Fairy Tales for Young Readers by E. Nesbit Page A

after them to hide them completely.
    And in the water Yvo stayed, getting colder and colder and more and more uncomfortable, till the King’s carriage came by. Then the cat stood up in his boots with the yellow heels, and put his paws to his mouth and shouted:
    â€œHelp, help! for my Lord Marquis of Carabas.”
    The King’s carriage stopped, and the King put his head out to see what was the matter.
    â€œMy master was bathing,” said the cat, “and some robbers came and carried off his clothes and his horse; and his castle is miles away, and he is in despair because he cannot come out of the water to greet your Majesty.”
    â€œOh, is that all?” said the King; and he told his under-chamberlain to send a running footman back to the palace for a silver-laced suit, with hat, ruff, boots, and rapier, all complete. Then the carriage waited while Yvo came out of the water and dressed; and when he had on the fine suit he looked as fine a gentleman as anybody there. So he presented himself to the King, and the King presented him to the Princess, and he and she each thought they had never seen any one they liked so well.
    â€œLet me give you a lift,” said the King heartily, “and thank you for all the fine game you’ve been sending me lately. We’re only going for a drive. I can drop you anywhere you like.”
    So Yvo, who had never before ridden in anything grander than a wheelbarrow, got into the coach with the King and the Princess. And Yvo and the Princess sat face to face; and, truth to tell, they found it hard to keep their eyes off each other.
    The cat ran on ahead, till he came to a field where reapers were at work getting in a very fine harvest of corn.
    â€œMy men,” he said, “if you do as I tell you you shall each have a pocketful of money. But if you don’t my master willhang you. If the King asks you whose field this is you must say it belongs to the Lord Marquis of Carabas.”
    So when the King, who took an interest in farming, came to the field he admired the rich grain, and stopped his carriage to ask whose it was.
    â€œIt belongs to my Lord the Marquis of Carabas,” said the reapers all together.
    â€œVery fine indeed, my lord,” said the King.
    â€œIt’s the first good crop I’ve ever had from that field,” said Yvo.
    The cat hurried on to another field, where men were at work binding corn in sheaves, and spoke to them as he had done to the others. And when the King came along, and questioned them, they said with one voice:
    â€œIt all belongs to my Lord the Marquis of Carabas.”
    â€œYour estates are very large, my lord,” said the King, “and very prosperous; I never saw a finer crop.”
    â€œIt’s almost a miracle,” said Yvo, “for I never took any trouble with that field.”
    So the carriage drove on, and still the King looked at the corn-fields—and the Princess and Yvo looked at each other. And now the road left the river, and wound like a twisted white ribbon over the green velvet of smooth meadows to where, far off, at the foot of a hill, stood a large and beautiful castle.
    â€œI wonder now whose that is?” said the King. “Let us go and see.”
    The cat took a very short cut across country, and got to the castle long before the King did. He had a little chat with the sentry at the keep, told him some funny tales, picked up a little gossip, and then went on to the castle itself, where he told the porter he had to deliver a message from his master the Marquis of Carabas.
    Now this castle belonged to an ogre, and so did all the land for miles round. But if you think the cat was afraid of ogres you do not do him justice.
    He went up to the great gate, pulled the great bell, and asked to see the master of the house; and his mannerswere so good and his language so fine that the porter led him into a great hall hung with beast-skins and furnished with old black oak.