Fifty Famous Stories Retold
rooms where the other people slept. There were many holes in the floor
and walls, and every night a great number of rats and mice came in.
They tor-ment-ed Dick so much, that he did not know what to do.
One day a gentleman gave him a penny for cleaning his shoes, and he
made up his mind that he would buy a cat with it. The very next
morning he met a girl who was car-ry-ing a cat in her arms.
"I will give you a penny for that cat," he said.
"All right," the girl said. "You may have her, and you will find that
she is a good mouser too."
Dick hid his cat in the garret, and every day he carried a part of his
dinner to her. It was not long before she had driven all the rats and
mice away; and then Dick could sleep soundly every night.
III. THE VENTURE.
Some time after that, a ship that belonged to Mr. Fitzwarren was about
to start on a voyage across the sea. It was loaded with goods which
were to be sold in lands far away. Mr. Fitzwarren wanted to give his
servants a chance for good fortune too, and so he called all of them
into the parlor, and asked if they had anything they would like to
send out in the ship for trade.
Every one had something to send,--every one but Dick; and as he had
neither money nor goods, he staid in the kitchen, and did not come in
with the rest. Little Alice guessed why he did not come, and so she
said to her papa,--
"Poor Dick ought to have a chance too. Here is some money out of my
own purse that you may put in for him."
"No, no, my child!" said Mr. Fitzwarren. "He must risk something of
his own." And then he called very loud, "Here, Dick! What are you
going to send out on the ship?"
Dick heard him, and came into the room.
"I have nothing in the world," he said, "but a cat which I bought some
time ago for a penny."
"Fetch your cat, then, my lad," said Mr. Fitzwarren, "and let her go
out. Who knows but that she will bring you some profit?"
Dick, with tears in his eyes, carried poor puss down to the ship, and
gave her to the captain. Everybody laughed at his queer venture; but
little Alice felt sorry for him, and gave him money to buy another
cat.
After that, the cook was worse than before. She made fun of him for
sending his cat to sea. "Do you think," she would say, "that puss will
sell for enough money to buy a stick to beat you?"
At last Dick could not stand her abuse any longer, and he made up his
mind to go back to his old home in the little country town. So, very
early in the morning on All-hal-lows Day, he started. He walked as far
as the place called Hol-lo-way, and there he sat down on a stone,
which to this day is called "Whit-ting-ton's Stone."
As he sat there very sad, and wondering which way he should go, he
heard the bells on Bow Church, far away, ringing out a merry chime. He
listened. They seemed to say to him,--
"Turn again, Whittington, Thrice Lord Mayor of London."
"Well, well!" he said to himself. "I would put up with almost
anything, to be Lord Mayor of London when I am a man, and to ride in a
fine coach! I think I will go back and let the old cook cuff and scold
as much as she pleases."
Dick did go back, and he was lucky enough to get into the kitchen, and
set about his work, before the cook came down-stairs to get
break-fast.
IV. THE CAT.
Mr. Fitzwarren's ship made a long voyage, and at last reached a
strange land on the other side of the sea. The people had never seen
any white men before, and they came in great crowds to buy the fine
things with which the ship was loaded. The captain wanted very much to
trade with the king of the country; and it was not long before the
king sent word for him to come to the palace and see him.
The captain did so. He was shown into a beautiful room, and given a
seat on a rich carpet all flow-ered with silver and gold. The king and
queen were seated not far away; and soon a number of dishes were
brought in for dinner.
They had hardly begun to eat when an army of rats and mice rushed in,
and de-voured all the meat before any one could hinder them. The
captain wondered at this, and asked if it was not very un-pleas-ant to
have so many rats and mice about.
"Oh, yes!" was the answer. "It is indeed un-pleas-ant; and the king
would give half his treas-ure if he could get rid of them."
The captain jumped for joy. He remembered the cat which little
Whittington had sent out; and he told the king that he had a little
creature on board his ship which would make short work of the pests.
Then it was the king's turn to jump for joy; and he jumped so high,
that his yellow cap, or turban, dropped off his head.
"Bring the creature to me," he said. "If she will do what you say, I
will load your ship with gold."
The captain made believe that he would be very sorry to part with the
cat; but at last he went down to the ship to get her, while the king
and queen made haste to have another dinner made ready.
The captain, with puss under his arm, reached the palace just in time
to see the table crowded with rats. The cat leaped out upon them, and
oh! what havoc she did make among the trou-ble-some creatures! Most of
them were soon stretched dead upon the floor, while the rest
scam-pered away to their holes, and did not dare to come out again.
The king had never been so glad in his life; and the queen asked that
the creature which had done such wonders should be brought to her. The
captain called, "Pussy, pussy, pussy!" and the cat came up and rubbed
against his legs. He picked her up, and offered her to the queen; but
at first the queen was afraid to touch her.
However, the captain stroked the cat, and called, "Pussy, pussy,
pussy!" and then the queen ventured to touch her. She could only say,
"Putty, putty, putty!" for she had not learned to talk English. The
captain then put the cat down on the queen's lap, where she purred and
purred until she went to sleep.
