The Tale of Samuel Whiskers

Once upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who was an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost they were always in mischief! On baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard. She caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom. Mrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom Kitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, searched the spare bedroom and looked in the attic, but she could not find him anywhere. It was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there used to be strange noises inside them, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Things disappeared at night—especially cheese and bacon. Mrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully. While their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got into mischief. The cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out. They went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before the fire. They patted it with their little soft paws—"Shall we make little muffins?" said Mittens to Moppet. Just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet jumped into the flour barrel in a fright. Mittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf where the milk pans stand. The visitor was a neighbor, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some yeast. Mrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully—"Come in, Cousin Ribby, come in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby," said Tabitha, shedding tears. "I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the rats have got him." She wiped her eyes with her apron. "He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best bonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?" "All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to have an unruly family!" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit. "I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him.” “Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby—now Moppet and Mittens are gone! They have both got out of the cupboard!" Ribby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again. They poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in cupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest in the attic. They could not find anything, but once they heard a door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs. "It is infested with rats," said Tabitha tearfully. "I caught seven young ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for dinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat—an enormous old rat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his yellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole." "The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby," said Tabitha. Ribby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious roly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen. They returned to the kitchen. "Here's one of your kittens at least," said Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel. They shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She seemed to be in a terrible fright. "Oh! Mother, Mother," said Moppet, "there's been an old woman rat in the kitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!" The two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks of little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone! "Which way did she go, Moppet?" But Moppet had been much too frightened to peep out of the barrel again. Ribby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while they went on with their search. They went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding in an empty jar. They tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out. "Oh, Mother, Mother!" said Mittens— "Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy—a dreadful enormous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and the rolling-pin." "A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!" exclaimed Tabitha, wringing her paws. "A rolling-pin?" said Ribby. "Did we not hear a noise in the attic when we were looking into that chest?" Ribby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the noise was still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor. "This is serious, Cousin Tabitha," said Ribby. "We must send for John Joiner the dog at once." Tom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that his mother was going to bake, he determined to hide and climbed up the chimney. He climbed and climbed and before he reached the chimney top he came to a place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some little bones lying about. "This seems funny," said Tom Kitten. "Who has been gnawing bones up here in the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is something like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze," said Tom Kitten. He squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a most uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light. All at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and landed on a heap of very dirty rags. When Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him—he found himself in a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his life in the house. It was a very small stuffy room with many boards and cobwebs. Opposite to him—as far away as he could sit—was an enormous rat named Samuel Whiskers. "What do you mean by tumbling into my bed?" said the rat, chattering his teeth. "Anna Maria! Anna Maria!" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise and an old woman rat poked her head round a board. All in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was happening— He was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with string in very hard knots. "Anna Maria," said Samuel, “Make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for my dinner." "It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin," said Anna Maria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side The two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away. While Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he wriggled about and tried to mew for help. But his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such very tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him. Tom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted. Presently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a dumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him in the dough. "Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?" inquired Samuel Whiskers. Anna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she wished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the pastry. Tom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin went roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end. "His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria." "I fetched as much as I could carry," replied Anna Maria. Suddenly they heard the noise of a little dog, scratching and yelping! The rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively. "We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our property and depart at once." So it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up—there was nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a very dirty dumpling! Then he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and came downstairs. The dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a bag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts and put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the butter off. The rats ran off to live at a neighbor’s home, Farmer Potatoes. After that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha Twitchit's. As for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are rats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and steal the oats and bran, and make holes in his bags. They are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers—children and grand-children and great great grand-children. There is no end to them! Moppet and Mittens have grew up into very good rat-catchers. They go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of employment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very comfortably. They hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many they have caught—dozens and dozens of them. But Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never faced anything that is bigger than—A Mouse.