Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

“Remember if you say anything about my being here I shall turn you into a gingerbread doll, and the dragon will certainly gobble you up!”

“How terrible this is!” he said to himself as he crept under his mistress’s gown. “Bad will out, I suppose, or I would not twice be threatening that little maid with such terrible revenge. But she is very heedless, I feel, and after all, I owe this kind home to the knight.”

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” sobbed the little serving maid, flying down to open the door to the baron, and she would not breathe a word to him about the knight’s present.

The baron came up the stairs in a passion. He guessed a silken gown, a lace pillow, and a jar of honey, all of which were wrong.

He threw his gift of roses on the floor and stamped down the stairs. When the knight came up later there were still petals clinging to the tapestry and of course he guessed at once what the baron had brought.

He was so sure of his own success that he had brought no other present, and he gave the little serving maid three silver coins when he went away.

“Now, don’t you tell the baron of my present tomorrow,” he said to her. “And by the evening Lady Alice will be mine.”

But when night fell the Lady Alice brought out her harp while the little serving maid went down to wash the dishes. Gobbolino sat at his mistress’s feet and listened, but the music grew sadder and sadder, till at last she burst into tears and, taking Gobbolino into her lap, laid her face against his fur and sobbed:

“Alas! Alas! What is to become of me? Tomorrow the baron will come for the last time, and when he fails to guess the knight’s present I shall have to marry the knight. Certainly he is pleasant enough, but both are so stupid, I have no wish to marry either of them! I had far rather remain for ever in this tower and play my harp, my dear sweet little Gobbolino, until my true lover comes to find me! Once, long ago, I was in love with a noble young lord, but we were too young to marry and he left home to go to the wars. I have never seen him since, and now my father says I must marry one of these foolish suitors. Oh, Gobbolino! Gobbolino! What shall I do? What shall I do?”

Gobbolino was terribly distressed when he remembered how he had helped to bring about his mistress’s downfall.

“It comes of being born a witch’s cat,” he told himself. “Bad will out, I see. Now, if I had not threatened Rosabel, and let things take their course, the knight and the baron might have gone on guessing till the end of their days, and my fair lady would not have to marry either of them.”

So he determined the next day to leave the tip of his tail exposed when he crept under the couch, so the baron would see him and guess what the present had been.

But before he could play this trick the baron had found out all for himself.

He arrived at the tower in the greatest state of excitement, for he knew that if he failed today, the Lady Alice would never be his.

In his hand he held five golden coins, for he was quite determined to bribe the little serving maid into telling him what the present had been.

Gobbolino had not said a word to her this morning, but she was far too frightened to open her mouth to the baron.

“Oh, no! No! No!” she sobbed. “Indeed I dare not; do not ask me, Baron, for pity’s sake leave me alone!”

“But what can harm you, my poor child, if you just breathe one word to me?” asked the baron.

“Why, the present, Baron! The present can harm me!” cried Rosabel. “He had the fiercest look you ever saw when he threatened me!”

“Why, you do not mean to tell me that the present had a tongue?” asked the astonished baron.

“Why, yes, Baron, indeed it had a tongue, and the brightest blue eyes you ever saw!” said the little serving maid directly. “And it said it would harm me severely!”

“Why, you don’t mean to tell me the present had claws?” the baron asked.

“Why, yes, indeed it had, Baron, and the longest tail you ever saw!” said the little serving maid. “And the way it ran up and down the stairs in great bounds would astonish you! But it promised to put a spell on me if I told, and the look on its whiskers was so terrible, Baron, that I dare not disobey!”

“I have it!” shouted the baron. “It was a cat!”

“Oh, my! Oh! Oh! Oh!” sobbed the little serving maid in terror. “Now you have found out all about it by yourself! But it is a witch’s cat, Baron, and very mischievous and harmful! I saw it blow sparks out of its ears! I saw it hide in my lady’s shoe! It said it would turn me into a gingerbread doll and the dragon would eat me up! Oh! Oh! Oh! Whatever will become of us all?”

At that moment a second thundering knock shook the tower, and the knight arrived at the door.

He was so impatient to claim Lady Alice’s hand that he could not wait till evening, but had arrived hard on the heels of the baron.

Both sprang up the stairs with the little maid sobbing between them and there sat Lady Alice with Gobbolino on her knee, for she had heard every word that went on below.