upset. All this is why I am called Cupep the Careful. I shall presently sit on the paper, and to sit on paper is pleasant.’‘As Cupep the Careful finished telling why he was called Cupep the Careful, Mouseroun drew Phi’s attention to two dark objects sitting in a barn at some distance. Bidding Cupep the Careful good morning they went towards the barn and found that the two dark objects were two black-and-white young cats. Said Phi, ‘These must be the sour faced twins, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called _Dum_ and _Dee_. I have often heard of them, but never any good.’ 

They went nearer. The sour faced twins sat side by side looking cross and unhappy. Mouseroun motioned to Phi to address them.‘Are you not the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called _Dum_ and _Dee_?’ asked Phi, ‘and is it not one of you which shortly ago bit the toes of a boy, and spit at his dog, and clawed his cat?’‘It was I,’ said Tweedledee, ‘who did that. I could not maul Cupep the Careful and I meant to maul somebody. I will maul him if I can. The stuck-up thing! Everybody praises him. He has a watch to wear. Nobody praises me and I have not even a ribbon. He has had his picture taken and hung up. Why don’t they take my picture?’ ‘They’d much better take mine,’ snarled Tweedledum. ‘I’ve been crying to have my picture taken ever since I saw that one of Tabby Furpurr who found out a way of not liking birds, and on that account had her picture taken and set in a pussy willow frame. They won’t take my picture. But I’ll be even with them. I get hold of the clock strings, I tangle yarn, I won’t purr, I climb posts and tear down the flowers, I scratch the baby’s face, I pull away his playthings, I wait on the doorstep and bite his fingers, when he tries to reach me, and I kill birds. _I’m_ not going to find a way of not liking birds if they won’t have my picture taken! I am better looking than Tabby Furpurr; I’m sweet and lovely.’ ‘I am sweet and lovely myself,’ said _Dee_.‘You’re not!’ said _Dum_.‘I am?’ said _Dee_.‘Say it again!’ said _Dum_.‘I do say it again!’ said _Dee_.‘Take that!’ said _Dum.‘Take that!’ said Dee. And the two seemed as if they would tear each other’s eyes out, so that Mouseroun was wroth, and Phi had much ado to keep him from punishing them both on the spot.‘A future time is better,’ said Phi. ‘To act in anger is to make ourselves like these. Come, let us go and seek out the much renowned Tabby Furpurr who found out a way of not liking birds, and who on that account had her picture taken and set in a pussy-willow frame.’‘Mouseroun and Phi pursued their journey, rambling hither and thither, listening to the speech of bees, flies, bugs, worms, toads and frogs, and to the butterflies’ happy hum, which is too faint to be 

 Prev. P 28/65 next