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Puss in Boots, Jr., and the Good Gray Horse

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<hr style="width: 65%;" />[104] <h2>TELL-TALE-TIT</h2> <div class='poem'><div class='cap'> TELL-TALE-TIT! Your tongue shall be slit, And all the dogs in the town Shall have a little bit. </div> </div> Oh, dear me! This is what was going to happen to the little girl who had told on her brothers. And all the little dogs were standing around, wagging their tails, as Puss, Junior, passed by. It was a wonder that the dogs didn't rush out and bark at him, but they were so anxious to get a piece of the little girl's tongue that they didn't notice him at all. Perhaps a cat with boots and spurs, a hat and plume, and a trusty sword didn't look like an ordinary cat to them. And neither was our little traveler. You see, these little boys had gone into an alley to play marbles, on their way to school, and then the little girl had told her father how they had missed their lessons. "And Jimmy Jones won all the marbles, and there was a fight! And the teacher kept them in after school!" "Oh me! oh my!" cried Puss, Junior. "Please don't slit her tongue!"[105] "But why did you tell tales on your brothers?" asked her father. "Oh, please don't slit her tongue!" cried Puss, Junior, again. "That's what they did in Mother Goose." "It must have been very long ago in the dark ages," answered Puss, laying hold of his sword. "Well, it's only a rhyme!" laughed her father, picking up his little girl and hugging her. "Come on, Sir Cat, follow me. You are quite a Knight of the Round Table. If a fair lady be in distress you are her champion!" Pretty soon all three came to a little house and Puss was invited to come in and play. There was a nice swing under an old apple tree, and soon he was swinging as high as the little girl could push him. All of a sudden he jumped out up among the branches and hung on to a limb, just like a trapeze performer. "I once was with a circus," he explained, sliding down the rope and turning a somersault on the ground. Just then the little boys came in the gate and how they did laugh! And Jimmy gave Puss all the marbles which he had won, and his father, who had been sitting on the porch watching the fun, gave Puss a dollar. After that they all went in for lunch and Puss didn't start out on his journey until late in the afternoon. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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