By : David Cory (1872 - 1966)
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PUSS had made a great discovery in the garret. It seems strange that he should have found something more important than a rat or mouse, but he had. From the moment he had seen the picture-book he was a changed cat!
"Yes," he said, holding it a little to one side, so that the light from the small attic window would show the picture more distinctly, "this is certainly a portrait of my father."
It was the story of "Puss in Boots," and on the cover was a beautiful picture of a cat wearing a magnificent pair of boots with shiny red tops. Puss sat down and opened the book. The further he read the more excited he became. When he had finished he jumped up and, proudly looking at the portrait of his handsome father, he exclaimed, with flashing eyes, "From to-day I shall call myself 'Puss in Boots, Junior'; I shall go forth in search of adventure, just as my father did, and I shall not rest until I have found him!"
He looked around to see if he could find a pair of boots like those in the picture.
To his delight he saw in a corner the very pair he wanted, and they had red tops, too. He slipped them on and looked at himself in an old cracked mirror which stood against the wall.
On a peg near by hung a cap, dusty, but not a bit shabby or worn. Placing it on his head, he hunted around until he found an old cane with a bent handle. "There's a cane in the picture—I suppose they called it a staff in those days; at any rate, I'm now complete; I'm a real Puss in Boots, Junior!" and with these words he scampered down the stairs as fast as he dared, not yet being used to his new-found boots.
"Hurray!" he cried, as he reached the front door, and he took a hop, skip, and jump across the piazza, holding his tail gracefully in his left paw. "Hurray!"
Down the steps he skipped, two at a time, down the walk to the gate, his heels clattering on the stone pavement, rat-a-tat-tat, like a cavalryman. The road was dusty, but he went along gaily, the sun shining on the bright-red tops of his boots, making him very proud indeed.
He hadn't gone very far when he heard a funny little squeak, and, looking to the side of the road from which the sound came, he saw a small pig stuck between two boards in the fence.
"Squeak, squeak! Oh, help me out!" cried Piggie.
Puss in Boots, Jr., ran up and, with the help of his cane, pried the boards apart so that the little pig could just squeeze himself through. "Squeak, squeak! Oh, thank you!" cried the little fellow. "I wish I could do something to repay you!"
"You can," replied Puss, Jr., who had by this time grown very hungry, "I would like something to eat."
"Come with me," said Piggie. "Mother always gets some milk from the dairymaid about this time. Come." And he took Puss, Jr., by the front paw and started to run across the field.
"Hold on! I mean, let go!" cried Puss in Boots, Jr. "How do you know your mother will want visitors for lunch?"
"She'll be only too delighted, especially when she knows how you pulled me out of the fence. You're not bashful, are you?"
"No-o-o!" replied Puss, Jr., "but you see I've never lunched with pigs before!"
"Oh, don't let that worry you," replied his little friend, who seemed to be pretty sure of himself for so small a pig. "Come along!"
And Puss did.
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