The king would not have missed getting the cat now for the world. He
at once made a bargain with the captain for all the goods on board the
ship; and then he gave him ten times as much for the cat as all the
rest came to.
The captain was very glad. He bade the king and queen good-by, and the
very next day set sail for England.
V. THE FORTUNE.
One morning Mr. Fitzwarren was sitting at his desk in his office. He
heard some one tap softly at his door, and he said,--
"Who's there?"
"A friend," was the answer. "I have come to bring you news of your
ship 'U-ni-corn.'"
Mr. Fitzwarren jumped up quickly, and opened the door. Whom should he
see waiting there but the captain, with a bill of lading in one hand
and a box of jewels in the other? He was so full of joy that he lifted
up his eyes, and thanked Heaven for sending him such good fortune.
The captain soon told the story of the cat; and then he showed the
rich present which the king and queen had sent to poor Dick in payment
for her. As soon as the good gentleman heard this, he called out to
his servants,--
"Go send him in, and tell him of his fame; Pray call him Mr.
Whittington by name."
Some of the men who stood by said that so great a present ought not to
be given to a mere boy; but Mr. Fitzwarren frowned upon them.
"It is his own," he said, "and I will not hold back one penny from
him."
Dick was scouring the pots when word was brought to him that he should
go to the office.
"Oh, I am so dirty!" he said, "and my shoes are full of hob-nails."
But he was told to make haste.
Mr. Fitzwarren ordered a chair to be set for him, and then the lad
began to think that they were making fun of him.
"I beg that you won't play tricks with a poor boy like me," he said.
"Please let me go back to my work."
"Mr. Whittington," said Mr. Fitzwarren, "this is no joke at all. The
captain has sold your cat, and has brought you, in return for her,
more riches than I have in the whole world."
Then he opened the box of jewels, and showed Dick his treasures.
The poor boy did not know what to do. He begged his master to take a
part of it; but Mr. Fitzwarren said, "No, it is all your own; and I
feel sure that you will make good use of it."
Dick then offered some of his jewels to his mistress and little Alice.
They thanked him, and told him that they felt great joy at his good
luck, but wished him to keep his riches for himself.
But he was too kind-heart-ed to keep everything for himself. He gave
nice presents to the cap-tain and the sailors, and to the servants in
Mr. Fitz-warren's house. He even remembered the cross old cook.
After that, Whittington's face was washed, and his hair curled, and he
was dressed in a nice suit of clothes; and then he was as handsome a
young man as ever walked the streets of London.
Some time after that, there was a fine wedding at the finest church in
London; and Miss Alice became the wife of Mr. Richard Whittington. And
the lord mayor was there, and the great judges, and the sher-iffs, and
many rich mer-chants; and everybody was very happy.
And Richard Whittington became a great merchant, and was one of the
foremost men in London. He was sheriff of the city, and thrice lord
mayor; and King Henry V. made him a knight.
He built the famous prison of New-gate in London. On the arch-way in
front of the prison was a figure, cut in stone, of Sir Richard
Whittington and his cat; and for three hundred years this figure was
shown to all who visited London.
CASABIANCA.
There was a great battle at sea. One could hear nothing but the roar
of the big guns. The air was filled with black smoke. The water was
strewn with broken masts and pieces of timber which the cannon balls
had knocked from the ships. Many men had been killed, and many more
had been wounded.
The flag-ship had taken fire. The flames were breaking out from below.
The deck was all ablaze. The men who were left alive made haste to
launch a small boat. They leaped into it, and rowed swiftly away. Any
other place was safer now than on board of that burning ship. There
was powder in the hold.
But the captain's son, young Ca-sa-bi-an'ca, still stood upon the
deck. The flames were almost all around him now; but he would not stir
from his post. His father had bidden him stand there, and he had been
taught always to obey. He trusted in his father's word, and be-lieved
that when the right time came he would tell him to go.
He saw the men leap into the boat. He heard them call to him to come.
He shook his head.
"When father bids me, I will go," he said.
And now the flames were leaping up the masts. The sails were all
ablaze. The fire blew hot upon his cheek. It scorched his hair. It was
before him, behind him, all around him.
"O father!" he cried, "may I not go now? The men have all left the
ship. Is it not time that we too should leave it?"
He did not know that his father was lying in the burning cabin below,
that a cannon ball had struck him dead at the very be-gin-ning of the
fight. He listened to hear his answer.
"Speak louder, father!" he cried. "I cannot hear what you say."
Above the roaring of the flames, above the crashing of the falling
spars, above the booming of the guns, he fancied that his father's
voice came faintly to him through the scorching air.
"I am here, father! Speak once again!" he gasped.
But what is that?
A great flash of light fills the air; clouds of smoke shoot quickly
upward to the sky; and--
"Boom!"
Oh, what a ter-rif-ic sound! Louder than thunder, louder than the roar
of all the guns! The air quivers; the sea itself trembles; the sky is
black.
The blazing ship is seen no more.
There was powder in the hold!
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A long time ago a lady, whose name was Mrs. Hemans, wrote a poem about