tails lay straight out behind them, and their soft ears were bent
forward close to their heads.

"I wonder," said she, "if I was ever as small as they are, and if my
mother loved me as I love them." She stretched out one of her forepaws
and looked at it. It was so much larger, so very much larger, than the
paws of the Kittens. Such a soft and dainty paw as it was, and so
perfectly clean. She stretched it even more, and saw five long, curved,
sharp claws slide out of their sheaths or cases. She quickly slid them
back into their sheaths, for fear that in some way they might happen to
touch and hurt her babies.

A Swallow flew down from his nest and passed over her head, then out of
the open window. "Kittens!" said he. "Kittens!" He flew over the fields
and saw two Horses standing by the fence while the farmer was oiling his
machine. "We have new neighbors in the barn," said he, "and the Cat is
purring louder than ever."

"Who are the neighbors?" asked the Dappled Gray.

"Kittens!" sang the Swallow. "Oh, tittle-ittle-ittle-ee."

The Blind Horse drew a long breath. "Then I did hear her purr," said he;
"I am so glad." He never made a fuss about his troubles, for he was
brave and unselfish, yet the Dappled Gray knew without being told how
much lighter his heart was since he heard that the Cat had really been
purring above his head.

The days passed by, and the Kittens grew finely. They got their eyes
open, first in narrow cracks, and then wider and wider, until they were
round and staring. The White Kitten had blue ones, the others brown. In
the daytime, they had long, narrow black spots in the middle of their
eyes, and as the bright light faded, these black spots spread out
sideways until they were quite round. When it was very dark, these spots
glowed like great Fireflies in the night. Then the Mice, who often
scampered through the loft when the Cat was away, would see three pairs
of eyes glowing in the hay, and they would squeak to each other: "See!
The Kittens are watching us."

And the Kittens, who were not yet old enough to go hunting, and who were
afraid of everything that stirred, would crowd up against each other,
arch their little backs, raise their pointed tails, stand their fur on
end, and say, "Pst! Ha-a-ah!"

Sometimes they did this when there was not a person in sight and what
frightened them was nothing but a wisp of hay, blown down by the wind.
Afterward, when anything moved, they sprang at it, held