Page:Folk Tales of Beasts and Men.djvu/198

Chaton went up to a little peasant who was standing in the crowd. " Tell me, gossip," said he, " who is the man with the red feather, and what s all this about a ring and five bags of gold ?

" Why," said the peasant, " the man in red is the King of this country. He had a valuable ring which was kept in a tiny wooden case on the table by his bed. This afternoon a magpie flew in through the window, snatched up the case, and bore it away to its nest in the topmost boughs of the walnut tree on the village green. The King wants his ring back again, and will give the five bags of gold to anybody who will recover it for him."

" I see," said Chaton; " and why don t you climb the walnut-tree and get the ring ?

" Because I have too much respect for my neck," answered the peasant, " and so has everybody else here. The boughs at the top of the tree where the nest is are so thin and slender that they would not bear the weight of a child, let alone a grown man. Gold is good, but whole limbs are better, that s what I say ! "

" And I ! " " And I ! " echoed other villagers who had been listening to this conversation.

• In my belief you are quite right," said Chaton seriously.

" Let the King risk his own life if he is so anxious to recover his ring." But afterwards, when he had withdrawn with his companions to the shelter of the wood, he sang a different tune.

" My friends," said he, " our fortunes are made ! As soon as all is quiet I will climb the tree and get the ring ; then you shall sit on my tail again and we ll all go off together to the King s palace and get the bags of gold ! " He danced for joy, and the dog and the cock and the goose and the rabbit danced with him.

An hour afterwards the cat climbed the tree and came down safely with the little wooden box. The rabbit gnawed it open with his teeth, and sure enough there was the ring inside it.