and one day he sat down and spoke in this wise :

'What! must I spend all my time in this spot? I run up and down the same trees, I pluck the nuts, and doze for months at a time in a hole. The birds who live in this wood go a great way off just when they like; and when the cold days come, they set out for some far off land, where they are warm all the year round. Mr. Cuck-oo tells me he is just off, and I know Miss Night-in-gale will soon go too. To be sure I have not wings like them, but I have legs, and if one does not use them, one might as well be a mole or a mouse. I dare say I could soon reach to that blue ridge, which I see from the tops of the trees, and

C

which no doubt is a fine place, for the sun comes straight from it each morn, when it seems all red and gold. There can at least be no harm if I try, for I can soon get back here if I do not like it. I will go, and I will set out as soon as the day breaks."

When puss had made up his mind, he could not sleep all night; at the first peep of day he took with him as much food as he could, and off he went in high glee. He soon came to the edge of the wood, and on to the moors that brought him to the foot of the range of hills. The sun was not high up in the sky when he came there, so he sat down, and broke his fast, and then went off once more. He had

hard work to climb up the steep side of the hill, and had oft to stop and take breath, so that it was a good deal past noon when he got to the top of the first cliff. Here he sat down to dine, and when he saw how far he had come, he was glad. The view was fine; the wood in which he had dwelt lay at his feet, and he felt to scorn the place in which he had been born and bred.

But when he saw in front of him the cliffs rise more and more, and seem quite as far from his home as the one he had got to did, he felt quite sad; and he was so stiff and worn, that he sat down to rest. At last he set out once more, though he did not feel so brisk as at first. The ground was rough, brown,

and bare, and he thought how strange it was it did not get more warm as he got near the sun. He had not gone two hours when his strength was all but spent, and he felt as if he would like to turn back ere night should come on. While he thus thought the clouds came round the hill, and took from him all view of far off scenes. Soon a storm of snow and hail came on, with a strong wind, which beat round him till he had not a bone in his skin that did not ache. At the same time he had lost his road, and did not know which way to turn to get to that home which it was now his sole wish once more to reach. The storm went on till night, and it was as much as he could do, numb and

worn as he was, to crawl to a hole in the rock some way off, which was the best bed he could find for the night. His food was all spent ; so that, faint and cold, he crept as far as he could in the cave, and lay down, with his tail wrapt round him, to get as much sleep as he could, for the shrill cold wind blew and shook the stones all night long. The sun rose on the tops of the hills, when puss, half dead, came out of his hole, and went, as well as he could, up to the brow of the cliff, that he might see which way to take. As he crept on step by step, a kite, high up in the air, saw him, made a stoop, and took him off in her claws. Poor puss, quite faint with fright, was borne off with vast speed,