss ran home and bade her master go and bathe in the river, and he
should see what she would do for him. The miller's son obeyed; and while
he was in the water, Puss took away all his clothes, and hid them under
a large stone. Now, the king's carriage came in sight soon after, just
as Puss had expected, for he always drove in that direction, and
directly she saw it, she began to cry very loudly, "Help, help, for
my Lord the Marquis of Carrabas." The king put his head out, and asked
what was the matter.

[Illustration: PUSS ASKS HELP FOR HIS MASTER.]

"Oh, your majesty," said Puss, "my master the marquis was bathing, and
some one has taken away his clothes. He will catch the cramp and be
drowned."

[Illustration: PUSS THREATENS THE REAPERS.]

Then the king ordered one of his attendants to ride back to the palace
and get a suit of his own clothes for the marquis, "who had so often
sent him gifts," he said. And when they were brought, Puss took them to
her master, and helped him to dress in them.

_PUSS FRIGHTENS THE REAPERS._

The miller's son looked quite like a gentleman in the king's clothes,
and when he went to thank his majesty for them, the king asked him to
get into the coach and he would drive him home. Then Puss told the
coachman where to go, and ran on before and came to some reapers.
"Reapers," said she, "if the king asks you whose field this is, say it
belongs to the Marquis of Carrabas; if you don't say so, you shall be
chopped up as small as mincemeat."

The reapers were so frightened that they promised to obey her. And she
ran on and told all the other labourers on the road to say the same. So
when the king asked, "To whom do these fine fields belong?" the reapers
answered, "To the Marquis of Carrabas." The herdsmen said the same of
the cattle, and the king, turning to the miller's son, said, "My lord,
you have a fine property." But all had belonged really to the ogre, for
it was to his castle the cunning cat had told the coachman to drive.

_THE CASTLE._

At last the coach stopped at the Ogre's castle, and Puss came out, and
bowing very low, said, "Your majesty and the princess