Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

“You are a very pretty cat!” the knight said, stooping to stare at Gobbolino. “And you have beautiful blue eyes and three very handsome black paws besides a white one. Tell me, do you think you could amuse a fair lady?”

“I am not very clever, but I could tell her stories,” said Gobbolino, thinking of the tales he used to tell the little princess.

“Could you make her laugh and sing?” asked the knight.

“I am not very amusing, but I could play tricks on her!” replied Gobbolino, thinking of the pranks he had played on the farmer’s children and on the little brothers.

“Could you make her fall in love with a humble knight?” the knight asked very sadly.

“I could put her under a spell,” said Gobbolino, remembering the magic he had learned in the witch’s cave. He wished with all his heart to help this kind knight with the sad eyes, who spoke to him so gently.

“Then I think you will do very well as a present for my lady fair,” said the knight, holding out his foot to Gobbolino. “Jump upon my horse and come with me!”

Gobbolino sprang lightly on to the knight’s foot and then on to the saddle, and they rode away together in a cloud of dust.

While they rode, the knight told Gobbolino the cause of his sadness.

He was in love with a beautiful lady who had been shut up in a tower by her father until she should make up her mind which of two suitors she would marry. One was the sad knight himself, and the other the black baron who lived in a castle nearby.

Both of them went to visit her every day and took her presents, and each of them tried to bring her something that would please her better than the other.

Every day when he came, the black baron would guess what present the sad knight had brought the day before, and he was always right. Every day the sad knight tried to guess what present the black baron had brought her. And he never made a mistake either.

The fair lady, whose name was Alice, had laughingly promised to marry the suitor whose present the other could not guess.

The sad knight had brought lilies, roses, jewels, and a nightingale in a golden cage – and the black baron had guessed them all.

The black baron had brought a silver swan, lovebirds, rare fruits, and a musical box – and the sad knight had never failed to find out any of them.

Neither of them had ever thought of a little black cat with three black paws and beautiful blue eyes.

The tower stood in the middle of a wood. It was guarded by a dragon, but he was old and lazy, and he always let the knights go by.

Gobbolino had never seen a dragon before, and he was more than a little frightened when the trees opened out into a grassy sward, the tower rose before them, and he saw the green coils of the monster lying about its foundations. The knight jumped boldly from his horse, however, and thundered on the door of the tower, holding Gobbolino on his arm.

The dragon opened one eye and looked at them, but it did not move, and a little serving maid, the Lady Alice’s only attendant, tripped down the stairs and opened the door.

“Is my lady alone?” the knight asked her.

“Why, yes, Sir Knight,” said the little maid. “The baron departed half an hour ago, having brought my lady the loveliest set of ivory balls you ever saw! She heard your horse splashing across the ford, and is waiting to receive you.”

Gobbolino was no longer surprised that the suitors found it so easy to guess each other’s presents, and he made up his mind that the baron should not find out so quickly about himself.

The knight and Gobbolino followed the little maid up the winding stair to the top where the Lady Alice sat beside her spinning-wheel and looked out over the forest.

The moment she saw Gobbolino she cried out:

“Oh, what a pretty little cat! Oh, do let him come and sit on my lap, so I may tickle his ears!”

Gobbolino leapt lightly on to her lap and sat there purring, while the fair lady rubbed his chin gently with her long white fingers and her rings played a hundred tunes in his ears.

“Stay with me for ever, little cat!” the Lady Alice whispered. “It is so lonely here in the tower with nobody but my serving maid and these stupid knights and that lazy fat dragon to talk to.”

“I will stay with you willingly, madam,” Gobbolino replied, for he was always anxious to please and to make people happy. Besides, he could think of worse homes than the tower in the forest, with a fair lady to tickle his ears and all the wide woods and trees to behold around him. If he could cheer the Lady Alice’s solitude a little he felt he would be willing to make his home with her for ever.

The knight was highly pleased to see Lady Alice so delighted with his present.

“I have never had such a pretty gift before!” said she.

“What about the gift my friend the black baron brought you earlier in the day?” said the knight slyly.

“Oh, that!” said Lady Alice. “Yes, it was very pretty indeed, but it hadn’t such sleek black fur, such dainty paws and such beautiful blue eyes!”