Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

The day went by and the pedlar-woman did not come. The witch and Gobbolino’s little sister Sootica slept on too, while the sun mounted slowly, slowly over the top of the Hurricane Mountains, and began slowly, slowly to descend the other side.

Gobbolino sat in the entrance to the cavern basking in the sunshine and waiting for the donkey or the pedlar-woman to appear, but neither of them came, and presently long shadows crept up the side of the Hurricane Mountains and touched Gobbolino’s toes with their cold blue fingers, so that he scuttled inside the cavern to escape the evening chill.

His little sister Sootica was just stirring in her corner, stretching her long and shining claws, blinking her green eyes and yawning widely as she said:

“Good-day, brother! I hope you slept well? No unpleasant dreams, I trust?”

“Oh, very well, thank you, sister,” replied Gobbolino, glad to have company at last. “And you too, I hope? You have certainly slept very late.”

“Late?” said Sootica, staring. “Why, it is barely sundown! My mistress and I never stir before the sun has set. Whatever should we do by daylight? Come, you can help me light the cauldron and prepare the evening meal.”

Gobbolino obligingly blew sparks out of his whiskers until the fire began to smoke and the cauldron to bubble.

“You can be quite useful, I see!” said Sootica agreeably, casting some herbs into the mixture. “Now I think all is ready, and if you will call your mistress I will call mine, for we are ready to dine.”

“I don’t know where my mistress is gone to!” said Gobbolino. “I can’t see her anywhere outside, and the donkey is not to be found either.”

“What?” screamed his little sister Sootica. “Mistress! Mistress! Do you hear that? Gobbolino says his mistress is gone and the donkey too. When did you find that out, Gobbolino?”

“Why, early this morning when I awoke!” said Gobbolino, quite frightened at the angry glances of his sister and her mistress the witch, who had bounced out of her corner and was standing over him in a threatening attitude.

“Why didn’t you go after her, you dunderhead?” she said in a fury.

“Why! I expected her to come back again at any moment!” said Gobbolino, wringing his paws and crying. “I waited all day long, but she never came! How could I tell she did not mean to return?”

“Blockhead! Numbskull!” cried the witch. “Do you mean to say you have been sitting outside the whole day long without saying a word about it? Don’t you know she meant to get rid of you? Don’t you know she meant to leave you behind so that she would not be plagued with you any longer?”

“Oh, no! No! No!” sobbed Gobbolino. “Indeed I never thought of that, ma’am! I am very sorry to have been so foolish, but such a thought never entered my head!”

“Send him after her!” said Sootica.

“She will be a thousand leagues away by now,” said the witch. “She may have been a poor witch, but she knew a trick or two, and she wouldn’t be caught that way – not she! No – such a poor cat as this is not worth keeping. I shall throw him down the mountainside!”

“Oh, no! No! No!” sobbed Gobbolino, while his little sister Sootica, although rather more composed, pleaded:

“Pray, mistress, think again. He is my bloodbrother and although I am very ashamed of him, I do not wish to see him die. Perhaps if we were to keep him a little while, mistress, you might teach him better ways, for you are very clever, and, after all, if you do not succeed, there is plenty of time to throw him down the mountain by and by.”

“True enough,” said the witch rather less fiercely. “Well, take your soup and let us get to work.”

As Sootica shared her bowl of soup with him, Gobbolino thanked her gratefully for saving his life.

“Don’t thank me!” said Sootica tartly. “Try to be a better cat, and worthy of our mother Grimalkin, for if you do not succeed, my mistress will certainly throw you down the mountainside and nothing that I can do will save you then.”

“I will try, sister,” said Gobbolino meekly.

After their meal the witch gave Gobbolino a bundle of spells to disentangle, so mixed and muddled, like a tangle of giant cobwebs, that he did not know where to begin or end.

“See, it goes like this – and this!” said Sootica, deftly dividing them with her paws, but Gobbolino fumbled and snatched at the spells, tearing and knotting them, until they were in as fine a muddle as before.

The witch and Sootica left him at it when they set out on their broomstick some time later.

Gobbolino toiled a little longer and then fell asleep, utterly weary, beside the tangle of spells.

His sister and the witch returned at dawn. The witch went straight to bed, but Sootica trotted to his side and woke him up.

“Brother! Brother! Wake up! Where are the spells? Don’t you know my mistress will throw you down the mountainside if they are not ready by sunset?”

“I can’t do it! Indeed I cannot!” sobbed Gobbolino, sitting up while the tears sprang to his beautiful blue eyes. “My goodness, what shall I do? What shall I do?”