<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</SPAN></span>
<h2 class="nobreak"><small>FIFTEEN</small><br/> The Fourth Adventure of the Rainbow Cat</h2>
<p class="drop-cap">BY this time the Rainbow Cat was getting a
little tired of travelling about, and decided
that he would go home and have a good rest after
his many exertions. But on the way back he had
to pass through the Ever After country, and the
people who lived there were most pressing in their
request that he should spend a little time with
them.</p>
<p>The Ever After country is inhabited by all the
Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme people, who go
to live there when their adventures are over.</p>
<p>Cinderella and her prince have a beautiful
castle there, where the glass slipper is kept on a
red velvet cushion in a little gilt cabinet, and
shown to distinguished visitors. Cinderella never
had another pair; she said they were very uncomfortable,
and of course she was always afraid
some one might tread on her toes.</p>
<p>Her two disagreeable sisters have a little house
of their own. They have taken to gardening, and
keep bees and chickens, and are altogether immensely<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</SPAN></span>
improved, so that everybody is quite
fond of them.</p>
<p>They are rather sensitive about their past, and
are both, alas! a little lame, because, as you will
remember, they cut pieces off their feet in order
to make them smaller.</p>
<p>Snow-White, too, lives in a castle with her
husband. The seven dwarfs have a fine carpenter’s
shop on the estate, where they are kept very
busy indeed.</p>
<p>They make the most lovely little chairs and
tables for Snow-White’s children, and do most of
the work of that kind required by the dwellers in
the Ever After land.</p>
<p>Red-Riding-Hood and her grandmother have
a pretty cottage close to that of Cinderella’s sisters.
Red-Riding-Hood often runs in to have a
chat with them, and they are very kind about
sending in honey and eggs for the old lady.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many, many more people.
Jack the Giant-Killer, who has grown rather fat
and lazy, but loves to talk about all his great
fights; Little Miss Muffet, who is still a bit afraid
of spiders; Boy Blue, Mother Hubbard, Aladdin—it
would take me all day to mention half of
them, but they are all there, not one is missing.</p>
<p>The Rainbow Cat stayed with Fatima, Bluebeard’s
last wife, who lives with the two brothers
who saved her life by their valour.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</SPAN></span>Poor Fatima has never quite got over the
dreadful shock she had when she discovered the
other wives all hanging up, and she can’t so much
as bear the sight of a bunch of keys.</p>
<p>As usual, the Rainbow Cat was most kindly
welcomed and was introduced to all the important
people in the place.</p>
<div class="figcenter"><ANTIMG src="images/i_111.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<p>They are always delighted to see strangers, as
sometimes they feel that things are a little dull
after the exciting adventures many of them have
been through.</p>
<p>On the third day after his arrival he was
invited to a great banquet at the palace of the
Queen of Hearts.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</SPAN></span>It was a most wonderful banquet.</p>
<p>The Rainbow Cat wore his best bow, his dancing-shoes,
and the gold collar which the giantess
had given him. He took his mandolin with him;
it had been most useful to him on several occasions,
and it seemed a pity to leave it behind.</p>
<p>He met a number of friends at the party.</p>
<p>Puss-in-Boots, for instance, and the Pussy-cat
who went to London to visit the Queen.</p>
<p>Dick Whittington’s cat was there too, but he
gave himself great airs. It seems it wasn’t really
quite certain whether he was a fairy-tale cat at
all. Some people thought he was real.</p>
<p>It was silly of him to be so stuck-up about it,
but it only amused the Rainbow Cat.</p>
<p>They were about half-way through the banquet
when there was a slight pause. The meat course
was finished, and everybody was waiting for the
sweets. At that moment a servant came quietly
in and whispered to the Queen. She became
deadly pale, and half rose in her seat.</p>
<p>“What is the matter, your Majesty?” said the
Rainbow Cat, who sat in the place of honour at
her right hand.</p>
<p>“He’s done it again,” said the Queen in a low,
horrified whisper, sinking weakly down again
into her chair.</p>
<p>“Who has done what?” said the Rainbow Cat.</p>
<p>“The Knave—stolen the tarts!” said the Queen<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</SPAN></span>
with an agonised look. “They’re nowhere to be
found. It’s all my fault. He begged so hard to
be taken on again that I gave him another chance.
Oh! why did I trust him?”</p>
<p>“Isn’t there anything else?” asked the Rainbow
Cat.</p>
<p>“Nothing ready,” replied the Queen. “You
see, they’re very special tarts. I make them myself.
