“It is of no use, master!” Gobbolino said at last, when the seventh village had refused to look at them. “You will be ruined, I see, if I stay with you any longer. You must find a new dog Toby, and I must find a new home. I am sorry, dear master, I really am, for bringing such trouble on yourhead; but I did not choose my birthplace, and sorrow enough it has brought me. Goodbye and good luck to you, master dear. And may your fortune mend quickly!”
The honest showman, with tears running down his cheeks, agreed at last that Gobbolino was right. He embraced the little cat very fondly, and when Gobbolino had said a sad goodbye to all the show-people he watched them trudge away in a little cloud of dust without him.
“Oh, why was I born a witch’s cat? Oh, why?” thought Gobbolino when at last they were out of sight. “I could wish for nothing better than a home with such kind and pleasant people as these, but no! Everyone turns against me, and, oh, my goodness, what is to become of me now?”
13
Gobbolino in the Tower
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Gobbolino was sitting sadly by the roadside thinking of his hard fate when he heard theClop! Clop! Clop! of an approaching horse and rider.
A white horse was coming along the king’s highway, decked in gold and scarlet as a knight’s horse should be, but for all this gay dress the knight who sat astride it was pale and wan. He gazed straight ahead of him so mournfully that Gobbolino’s heart ached for him, and he quite forgot his own troubles.
The knight would have passed by without noticing the witch’s kitten had not his horse suddenly shied, nearly throwing his rider, who became aware of Gobbolino, and looking kindly into his beautiful blue eyes said:
“Good-day to you, my little cat! What are you doing in the king’s highway? Surely you are rather far from home?”
“I have no home, kind sir!” replied Gobbolino humbly. “I beg your pardon for getting in your way, but I was wondering how best to find one.”
“You are a very pretty cat!” the knight said, stooping to stare at Gobbolino. “And you have beautiful blue eyes and three very handsome black paws besides a white one. Tell me, do you think you could amuse a fair lady?”
“I am not very clever, but I could tell her stories,” said Gobbolino, thinking of the tales he used to tell the little princess.
“Could you make her laugh and sing?” asked the knight.
“I am not very amusing, but I could play tricks on her!” replied Gobbolino, thinking of the pranks he had played on the farmer’s children and on the little brothers.
“Could you make her fall in love with a humble knight?” the knight asked very sadly.
“I could put her under a spell,” said Gobbolino, remembering the magic he had learned in the witch’s cave. He wished with all his heart to help this kind knight with the sad eyes, who spoke to him so gently.
“Then I think you will do very well as a present for my lady fair,” said the knight, holding out his foot to Gobbolino. “Jump upon my horse and come with me!”
Gobbolino sprang lightly on to the knight’s foot and then on to the saddle, and they rode away together in a cloud of dust.
While they rode, the knight told Gobbolino the cause of his sadness.
He was in love with a beautiful lady who had been shut up in a tower by her father until she should make up her mind which of two suitors she would marry. One was the sad knight himself, and the other the black baron who lived in a castle nearby.
Both of them went to visit her every day and took her presents, and each of them tried to bring her something that would please her better than the other.
Every day when he came, the black baron would guess what present the sad knight had brought the day before, and he was always right. Every day the sad knight tried to guess what present the black baron had brought her. And he never made a mistake either.
The fair lady, whose name was Alice, had laughingly promised to marry the suitor whose present the other could not guess.
The sad knight had brought lilies, roses, jewels, and a nightingale in a golden cage– and the black baron had guessed them all.
The black baron had brought a silver swan, lovebirds, rare fruits, and a musical box– and the sad knight had never failed to find out any of them.
Neither of them had ever thought of a little black cat with three black paws and beautiful blue eyes.
The tower stood in the middle of a wood. It was guarded by a dragon, but he was old and lazy, and he always let the knights go by.
Gobbolino had never seen a dragon before, and he was more than a little frightened when the trees opened out into a grassy sward, the tower rose before them, and he saw the green coils of the monster lying about its foundations. The knight jumped boldly from his horse, however, and thundered on the door of the tower, holding Gobbolino on his arm.
The dragon opened one eye and looked at them, but it did not move, and a little serving maid, the Lady Alice’s only attendant, tripped down the stairs and opened the door.
“Is my lady alone?” the knight asked her.
“Why, yes, Sir Knight,” said the little maid. “The baron departed half an hour ago, having brought my lady the loveliest set of ivory balls you ever saw! She heard your horse splashing across the ford, and is waiting to receive you.”
Gobbolino was no longer surprised that the suitors found it so easy to guess each other’s presents, and he made up his mind that the baron should not find out so quickly about himself.
The knight and Gobbolino followed the little maid up the winding stair to the top where the Lady Alice sat beside her spinning-wheel and looked out over the forest.
The moment she saw Gobbolino she cried out:
“Oh, what a pretty little cat! Oh, do let him come and sit on my lap, so I may tickle his ears!”
Gobbolino leapt lightly on to her lap and sat there purring, while the fair lady rubbed his chin gently with her long white fingers and her rings played a hundred tunes in his ears.
“Stay with me for ever, little cat!” the Lady Alice whispered. “It is so lonely here in the tower with nobody but my serving maid and these stupid knights and that lazy fat dragon to talk to.”
“I will stay with you willingly, madam,” Gobbolino replied, for he was always anxious to please and to make people happy. Besides, he could think of worse homes than the tower in the forest, with a fair lady to tickle his ears and all the wide woods and trees to behold around him. If he couldcheer the Lady Alice’s solitude a little he felt he would be willing to make his home with her for ever.
The knight was highly pleased to see Lady Alice so delighted with his present.
“I have never had such a pretty gift before!” said she.
“What about the gift my friend the black baron brought you earlier in the day?” said the knight slyly.
“Oh, that!” said Lady Alice. “Yes, it was very pretty indeed, but it hadn’t such sleek black fur, such dainty paws and such beautiful blue eyes!”
“I wonder what it can have been?” said the knight, pretending to be very puzzled.
“I wonder, indeed!” returned the lady with her eyes full of laughter.
“Not a goldfish, I suppose?” said the knight.
“Oh, no! No! No! What amusement should I find with a goldfish in this tower? I wouldn’t thank him for a goldfish!”
“Not a pot of ferns?” said the knight.
“Oh, no! No! No! My little serving maid can bring me all the ferns I want out of the forest. I wouldn’t thank him for a pot of ferns.”
“Then it was not, I suppose, a set of ivory balls?” suggested the knight.
“Why, yes, it was!” said the lady, clapping her hands. “How clever you are to be sure! I shall have to tell the baron I cannot marry him after all, since you have guessed his present.”
“He will never guessmine!” said the knight, looking at Gobbolino. “And then you will have to marryme!”
“We shall see! We shall see!” said Lady Alice, gently stroking Gobbolino’s fur.