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Once upon
a time...
There lived a queen who had a beautiful cat, the colour of
smoke, with china-blue eyes, which she was very fond of. The cat was
constantly with her, and ran after her wherever she went, and even
sat up proudly by her side when she drove out in her fine glass
coach.
'Oh, pussy,' said the queen one day, 'you are happier than I am! For
you have a dear kitten just like yourself, and I have nobody to play
with but you.'
'Don't cry,' answered the cat, laying her paw on her mistress's arm.
'Crying never does any good. I will see what can be done.'
The cat was as good as her word. As soon as she returned from her
drive she trotted off to the forest to consult a fairy who dwelt
there, and very soon after the queen had a little girl, who seemed
made out of snow and sunbeams. The queen was delighted, and soon the
baby began to take notice of the kitten as she jumped about the
room, and would not go to sleep at all unless the kitten lay curled
up beside her.
Two or three months went by, and though the baby was still a baby,
the kitten was fast becoming a cat, and one evening when, as usual,
the nurse came to look for her, to put her in the baby's cot, she
was nowhere to be found. What a hunt there was for that kitten, to
be sure! The servants, each anxious to find her, as the queen was
certain to reward the lucky man, searched in the most impossible
places. Boxes were opened that would hardly have held the kitten's
paw; books were taken from bookshelves, lest the kitten should have
got behind them, drawers were pulled out, for perhaps the kitten
might have got shut in. But it was all no use. The kitten had
plainly run away, and nobody could tell if it would ever choose to
come back.
Years passed away, and one day, when the princess was playing ball
in the garden, she happened to throw her ball farther than usual,
and it fell into a clump of rose-bushes. The princess of course ran
after it at once, and she was stooping down to feel if it was hidden
in the long grass, when she heard a voice calling her: 'Ingibjorg!
Ingibjorg!' it said, 'have you forgotten me? I am Kisa, your
sister!'
'But I never had a sister,' answered Ingibjorg, very much puzzled;
for she knew nothing of what had taken place so long ago.
'Don't you remember how I always slept in your cot beside you, and
how you cried till I came? But girls have no memories at all! Why, I
could find my way straight up to that cot this moment, if I was once
inside the palace.'
'Why did you go away then?' asked the princess. But before Kisa
could answer, Ingibjorg's attendants arrived breathless on the
scene, and were so horrified at the sight of a strange cat, that
Kisa plunged into the bushes and went back to the forest.
The princess was very much vexed with her ladies-in-waiting for
frightening away her old playfellow, and told the queen who came to
her room every evening to bid her good-night.
'Yes, it is quite true what Kisa said,' answered the queen; 'I
should have liked to see her again. Perhaps, some day, she will
return, and then you must bring her to me.'
Next morning it was very hot, and the princess declared that she
must go and play in the forest, where it was always cool, under the
big shady trees. As usual, her attendants let her do anything she
pleased, and sitting down on a mossy bank where a little stream
tinkled by, soon fell sound asleep. The princess saw with delight
that they would pay no heed to her, and wandered on and on,
expecting every moment to see some fairies dancing round a ring, or
some little brown elves peeping at her from behind a tree. But,
alas! she met none of these; instead, a horrible giant came out of
his cave and ordered her to follow him. The princess felt much
afraid, as he was so big and ugly, and began to be sorry that she
had not stayed within reach of help; but as there was no use in
disobeying the giant, she walked meekly behind.
They went a long way, and Ingibjorg grew very tired, and at length
began to cry.
'I don't like girls who make horrid noises,' said the giant, turning
round. 'But if you WANT to cry, I will give you something to cry
for.' And drawing an axe from his belt, he cut off both her feet,
which he picked up and put in his pocket. Then he went away.
Poor Ingibjorg lay on the grass in terrible pain, and wondering if
she should stay there till she died, as no one would know where to
look for her. How long it was since she had set out in the morning
she could not tell--it seemed years to her, of course; but the sun
was still high in the heavens when she heard the sound of wheels,
and then, with a great effort, for her throat was parched with
fright and pain, she gave a shout.
