THE ADVENTURES OF
PUSS IN BOOTS, JR.

THE ADVENTURES OF
PUSS IN BOOTS, JR.

Adventures of Puss in Boots, Jr.

Copyright, 1917, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS, JR.

PUSS IN BOOTS, JR., BEGINS HIS TRAVELS

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.

A VISIT TO PIGGIE'S MAMMA

Puss, Jr., saw a very nice-looking lady pig standing in the doorway of a queer little cabin. She had on a blue gingham apron over a short skirt of gray, and a very tight-fitting shirt-waist, which was stretched almost to the bursting-point as she raised her right forefoot to shade her eyes.

"Well, here you are at last!" she exclaimed to Piggie. "But look at your trousers; you've torn a big hole in them!"

He looked ruefully at the rent in his little blue jeans. "I got stuck in the fence," he whimpered.

"He'd be there yet if I hadn't pulled him out," volunteered Puss, Jr., hoping to divert her attention from his little friend.

Mrs. Porker, for that was her name, turned and looked at him, as much as to say, "Where did you come from?" but she didn't; she only very politely remarked: "Thank you for helping Piggie. I'm sorry to say he does not always mind mother. But come, you both are hungry, I know." And she led the way into the cabin.

At a round table in the room two little pigs were already eating their dinner. "What is your name?" asked Mrs. Porker in a kindly tone, pushing a chair up next to hers for Puss.

"Puss in Boots, Junior, madam," he replied, with a polite bow.

"This is Wiggie and this is Tiggie," said their mother, and the two small pigs got up and shook hands with him.

They had a merry lunch, and he was surprised to see how clean and well behaved the Porker family was.

"You know," said Mrs. Porker, as if reading his thoughts, "that pigs are really the cleanest of animals, only man is so cruel to pigs—he shuts them up in small pens and makes them appear quite the opposite. Just read the books about us and you will see. Yes," she continued, "when pigs are allowed to run around they are clean as they can be; only when they are little they are often most disobedient." And she looked at Piggie, who got very red in the face.

"I don't believe he'll disobey again," answered Puss, Jr. "You have such a nice playground here in the woods I shouldn't think he would want to run away to that dusty road again; just look at my boots." And he thrust his foot out and showed the bright-red tops all dingy with the day's travel.

Lunch was now over, and after politely thanking Mrs. Porker for her goodness Puss said good-by to the three little pigs.

"Don't forget me," called out Piggie as Puss, Jr., climbed over the fence.

"Of course I won't," he called back, and waved his paw to Piggie in the doorway.

PUSS SEES THE COW JUMP OVER THE MOON

"Hey diddle-diddle," she sang in a high, sweet voice, and scratched away on the strings like a player in an orchestra.

"Tell me," Puss, Jr., said to her as the music stopped for a moment, "why is the moon out to-day? I thought it only came out at night."

"Why, don't you know?" she replied. "It is going to let the cow jump over it to-day."

"Indeed! and when does that happen?"

"Oh, any minute now; in fact, there she comes through the gate." And, sure enough, across the fields a beautiful black-and-white cow came leisurely toward them.

"Good morning," she exclaimed, as she neared our two friends, and, turning to the cat with the fiddle, she said: "Are you ready? If you are, just strike up a lively tune so that I can get into step before I try for my jump."

Puss, Jr., was so interested that he forgot to ask another question, but stood still while the cow commenced to prance around, keeping perfect time to the music.

"Faster, faster!" she called, as she swung into a canter. "I'm going to get a flying start; you know, if you get a flying start the higher you will fly when you do fly."

This undoubtedly was true, for in a moment more she rose gracefully from the ground toward the moon.

"Be careful!" screamed the Man in the Moon, leaning out as she approached near enough for his voice to reach her. "Be careful and don't clip off a piece with your hoof as you go over!"

She did as he told her, and sailed over in a long, sweeping curve and landed safely in a patch of clover at the other end of the field.

"Great!" exclaimed Puss, Jr. "You did it splendidly!"

"Oh, that's nothing!" she answered, although she seemed rather proud of her feat. "Oh, that's nothing at all!"

