But when she looked again at the young birds, to see which one she should take first, she saw that they were very thin,—oh, very, very thin they were! The spotted cat had never seen anything so thin in her life.
“Now,” she said to herself, “if I were to wait only a few days longer, they would grow fat. Thin birds may be good, but fat birds are much better. I will wait!”
So she waited; and she watched the father-bird bringing worms all day long to the nest, and said, “Aha! they must be fattening fast! they will soon be as fat as I wish them to be. Aha! what a good thing it is to be patient.”
At last, one day she thought, “Surely, now they must be fat enough! I will not wait another day. Aha! how good they will be!”
So she climbed up the tree, licking her chops all the way and thinking of the fat young birds. And when she reached the top and looked into the nest, it was empty!!
Then the spotted cat sat down on the branch and spoke thus, “Well, of all the horrid, mean, ungrateful creatures I ever saw, those birds are the horridest, and the meanest, and the most ungrateful! Mi-a-u-ow!!!!”
I STUDIED my arithmetic, And then I went to bed, And on my little pillow white Laid down my little head.
I hoped for dreams of dear delight, Of sugar-candy bliss; But oh! my sleep, the livelong night, Was filled with things like this.
Add forty jars of damson jam To fifty loaves of cake, Subtract a cow, and tell me how Much butter it will make.
Then add the butter to the jam, And give it to a boy, How long will ’t take ere grievous ache Shall dash his childish joy?
If twenty men stole thirty sheep And sold them to the Pope, What would they get if he should let Them have the price in soap?
And if he slew each guileless beast, And in pontific glee Sold leg and loin for Roman coin, What would his earnings be?
Next, if a Tiger climbed a tree To get a cocoanut, And if by hap the feline chap Should find the shop was shut;
And if ten crabs with clawing dabs Should pinch his Bengal toes, What would remain when he should gain The ground, do you suppose?
Divide a stick of licorice By twenty infant jaws, How long must each lose power of speech In masticating pause?
And if these things are asked of you, While you’re a-chewing of it, What sum of birch, rod, pole or perch Will be your smarting profit?