The Stray Kitten and the Stone Lion

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Stray Kitten and the Stone Lion

fTHE Stone Lion that had crouched at the foot oi' the fountain in the Park for many years, became friendly •with the Stray K.tten. It came and sab on his back to sun itself by day and slept between his stone paws at night. It had taken up its residence in the Park, and patiei.tly watched for mice among tho flowers and shrubs, seldom catching anything bigger than a cricket, and always hungry. Somehow the Stone Lion, who at first only tolerated the kitten, understood its destitution and pitied it, for it was affectionate, but was now too weak with hunger to be playful. One night, when the Stray Kitten could not sleep and could not find any foolish mice, the Stone Lion spoke to it. " What have you eaten to-day, you poor shivering liitle thing?" "Only one cr.cket, and a drink of water from the bird bath," sighed tho Stray Kitten " 1 did think I saw a mouse once, but I am much too slow these days." " You can't £;o on like this, you know, you'll bo dead of starvation by the morning. Why don't you try being picked up?" " I've tried Jind tried," said the Stray Kitten, " but I'm not wanted. That's why I was thrown over tho fence. They thought I'd get taken in, a lot of strays do, but; I've had no luck. I don't know where my mother is, but the people said I'd be a nuisance if they kept me, and here I am. Nobody wants me. They bring bread for the birds, but if I go near they say, ' Look! That little wretch is after the sparrows,' and I'm not really, I'm only trying to get pickel up." " What's the time?" asked the Stone Lion abruptly. He was not sentimental and he did not want the kitten to see how much he was affected. The Stray Kitten looked at his wrist watch (just pretending, you know, because he had seen people do that when asked the time).-"lt's a-quarter past two," lie said, having just heard the clock strike. The Stone Lion got up and shook himself. The trouble with you is," he said impatiently, " You have no stamina, no initiative, and you don't think 1" . . " I never get time," sighed the kitten, " I'm always looking and looking for something ta eat and trying to

sleep. I can't sing now, Mr. Lion, because I've broken my concertina. I wish I was like ;?ou, you think all day, don't you?" . " I cogitate, :ny friend, I meditate, X contemplate 2nd I ponder. And do you know," ho went on imprcssivclyj " my .meditations and my ponderings simply amaze ma sometimes. But come along, you'll bti dead by morning if you don't have 1 something to eat. " Are you going to find a mouse for me, Mr. Lion? Mi<?e are so good to eat, but ohl So hard to catch." "Mice!" snorted the Stone Lion, "Mice! Bah, chicken food! No, come with me, my friend, we shall dine in state. I could eat a bullock myself, but we shall be mora genteel. "\Ve shall go to a hotel and after I've done with you perhaps you will be able to sing again. You won't get picked up while you have a broken concertina." The Stray Kitten, running along behind the Stone I/ion, made no sound at all, its little pink pads hit the pavement so softly, but the Stone Lion made such a noise that the windows in tho house opposite the Park gates, rattled ominously. He stood still, " I can't make this racket. It's abominable. Can : t you do something instead of galumphing behind me all the time? Can't you think? Oh, I forgot, you have no brains, you have no thoughts for anything but food. Here, pass me that hose pipe, I simply must make some shoes." The Stray Kitten thought he was tho cleverest animal in all the world for ho made four little rubber boots and put them on so that when they started olf again his paws made hardly any sound at all. Ho ran so quickly and the Stray Kitten was so weak that the Lion seized a can of milk from a doorstep and pave it a drink in the lid. " But you mustn't be greedy," he chicled, " you must save up your appetite for the feast. I don't mind you quenching your thirst, but I do object to you asking for more. Here, get up on my back." Then away they went through the , town right up to tho swinging doors of the big hotel. " The porter is asleep," said tho Stone Lion, peeping through a crack and shaking the kitten down. " Come in, come in, and don't be afraid. I'll sign our names in the register," which i he did, with a great flourish, writing: MR. LEO and Master Kit (from) '.Che Park. If This caused a commotion in the morn- ■ . ln S when the office girl found it. She || Who has been fooling here?", " I wish people would not play Ihlf seasou " 8 u ° fc