"I don't agree with you," he replied. "I should think you'd be very proud of your feet; they're as good as wings."

The Jumping Cow paid no more attention to him, but munched away at the clover like an ordinary cow.

"She won't say another word to-day," whispered the cat behind her fiddle; "but if you're around this way to-morrow morning and it's a nice day she may try another jump."

"I'm sorry," Puss, Jr., replied, "but by that time I shall be far away upon my journey. Thank you just the same." And with these words he took off his hat to Miss Pussy and resumed his travels along the cool, shady path through the woods.

PUSS MEETS YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

Down the road came a pony at a mad gallop, and seated upon his back was a very queer-looking person. In his cap was a long feather and in his right hand was a big whip. The pony was galloping along at a great rate, and every now and again his rider would give a tremendous whoop, like an Indian brave. "Yankee Doodle Dandy!" he yelled, and then the pony would stand up on his hind legs and neigh.

"Look out!" yelled the rider, as he approached Puss. "Don't you see you are in the way?"

"Am I?" said Puss, drawing to one side of the road.

"Well, not now," said the rider, drawing rein and looking at Puss with a good deal of interest. "Where's your horse?"

"Where's my horse?" repeated Puss, looking about as if he expected to find one.

"Yes, where's your steed?" continued the stranger.

"Haven't got any," said Puss. "My two legs are all that I have to carry me."

"Get up behind me," said the stranger. "My name is Yankee Doodle Dandy, and a Yankee is always willing to give a fellow-traveler a lift, whether he be on the high seas or on the road."

"Thank you, my fellow-traveler," replied Puss, and he sprang nimbly to the saddle and clung tightly to the coat-tails of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

"Git-ap!" cried the latter, and away went the pony down the road. In a short time the towers and church steeples of a town came into view.

Suddenly a queer-looking figure tumbled down from the sky on to the road just in front of them. Yankee Doodle Dandy reined in his horse just in time; otherwise he would have run over the Man in the Moon.

"Why don't you fall any other place but right in front of my horse?" asked Yankee Doodle Dandy, in a stern voice.

"Couldn't help it," answered the Man in the Moon. "You must remember it's not such an easy thing to hit the exact spot you intend to when you jump all the way from the moon. It's almost impossible. I've even heard that an aeroplane has some difficulty in dropping bombs so that they hit the mark."

"Well, I've heard that, too," admitted Yankee Doodle Dandy, "although up to this time Yankeeville has not suffered from any air attacks."

"Well, don't be too sure," answered the Man in the Moon. "I've seen a few things from my moon house that you never even dreamed of."

"Did you never hear the rhyme about the Man in the Moon?" Puss asked, politely.

"No, I never did," said the Man in the Moon.

"What!" exclaimed Puss in surprise.

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Man in the Moon, "you are joking; I'm sure you are," and he turned his footsteps toward the south.

"'He went by the south and burnt his mouth,'" said Puss.

"We can't help it," said Yankee Doodle; "he will go that way."

PUSS SINGS A SONG AND HELPS A BEGGAR

"Good-by!" cried the little boy, quite sorrowfully, waving his hat as Puss disappeared down the street.

"Heigh-ho!" said Puss to himself, "once more on my journey. I'm a wandering minstrel, as it were," and to suit his words he began to sing:

"A pussy-cat poet!" cried a voice close at hand.

Puss, Jr., started and turned. At his side stood a beggar-man.

"I'm hungry," said the poor fellow, "and poets, I hear, are always generous," and he held out his hat for Puss to drop in a penny.

"Are they?" inquired Puss, with a grin; he put his hand into his pocket and took out a sixpence. "Here, my good man," he said, "take this little piece of money. It is more than I will get for the song which you seem to admire so much.

"What are you going to buy with the money?" he asked, after they had walked along for some time. They had left the city and were now in the country.

"I'm going to get some pease porridge hot," answered the beggar. "I'm going to spend that sixpence in short order! I haven't had a thing to eat since yesterday morning."

