said Mother Goose. "I've heard it
time and again. Mothers always sing that to their babies just before
they go to sleep."

"Do they?" asked Puss. "Mine never did. She used to sing about little
mice and birds."

Mother Goose laughed heartily. "It all depends on whose little baby you
are," she said, "but I guess it all comes out all right in the end."

The gander said never a word. He was doubtless too busy propelling his
great wings and steering with his tail to pay much attention to what his
two passengers were saying.

I don't know whether there was a sign up like the ones they have in the
cars, "Don't talk to the motorman," or not. At any rate, the gander
observed the law, for he made no answer. On and on they went, through
the night. Past cloud and star, over river and valley, hill and dale,
swiftly and silently, for after these few remarks both Mother Goose and
Puss grew very sleepy.

It must have been well on toward morning before they awoke. Nestled on a
soft, feathery gander's back, with the wind singing lullabies as you
travel swiftly underneath the stars, is quite sufficient to keep any one
asleep. It was indeed a mighty fine cradle, and if the morning sun had
not poked his golden fingers into Puss, Jr.'s, eyes he might still have
been sound asleep.

"Mother Goose," he cried, touching the dear old lady gently on the
shoulder, "we are getting very near the earth. It's time for you to wake
up."

"To be sure it is," she replied, rubbing her eyes and arranging her
curls beneath her old peaked hat; "to be sure, and, dearie me! I believe
I have actually overslept!"

They were now close to the earth. The cocks were crowing lustily in the
barn-yards, and every now and then the bark of a dog, faint but clear,
would come to their ears.

"It's funny to look at a house from the outside in the early morning,"
said Puss. "I've always looked out from the inside."

"Of course you have, my dear little traveler," answered Mother Goose,
"but now that you are on your journey to find your famous father, Puss
in Boots, you will see many things very differently."

"Well," said the gander, for the first time speaking, "I'm a bit tired,
so I think I will alight near this old barn."

Puss was delighted, for he wanted once more to feel himself on earth.

PUSS FINDS ADVENTURE AT THE TOP OF JACK'S FAMOUS BEAN-STALK

The next morning as Puss, Jr., went journeying along he came in sight of
a modest little cottage, i