By GLORIA RAWLINSON

The Stone Lion went up the stairs, two at a time, with the Stray Kitten hanging on to his tail, for the milk had revived it and it had begun to t'eei playful. Thcv rolled over and over on tho red carpeted landing, and then went into tho bathroom where tho Lion turned on all the taps and washed his face and the Stray Kitten's too, drying both of them on the guest towels and leaving paw marks all over tho bath. They went into bedrooms where people were sleeping, and in one heard a man turn over and mutter, "Its the crayfish!" Which made tho Stone Lion snort and the kitten titter into its paws. In one very grand bedroom a lady slept covered with a huge pink eiderdown nnd <i basket lienr her bed contained a Persian cat, also covered with a pink eiderdown. The cat woke up and whimpered when she saw them, and the lady turned over and said, sleepily, " Tweetie, darling, what's the matter? The clieF didn t cook youi meat properly, did he? 1 11 complain to the manager to-morrow." The Stone Lion was going to pinch Tweetie, but contented himself by making an uglv face and nearly scaring her out of her wits. Then he took the Stray Kitten up another flight of stairs and into the smoking room, where ho lit a cigar and blew smoke over some artificial cherry blossoms until they suddenly became real with real tiny birds twittering in the branches, which, of course, made the Stray Kitten's mouth water. But the Stone fiion laughed and took him down in tho elevator to tho kitchen. The chef's room was on the other side of the passage and outside his door lay his watch dog, sound asleep. The Stone Lion bent over the dog, but the kitten ran away, frightened. " He won't wake up," scoffed the lion. "He wouldn t wake up it the hotel was burning down. Look at him! Fat and lazv pug, that's what lie is. His name is, if you please, Pansy." But the terrified kitten would not look. Pansy played in the Park and more than once had chased the Stray Kitten. Then the Stone Lion went into the kitchen and opened cupboards, and bins and frigidaires, helping himself to fruit and meringues and drinking pints of cream. " Here," lie said to the kitten, " here is Tweetie's breakfast. Sardines on toast, you can leave the toast." The kitten ate up all the sar-

dines while tho lion watched it. "Don't bother to lick the dish. It's good, isn't it? Kich cats have sardines whenever they want them. That's one of tho things I cogitate about, you know. Here, try this creamed chicken, but keep room for the lamb's fry I'm going to cook you. I shall have this round of beef for myself." Tho lamb's fry covered in rich dark gravy, was the best dish tho kitten had ever tasted, it ate it all up and licked the dish. Its fur began to puff up the way a canary puffs up its feathers. The Stone Lion demolished the round of beef in three bites, ate a whole log of mutton and a whole rainbow cake. " Are you sure you've had enough?" he asked tho, Stray Kitten. " Are you suro you won't try some of this rabbit pie? Better make hay while tho sun shines you know. Try another saucer of cream, or one of these fillets of flounder." " Mr. Lion, I couldn't," gasped the kitten, " I simply couldn't eat another bite. And don't you think, Mr. Lion, that we had better tidy up the kitchen or Pansy will bo blamed for it." The Stone Lion snorted and then said good-naturedly. " You are a kind little soul. I don't know what the chef will say, but ho won't blame Pansy. Ho thinks Pansy is an angel-dog. Bahl Come along." When they had tidied the kitchen they went upstairs and out through the'front door. Tho kitten rode on tho lion's back, not because it was weak with hunger, but because it had eaten too much. The Stone Lion kicked off his rubber boots and crouched down by the fountain in his old attitude. "Now, you just go to sleep," lie said to the Stray Kitten, " 1 don't want to talk any more. Pm going to cogitate." " I've had a lovely, lovely time," purred tho kitten. " Jt was just exactly like a dream, wasn't it, a beautiful dream!" And then it curled up into something that resembled a round of beef nicely browned, and played its concertina softly until sleep came. It slept so soundly that it did not feel the intense cold. The Stone Lion had white patches of frost on his back. Frost covered the ground and a film of ice formed on tho bird bath. Frost touched the little nose of the thin Stray Kitten that did not wake up even when morning came and the sun shone so brightly. It did not wake even when the gardener, tut-tutting to himself, removed it from tho Stone Lion's paws, for its little concertina was silent for ever. And if the Stone Lion felt sorry ho did not show it —he crouched at tho foot of tho fountain, cogitating, cogitating.