<h2><SPAN name="THE_PATIENT_CAT" id="THE_PATIENT_CAT">THE PATIENT CAT</SPAN></h2>
<p><span class="upper">When</span> the spotted cat
first found the nest,
there was nothing in
it, for it was only just
finished. So she said,
“I will wait!” for she was a patient cat,
and the summer was before her. She waited
a week, and then she climbed up again to
the top of the tree, and peeped into the nest.
There lay two lovely blue eggs, smooth and
shining.</p>
<p>The spotted cat said, “Eggs may be
good, but young birds are better. I will
wait.” So she waited; and while she
was waiting, she caught mice and rats,
and washed herself and slept, and did
all that a spotted cat should do to pass
the time away.</p>
<p>When another week had passed, she
climbed the tree again and peeped into the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</SPAN></span>
nest. This time there were five eggs.
But the spotted cat said again, “Eggs
may be good, but young birds are better.
I will wait a little longer!”</p>
<p>So she waited a little longer and then
went up again to look. Ah! there were
five tiny birds, with big eyes and long
necks, and yellow beaks wide open. Then
the spotted cat sat down on the branch,
and licked her nose and purred, for she
was very happy. “It is worth while to
be patient!” she said.</p>
<p>But when she looked again at the young
birds, to see which one she should take
first, she saw that they were very thin,—oh,
very, very thin they were! The spotted
cat had never seen anything so thin in her
life.</p>
<p>“Now,” she said to herself, “if I were
to wait only a few days longer, they
would grow fat. Thin birds may be good,
but fat birds are much better. I will
wait!”</p>
<p>So she waited; and she watched the
father-bird bringing worms all day long
to the nest, and said, “Aha! they must
be fattening fast! they will soon be as<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</SPAN></span>
fat as I wish them to be. Aha! what a
good thing it is to be patient.”</p>
<p>At last, one day she thought, “Surely,
now they must be fat enough! I will not
wait another day. Aha! how good they
will be!”</p>
<p>So she climbed up the tree, licking her
chops all the way and thinking of the fat
young birds. And when she reached
the top and looked into the nest, it was
empty!!</p>
<p>Then the spotted cat sat down on the
branch and spoke thus, “Well, of all the
horrid, mean, ungrateful creatures I ever
saw, those birds are the horridest, and
the meanest, and the most ungrateful!
Mi-a-u-ow!!!!”</p>
<hr class="l1" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</SPAN></span></p>
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