'I am coming!' was the answer; and in another moment a cart made its
way through the trees, driven by Kisa, who used her tail as a whip
to urge the horse to go faster. Directly Kisa saw Ingibjorg lying
there, she jumped quickly down, and lifting the girl carefully in
her two front paws, laid her upon some soft hay, and drove back to
her own little hut.
In the corner of the room was a pile of cushions, and these Kisa
arranged as a bed. Ingibjorg, who by this time was nearly fainting
from all she had gone through, drank greedily some milk, and then
sank back on the cushions while Kisa fetched some dried herbs from a
cupboard, soaked them in warm water and tied them on the bleeding
legs. The pain vanished at once, and Ingibjorg looked up and smiled
at Kisa.
'You will go to sleep now,' said the cat, 'and you will not mind if
I leave you for a little while. I will lock the door, and no one can
hurt you.' But before she had finished the princess was asleep. Then
Kisa got into the cart, which was standing at the door, and catching
up the reins, drove straight to the giant's cave.
Leaving her cart behind some trees, Kisa crept gently up to the open
door, and, crouching down, listened to what the giant was telling
his wife, who was at supper with him.
'The first day that I can spare I shall just go back and kill her,'
he said; 'it would never do for people in the forest to know that a
mere girl can defy me!' And he and his wife were so busy calling
Ingibjorg all sorts of names for her bad behaviour, that they never
noticed Kisa stealing into a dark corner, and upsetting a whole bag
of salt into the great pot before the fire.
'Dear me, how thirsty I am!' cried the giant by-and-by.
'So am I,' answered the wife. 'I do wish I had not taken that last
spoonful of broth; I am sure something was wrong with it.'
'If I don't get some water I shall die,' went on the giant. And
rushing out of the cave, followed by his wife, he ran down the path
which led to the river.
Then Kisa entered the hut, and lost no time in searching every hole
till she came upon some grass, under which Ingibjorg's feet were
hidden, and putting them in her cart, drove back again to her own
hut.
Ingibjorg was thankful to see her, for she had lain, too frightened
to sleep, trembling at every noise.
'Oh, is it you?' she cried joyfully, as Kisa turned the key. And the
cat came in, holding up the two neat little feet in their silver
slippers.
'In two minutes they shall be as tight as they ever were!' said Kisa.
And taking some strings of the magic grass which the giant had
carelessly heaped on them, she bound the feet on to the legs above.
'Of course you won't be able to walk for some time; you must not
expect that,' she continued. 'But if you are very good, perhaps, in
about a week, I may carry you home again.'
And so she did; and when the cat drove the cart up to the palace
gate, lashing the horse furiously with her tail, and the king and
queen saw their lost daughter sitting beside her, they declared that
no reward could be too great for the person who had brought her out
of the giant's hands.
'We will talk about that by-and-by,' said the cat, as she made her
best bow, and turned her horse's head.
The princess was very unhappy when Kisa left her without even
bidding her farewell. She would neither eat nor drink, nor take any
notice of all the beautiful dresses her parents bought for her.
'She will die, unless we can make her laugh,' one whispered to the
other. 'Is there anything in the world that we have left untried?'
'Nothing except marriage,' answered the king. And he invited all the
handsomest young men he could think of to the palace, and bade the
princess choose a husband from among them.
It took her some time to decide which she admired the most, but at
last she fixed upon a young prince, whose eyes were like the pools
in the forest, and his hair of bright gold. The king and the queen
were greatly pleased, as the young man was the son of a neighbouring
king, and they gave orders that a splendid feast should be got
ready.
When the marriage was over, Kisa suddenly stood before them, and
Ingibjorg rushed forward and clasped her in her arms.
'I have come to claim my reward,' said the cat. 'Let me sleep for
this night at the foot of your bed.'
'Is that all?' asked Ingibjorg, much disappointed.
'It is enough,' answered the cat. And when the morning dawned, it
was no cat that lay upon the bed, but a beautiful princess.
'My mother and I were both enchanted by a spiteful fairy,' said she,
'we could not free ourselves till we had done some kindly deed that
had never been wrought before. My mother died without ever finding a
chance of doing anything new, but I took advantage of the evil act
of the giant to make you as whole as ever.'
Then they were all more delighted than before, and the princess
lived in the court until she, too, married, and went away to govern
one of her own.
Kisa The Cat
from the Brown Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
