Round a corner they came upon one of the many caves squeezed in between the rocks— caves that the bats had not been allowed to claim for their own. The cave was empty now, and the friends looked at one another with one single thought in their minds. If they crept inside and spent the night in the cave they might face the next morning with more courage, and in daylight. They did not need to say a word aloud to each other, but turning off the path they stole inside.
Gobbolino felt much safer when the walls of the cave were around him, and he was deadly tired. He lay down close beside the body of the little wooden horse, and almost immediately fell asleep.
The little wooden horse stayed awake only long enough to make sure that the cave was quite empty, and that no strange noises threatened them from the mountain above. His wooden heart beat pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, for he did not like this part of the country any better than Gobbolino did. But nothing would have persuaded him to desert his friend, although he could not help thinking very anxiously about his dear master back there in the forest, who would be daily expecting him to come home.
Their adventure had scarcely begun, since they did not know why Gobbolino’s sister had sent such a piteous message, nor what kind of trouble she might be in.
“But there is nothing I can do about it till the morning,” said the little wooden horse very sensibly, so he too went off to sleep.
When he woke up the cave was full of moonlight. It shone straight in from the entrance, and standing in the middle of it, looking straight at him, was Gobbolino.
The little wooden horse leapt to his feet. He thought Gobbolino must be leaving without him, taking advantage of the moonlight and not wanting to waste any more time waiting in the cave.
But Gobbolino was cominginto the cave, not going out, and his face did not wear the kind and friendly expression that the little wooden horse had learnt to know so well. It wore a suspicious, rather fierce look, and he now noticed that the cat’s eyes were flashing with a green light, not blue, and that all its paws were black. It was so exactly like Gobbolino in every other way that the little wooden horse had to stare at it again and again to make sure he had not made a mistake, and thiswas his friend after all.
But if he had any doubts left these were quickly dispelled by a flurry of dark fur at his side. Three black paws and one white one sprang out of the shadows in a single bound, as Gobbolino’s voice cried joyfully:
“Sister! My sister Sootica!. Is it really you? Oh, sister! Sister! How glad I am to see you!”
The two cats fell upon each other, licking and purring. The green fire died down in Sootica’s eyes. She seemed overwhelmed with joy to see her brother. The cave resounded with their joyous miaows and purrs, and the little wooden horse was feeling slightly left out in the cold when suddenly Gobbolino remembered him, and proudly introduced him to his sister.
“My best, my most true and trusted friend!” he said. “I would not be here at all if it had not been for him!”
“Well, I never! Well, I never!” said Sootica, walking round and round the little wooden horse. It was quite evident that she had not seen anything like him before.
“Where do you come from?” she asked curiously. “And what are you doing here?”
“I came to help my friend Gobbolino in answering your plea,” said the little wooden horse solemnly. He could not help noticing that Sootica looked perfectly healthy and able to look after herself. She did not appear harassed, or in distress, nor, in fact, in any kind of trouble at all.
“The owl brought me the message that you sent, sister!” said Gobbolino eagerly. “I started out that very same morning, and here I am! And why did you send for me, sister? Please tell me why!”
The eyes of the witchs cat half closed, and grew cunning.
“I was missing you, brother,” she whined, looking at him through green slits, “I was feeling so lonesome without you! But I thought you would come by yourself! I did not expect you to bring a friend!”
Sootica did not seem at all at ease with the little wooden horse. Every time she looked at him she shifted from one black paw to another, and she kept walking round and round him, staring.
“You needn’t be nervous, sister,” said Gobbolino, “he is the best and bravest little horse in all the world! And if we can do anything between us to help you, let us know quickly what it is, because in the forest Uncle Peder will be anxiously waiting for his horse to come home, and I promised the children at the farm that I would not be long away.”
Suddenly the witch’s cat lost all her bravado. Her green eyes filled with tears, and she looked piteously at the two friends.
“I want to be a kitchen cat too!” she sobbed. “I am tired of being a witch’s cat! My mistress gets more and more bad-tempered every day! I am never allowed to do as I please. I have to work at making spells and practising wickednesses from dawn till dark! I don’t enjoy it any morel I want a safe and happy home like yours to live in!”
[Êàðòèíêà: i_017.jpg]
“I want to be a kitchen cat tool”
Gobbolino was very distressed. He knew how he had suffered himself while trying to find a home when he was half a witch’s cat, and here was his sister Sootica, steeped in spells and sin, but longing to settle down in some safe and happy home while she was still under the power of a witch. How could she imagine such a thing was possible? And how long would she be satisfied to live the life of a common mouser? How far could she be trusted to behave like an ordinary cat, and not get up to tricks which, as Gobbolino knew, were sure to be worse and more unpleasant than any he had ever learnt himself. And how likely was it that the witch would allow her to go free? A witch relies on her cat to stay by her side for ever and ever. She would not part with Sootica just for the asking.
“How can you bear to give up the life you told me was so exciting?” Gobbolino reproached her.
“I am tired of my exciting life, brother!” said Sootica simply, and the tears rolled out of her green eyes down to the black fur of her bib. “I want to be good and happy like you!”
“For ever?” said Gobbolino, disbelievingly.
“For ever!” Sootica repeated, nodding vigorously
“Your mistress threw me into her cauldron to turn me into a kitchen cat,” said Gobbolino. “When I came out I wasn’t a witch’s cat any longer. Would she do the same for you?”
“Oh, no!.. Never, never, never!” shuddered Sootica. “I wouldn’t tell her I was leaving her, because if I did she would never let me out of the cave again! I must come with you secretly, while she is asleep. In the early morning, perhaps, when she is fast asleep after being out all night, and she won’t notice if I am there or not.”
“But if she were to wake up and find you gone,” shuddered Gobbolino, “she would be sure to chase you, and she would catch us all three!”
“Oh, she would! She would!” chuckled Sootica, her tears drying. “But I have a trick worth two of that! We must pass through running water! Witches can’t pass through running water, or even over it, but witches’ cats can! Well be quite safe when we have done that!”
Gobbolino thought of the stream halfway across the plain, where they had eaten their dinner. He thought too of the hounds that had chased them, and suddenly remembered the bats.
“If you were to come back with us, would the bats be able to live in the caves at the foot of these mountains?” he asked his sister. “Because we promised them we would try to arrange it, and they would not have to go back to the church belfry and disturb the villagers any more.”
“Oh, the bats!” said Sootica scornfully. “They can sleep anywhere they please for all I care! My mistress will soon get tired of turning them out of the caves when she hasn’t got me to do it for her!”
The little wooden horse had not said anything for a long while, but now he spoke, looking very gravely at the witch’s cat, Sootica.