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An Encounter THE CAT One day a friend, who was going away for a few weeks, left his parrot in our care. The bird, homesick and unquiet, climbed to the top of his perch, and rolled his golden eyes warily, wrinkling the white membrane which served for eyelids. My cat, Madame Theophile, had never before seen a parrot, and this strange creature filled her with amazement. Motionless as a cat mummy in its swathing bands, she fixed a profoundly meditative gaze upon the stranger, summoning to her aid all the notions of natural history which she had picked up on the roofs and in the garden. The shadow of her thoughts passed over her changing eyes, and we could read in them the results of her scrutiny: " Decidedly it is a green chicken." This much ascertained, the cat leaped from the table which she had made her observatory, and crouched low in a corner of the room, flattening herself on the ground, like Gerome's black panther which watches the gazelles coming down to drink from the lake. The parrot followed her move- ments with feverish anxiety. He ruffled his feath- ers, shook his chain, raised one claw after another, and whetted his beak on the side of his drinking cup. Instinct told him that here was an enemy 142
THE CAT= plotting mischief. The cat's eyes were all this time fixed upon the bird with terrible intensity, and they said in a language which the poor parrot but too plainly understood : " Green though it be, this chicken is doubtless very good to eat." We watched the little drama with interest, ready to intervene at need. Madame Theophile crept slowly, almost imperceptibly, forward. Her pink nose quivered, her eyes were half closed, her claws moved in and out of their soft sheaths, little tre- mors of rapture ran along her spine. She was like an epicure sitting down to a chicken and truffles. Such novel and exotic fare tempted her gluttony. Suddenly her back bent like a bow, and with a vigorous spring she leaped upon the perch. The parrot, seeing the imminence of his peril, cried in a voice as deep and vibrating as M. Prudhomme's " Hast thou breakfasted, Jaequot ? " This utterance so terrified the cat that she fell backwards. The blare of a trumpet, the crash of crockery, the report of a pistol could not have made her more dizzy with fright. All her ornitho- logical theories were overthrown. " And on what ? On the king's roast ? " con- tinued the parrot. Then we, the observers, read in the expressive countenance of Madame Theophile : " This is not a bird ; it speaks ; it is a gentleman." Menagerie Intime, Theophile Gautiee. 143
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THE CAT by AGNES REPPLIER Classic L
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World Public Library The World Publ
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OUR FRIENDS, THE BEASTS A SERIES OF
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Copyright, 1912 By STURGIS & WALTON
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THE CAT AMONG FOES To a Cat Which H
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THE CAT IN THE NURSERY CONTENTS Edu
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THE CAT
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THE CAT There is no word of Shakesp
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THE CAT tude of neutrality towards
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The Cat THE CAT On some grave busin
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THE CAT: The Cat of Egypt The numbe
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THE CAT= The Cat as a Royal Envoy T
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THE CAT= An Appreciation I value in
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THE CAT= The Cat I like the simple
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THE CAT^ Around, in sympathetic mir
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THE CAT A Poet's Kitten I have a ki
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THE CAT= Erected stiff, and gait aw
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THE CAT: And yet, for that thou has
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THE CAT: that crossing the room? Wh
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THE CAT= Good and Bad Kittens Kitte
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THE CAT= Dido We have got the prett
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THE CAT= The Strength Which Lies in
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THE CAT; The Kitten and the Falling
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THE CAT Pussy-Willows I sometimes t
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THE CAT= Practice Cultivate your ga
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THE CAT Auld Bawthren grey, she kit
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THE CAT= A Cat Philosopher and comr
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THE CAT: To a Cat which had Killed
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THE CAT: Why, why was pigeon's fles
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THE CAT= my gossip, sisters, let hi
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THE CAT= Anathema Maranatha That ve
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THE CAT: False Gods Now shall ye se
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THE CAT= On a study of those who, a
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THE CA^ A Martyr In the Reigne of Q
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THE CAT= A Cat's Conscience A dog w
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THE CAT — Rrrrrrrrr There was no
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The Cat's Progress =THE CAT Outlawe
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THE CAT self still in the cat's way
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Far-travelled Nicias hath wooed and
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THE CAT, Postscript to a Rondeau, A
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The Cat's Coronach And art thou fal
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Catus, the Cat =THE CAT As to the C
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Hinse of Hinsefeld THE CAT I have a
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Hodge, the Cat Burly and big his bo
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The dear old Doctor! fierce of mien
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Atossa Thou hast seen Atossa sage =
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THE CAT, grew bold and restless, we
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Moumoutte Chinoise =THE CAT I remem
Page 102 and 103: =THE CAT object of affection, unles
Page 104 and 105: The Two Cats THE CAT The spring was
Page 106 and 107: THE CAT friend sleeping by the fire
Page 108 and 109: THE CAT her turn to be helped, beha
Page 110 and 111: Don Pierrot de Navarre THE CAT Pier
Page 112 and 113: =THE CAT his displeasure by going t
Page 114 and 115: Nero THE CAT I own that when Agripp
Page 116 and 117: THE CAT mew, as if fearing he might
Page 118 and 119: =THE CAT can see him now, standing
Page 120 and 121: THE CAT and look into my face, foll
Page 122 and 123: Tom of Corpus The Junior Fellow's v
Page 124 and 125: THE CAT Oliver A long series of cat
Page 126 and 127: Mentu =THE CAT The wild nature in M
Page 128 and 129: The Shah of Persia -THE CAT Cats of
Page 130 and 131: THE CAT with his two soft paws —
Page 132 and 133: A passing scent could keenly wake T
Page 134 and 135: =THE CAT rival, the mutual fear whi
Page 136 and 137: mdRmuko Apeak concernina /Cab Inmii
Page 138 and 139: =THE CAT I only know they make me l
Page 140 and 141: THE CAT The hand, and person genera
Page 142 and 143: The Ratcatcher and Cats The rats by
Page 144 and 145: But let us limit our desires, Nor w
Page 146 and 147: THE CAT The captain's humanity did
Page 148 and 149: THE CAT without his mascot, but to
Page 150 and 151: The Point of View THE CAT " Dog," s
Page 154 and 155: The Retired Cat A poet's cat, sedat
Page 156 and 157: Awaken'd by the shock, cried Puss,
Page 158 and 159: Moral. Beware of too sublime a sens
Page 160 and 161: THE CAT An Outcast My father had a
Page 162 and 163: A Poet to the Rescue =THE CAT Passi
Page 164 and 165: The Colubriad Close by the threshol
Page 166 and 167: Discipline THE CAT A female cat is
Page 168 and 169: THE CAT On the Death of a Favourite
Page 170 and 171: yiUkJmmi
Page 172 and 173: Marigold =THE CAT She moved through
Page 174 and 175: A Sea Fight THE CAT "Prince," said
Page 176 and 177: Six little mice sat down to spin, P
Page 178 and 179: The Cattie Sits in the Kiln-Ring Th
Page 180 and 181: Grisette Dines Always well behaved
Page 182: The End. World Public Library Assoc
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