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Cat 'n Mouse!
ONE TIME the boys' daddy decided he'd give 'em a hundred dollar a-piece
and let 'em go out by themselves to see what would they do with it. Told
'em to be gone one year and then to come back so he could see which one
of 'em made the best out of his money.
Well, the three of 'em set out together down the big road. Then Will
says, "Now, when we come to where the road forks three ways, we'll separate.
There ain't no use in us gain' all together."
So when they came to a crossroad, they stopped and talked awhile, and
directly Will called Tom off to one side and they went to whisperin', then
they both came over to Jack and thronged him down and took every cent of
his money, divided it, and left Jack a-layin' there. Will took one side-road
and Tom took the other'n. Jack got his senses back pretty soon and set
there a little while tryin' to study what to do. Then he decided he'd go
on ans see what luck he might have, so he walked out in the middle of the
crossroads and throwed his hat up in the air. Whichever road it landed
in, he was goin' to go that way. Well, his hat landed in the road straight
ahead so he took it and on he went.
It was an old road, not traveled much, and pretty soon Jack I 'way out
in a lonesome wilder-ness of a place. Went on, went on; the road pretty
nearly covered up with grass and brian, and directly he came to a fine-lookin'
white house out there. Jack could see signs of somebody livin' there and
he had to hay. some place to stay the night. He hated to holler 'cause
he was s ragged and dirty, but he 'lowed there wasn't nothin' like tryi
so he hollered hello and waited awhile. Nobody came out, he went to the
door and pulled the doorbell. The door opened and a big cat came out. Jack
didn't know what to think of that. The cat sat there lookin' at him and
there didn't no person cornet to the door, so Jack hollered again, "Who
keeps house?"
"Cat 'n the mouse," says the cat.
"Law me!" says Jack. "I've done got to a country where cats can talk."
"Yes," the cat told him, "there's an old witch out here. She got all
my family but me and my sister. She witched her into a cat, then to a mouse,
and me into a cat. She'll try to witch me into a mouse tonight."
Then Jack looked and saw a mouse creep out one side the door, says,
"Well, is there anything I can do to keep the old witch from botherin'
ye?"
"Probably might be," says the cat. "You can help me, but my sister,
she'll stay a mouse. There can't nothin' be done for ye, once she gets
you into a mouse. You stay here by the door tonight and kill any kind of
big varmints you see and it'll keep the witch off."
Well, Jack got him a big club and got before the door, and when it got
plumb thick dark all sorts of bears and painters and big wild animals came
up the steps and Jack 'uld knock 'em and beat 'em with his club, kept on
fightin' all night. Next mornin' that cat came out and it was a little
bigger, looked a little bit like a girl.
"Now tonight," she says, "the old witch'll send middle-siz varmints.
You see can you keep them off, too."
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