Every one thinks so much of them. What
shall I do?”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry,” said the Rainbow Cat. “Send
round to all the pastry-cooks’ for anything they
have ready, and meanwhile I’ll sing a song to fill
up the time.”</p>
<p>The Queen was much relieved at this suggestion,
and gave orders that messengers should be
dispatched immediately to buy up all the available
tarts in the place.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the Master of Ceremonies was bidden
to announce that their distinguished visitor,
the Rainbow Cat, had kindly promised to sing a
song, and wished to know whether the guests
would like to hear it at this moment or later on.</p>
<p>This was a very clever idea, for of course
people were bound in politeness to say they wished
to hear the song immediately.</p>
<p>Thereupon the Rainbow Cat took his mandolin
and prepared to sing, the whole company being
requested to join in the chorus after each verse.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</SPAN></span>They were all delighted with this suggestion,
and they all sang, whether they had any voice
or not.</p>
<p>They enjoyed it so much that they quite forgot
that they hadn’t finished the banquet. At
least they <i>almost</i> forgot.</p>
<p>Here is the song:</p>
<p class="center">THE RHYME OF THE GNOME WITH A
SCOLDING WIFE</p>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">Once upon a time,</div>
<div class="verse">When guinea-pigs had tails,</div>
<div class="verse">And people talked in rhyme,</div>
<div class="verse">And rivers ran on rails,</div>
<div class="verse">There lived a little gnome</div>
<div class="verse">Who’d such a scolding wife,</div>
<div class="verse">At last he ran away from home,</div>
<div class="verse">He couldn’t stand the life.</div>
<div class="indent"><i>Chorus.</i> There lived a little gnome, etc.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">She scolded all day long</div>
<div class="verse">From morning until night,</div>
<div class="verse">And she was never wrong</div>
<div class="verse">And he was never right.</div>
<div class="verse">Oh! she could bake and bile,</div>
<div class="verse">And she could clean and mend,</div>
<div class="verse">But since she scolded all the while,</div>
<div class="verse">He left her in the end.</div>
<div class="indent"><i>Chorus.</i> Oh! she could bake and bile, etc.</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">He thought he’d found a way</div>
<div class="verse">At last to be at peace,</div>
<div class="verse">But still, to his dismay,</div>
<div class="verse">His troubles did not cease.</div>
<div class="verse">He didn’t like his meals,</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</SPAN></span>
<div class="verse">His washing wasn’t right,</div>
<div class="verse">His socks were always out at heels,</div>
<div class="verse">His shirts a fearful sight.</div>
<div class="indent"><i>Chorus.</i> He didn’t like his meals, etc.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p>By the end of the third verse the Queen was
looking very strained and anxious, and the Rainbow
Cat himself was beginning to feel rather
nervous. His song had only four verses, and he
wasn’t at all sure that he would be asked to sing
another. He was afraid that people would
remember their unfinished dinner as soon as he
stopped.</p>
<p>So he began the fourth verse very slowly. But
before he had got half-way through, he saw three
servants standing between the curtains of the
great doorway of the banqueting hall with enormous
golden dishes piled up with most magnificent-looking
tarts.</p>
<p>“My tarts,” he heard the Queen murmur in an
excited voice, and then he knew that everything
was well.</p>
<p>So he finished his song at a great pace, and the
last chorus was sung with much enthusiasm, for
the other guests had also seen the waiting tarts,
and were eager to begin on them.</p>
<p>This is the last verse of his song:</p>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poetry">
<div class="verse">“Assuredly,” thought he,</div>
<div class="verse">“Her temper is a curse,</div>
<div class="verse">And yet it seems to me</div>
<div class="verse">That this is rather worse.”</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</SPAN></span>
<div class="verse">So home he went once more</div>
<div class="verse">In philosophic mood,</div>
<div class="verse">And though his wife still vexed him sore,</div>
<div class="verse"><i>He did enjoy his food</i>.</div>
<div class="indent"><i>Chorus.</i> So home he went once more, etc.</div>
</div></div>
<p>The song was very much applauded, and every
one then fell upon the tarts with an appetite which
the slight delay had pleasantly renewed.</p>
<p>It turned out afterwards that it was all a mistake
about the Knave.</p>
<p>The head cook had put the tarts away on the
top shelf of the larder for safety. But he was a
poet as well as a cook, and just before the moment
arrived when the tarts should have been served
up, a perfectly beautiful little verse came into his
head, and he rushed off to a quiet spot to write it
down, quite confident that the under-cook would
be able to look after the rest of the banquet.</p>
<p>And that’s how it came about that suspicion
fell upon the poor Knave; for when the tarts
could not be found, every one naturally supposed
that he had stolen them again.</p>
<p>When the cook had written down his verse and
made a few little improvements in it, he returned
to the kitchen and found everything in an uproar
because of the missing tarts.</p>
<p>He arrived in the nick of time, for the messengers
were returning almost empty-handed
from the pastry-cooks’ shops. They had made<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</SPAN></span>
very little pastry that day because they knew that
every one would be at the banquet and that they
would have no sale for their wares.</p>
<p>Of course, later on, the cook had to give an
explanation of his carelessness, and he was
removed from his position.</p>
<p>But as his verses were even better than his
dishes, he was made Court Poet instead, and he
liked that much better, though he occasionally
lent a hand in the kitchen when they were very
busy.</p>
<p>The Queen was most grateful to the Rainbow
Cat for his timely help; and every year, on his
birthday, she sent him a box of tarts made by her
own hands especially for him.</p>
<p>He stayed only a day or two in the Ever After
land after the banquet. Then he packed up his
belongings, bade good-bye to all his kind friends,
and set off for his home.</p>
<p>He was glad to be back in his own little house,
and delighted all his friends with his account of
his travels.</p>
<p>But he had no intention of settling down for
ever, and I hope to be able some day to tell you
more of the adventures that befell him upon his
further journeyings.</p>
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