ed, but the Cat slunk under the town wall to the
church, and ate up half of the pot of fat. 'Nothing tastes better,' said
she, 'than what one eats by oneself,' and she was very much pleased with
her day's work. When she came home the Mouse asked, 'What was this child
called?'

'Half Gone,' answered the Cat.

'Halfgone! what a name! I have never heard it in my life. I don't
believe it is in the calendar.'

Soon the Cat's mouth began to water once more after her licking
business. 'All good things in threes,' she said to the Mouse; 'I have
again to stand godmother. The child is quite black, and has very white
paws, but not a single white hair on its body. This only happens once in
two years, so you will let me go out?'

'Topoff! Halfgone!' repeated the Mouse, 'they are such curious names;
they make me very thoughtful.'

'Oh, you sit at home in your dark grey coat and your long tail,' said
the Cat, 'and you get fanciful. That comes of not going out in the day.'

The Mouse had a good cleaning out while the Cat was gone, and made the
house tidy; but the greedy Cat ate the fat every bit up.

'When it is all gone one can be at rest,' she said to herself, and at
night she came home sleek and satisfied. The Mouse asked at once after
the third child's name.

'It won't please you any better,' said the Cat, 'he was called Clean
Gone.'

'Cleangone!' repeated the Mouse. 'I do not believe that name has been
printed any more than the others. Cleangone! What can it mean?' She
shook her head, curled herself up, and went to sleep.

From this time on no one asked the Cat to stand godmother; but when
the winter came and there was nothing to be got outside, the Mouse
remembered their provision and said, 'Come, Cat, we will go to our pot
of fat which we have stored away; it will taste very good.'

'Yes, indeed,' answered the Cat; 'it will taste as good to you as if
you stretched your thin tongue out of the window.'

They started off, and when they reached it they found the pot in its
place, but quite empty!

'Ah,' said the Mouse,' 'now I know what has happened! It has all come
out! You are a true friend to me! You have eaten it all when you stood
godmother; first the top off, then half of it gone, then----'

'Will you be quiet!' screamed the Cat. 'Another word and I will eat you
up.'

'Clean-gone' was already on the poor Mouse's tongue, and scarcely was it
out than the Cat made a spring at her, seized and swallowed her.

Y