"I have never gone hungry so long as that," said Puss. "I think I've been pretty lucky since I started out to find my father, Puss in Boots."

"Puss in Boots!" exclaimed the beggar-man with surprise. "Why, I once stopped at a castle where there was a most wonderful cat. He was the seneschal, I think, and a most intelligent animal."

"Where was the castle?" asked Puss. "I mean, in what country?"

"I don't remember," replied the beggar-man. "You see, I have begged at so many back doors and so many postern gates that I have them all jumbled up together in my memory."

"Dear me," said Puss. "Will I ever find anybody who really knows where my father lives?"

Along the road came a man with a big white apron over his coat. In front of him he wheeled a little cart in which was a large pot of porridge.

"Well, it won't be in that pot even nine minutes!" cried the beggar-man. "Here, my good friend," he cried, "give me sixpence worth of your porridge, and be quick about it."

"Don't be in a hurry," said the porridge-man. "Where's the sixpence?"

"Here in my good right hand," replied the beggar-man.

"Ah!" said the porridge-man, "you shall have your porridge."

"I will also have some," said Puss.

"Hot or cold?" asked the man.

"You take yours hot and I'll take mine cold," said the beggar-man, and in a few minutes the porridge was all gone.

PUSS FOLLOWS WEE WILLIE WINKIE

"Wait for me!" cried Puss, Jr., but Wee Willie Winkie did not stop. On he ran, turning the next corner before Puss could overtake him. Half-way down the block Puss stopped and ran up the steps of a small house. Lifting the big brass knocker, he let it fall with a rap that soon brought a maid to the door.

"Goodness me!" she exclaimed. "What have we here?"

"Is anybody at home?" said Puss, flicking the dust off the red tops of his boots in a most unconcerned way, as if, indeed, he had been accustomed to making calls all his life.

The maid held out a little silver tray. "I will take your card."

Poor Puss! He didn't have any!

"But I'm Puss in Boots, Junior," he said, with such a lovely purr that the maid opened the door wide:

"Come in, dear Puss, Junior."

Just then Wee Willie Winkie ran down the stairs, crying: "Are the children in their beds? It's past eight o'clock." Closing the front door, he whispered through the keyhole, "Are the children in their beds?" And before he reached the sidewalk he turned back and, rapping on the window, cried, "It's past eight o'clock!"

"Little kittens don't need Wee Willie Winkie, I guess," said the maid, tickling Puss, Jr.'s, head.

The lullaby made Puss, Jr., sleepy, for the man's voice was low and tender, and Puss was very tired.

In a sleepy voice he asked, "And has the mother gone to the mill to get the meal for the cake?"

"Indeed she has," replied the maid.

After this she went into the kitchen. Puss gazed about him for a while and then dropped off to sleep, hearing the drowsy voice of the man up-stairs singing:

All was very quiet. "Tick-tock, tick-tock," said the big clock, and a mouse peeped out of his hole and laughed to himself when he saw Puss fast asleep. He tiptoed over to the red-topped boots that had fallen off Puss, Jr.'s, tired little feet, and even crawled inside. Perhaps he wanted to tell his father how brave he had been to go inside a big cat's high-top boots while the owner snored close by. Presently he ran over to the hole in the wall. I imagine it did not take him long to tell his story, for in a few minutes three little mice crept out and tiptoed over to where Puss lay sleeping so soundly.

"Did you ever see any nicer boots than these?"

Mr. Mouse put on a very wise expression.

"They are certainly a very fine pair of boots," said he, "and they have the mark of a royal cobbler."

"Gracious me! how interesting!" cried Mrs. Mouse; "let me take a look." And she inspected Puss, Jr.'s, footwear with much interest. "Beautifully made," she said. "This must be a royal cat, for otherwise why should he have a royal cobbler?"

"I only hope he is not a royal mouser," replied Mr. Mouse, "and I think, now that we have seen all we have, we had better return, for who knows when he may awake?"

So they scampered off, leaving Puss, Jr., still sound asleep.

PUSS, JR., MEETS THREE JOLLY WELSHMEN AND THE QUEEN OF HEARTS