bone
and jumped upon the footstool in front of the fire and braided up her
hair very quick for fear that the mouse should run up it.

'Ah,' said the Cat, watching, 'then the mouse will do me no harm if I
eat it?'

'No,' said the Woman, braiding up her hair, 'eat it quickly and I will
ever be grateful to you.'

Cat made one jump and caught the little mouse, and the Woman said,
'A hundred thanks. Even the First Friend is not quick enough to catch
little mice as you have done. You must be very wise.'

That very moment and second, O Best Beloved, the Milk-pot that stood by
the fire cracked in two pieces--ffft--because it remembered the bargain
she had made with the Cat, and when the Woman jumped down from the
footstool--lo and behold!--the Cat was lapping up the warm white milk
that lay in one of the broken pieces.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy, said the Cat,
'it is I; for you have spoken three words in my praise, and now I can
drink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and
always. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are
alike to me.'

Then the Woman laughed and set the Cat a bowl of the warm white milk and
said, 'O Cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember that your bargain
was not made with the Man or the Dog, and I do not know what they will
do when they come home.'

'What is that to me?' said the Cat. 'If I have my place in the Cave by
the fire and my warm white milk three times a day I do not care what the
Man or the Dog can do.'

That evening when the Man and the Dog came into the Cave, the Woman
told them all the story of the bargain while the Cat sat by the fire and
smiled. Then the Man said, 'Yes, but he has not made a bargain with me
or with all proper Men after me.' Then he took off his two leather boots
and he took up his little stone axe (that makes three) and he fetched a
piece of wood and a hatchet (that is five altogether), and he set them
out in a row and he said, 'Now we will make our bargain. If you do not
catch mice when you are in the Cave for always and always and always, I
will throw these five things at you whenever I see you, and so shall all
proper Men do after me.'

'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but he is
not so clever as my Man.'

The Cat counted the five things (and they looked very knobby) and he
said, 'I will catch mice when I am in the Cave for always and always and
alway