Page 41 - The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Jr.

disappeared, but he heard her singing.

"Where are the gloves for Easter Day?" she cried, running out of the door of the cottage.

"Here they are, my pretty one," said Puss.

"The rose is red, the violet blue; The gillyflower's sweet, and so are you,"

sang the little girl as she tried them on.

"These are the words you bade me say For a pair of new gloves on Easter Day,

"Aren't they, dear Puss, Junior?" she said, with a smile, looking up at him.

PUSS CONVERSES WITH AN INTELLIGENT GRAY DONKEY

"Donkey, donkey, old and gray, Ope your mouth and gently bray, Lift your ears and blow your horn To wake
the world this sleepy morn,"

called Puss, Jr., who always remembered his Mother Goose rhymes perfectly.

The donkey paused in his grazing and looked up. "This sleepy morn," he repeated. "I don't call this a 'sleepy
morn.' I should say it was very wide awake."

"I guess it is," admitted Puss, "but, you see, I was only saying a little rhyme from Mother Goose."

"Well, I don't see how it applies to the present situation at all," replied the donkey, in a rather ungracious
manner. "The only thing you have right is the donkey part."

Puss felt rather crestfallen. To be corrected by a donkey, generally considered one of the stupidest of animals,
was not at all to his liking. Puss evidently forgot for the moment that all Mother Goose animals are very
intelligent, for otherwise how would they have been celebrated in rhyme? But, like a wise cat, he took the
rebuke meekly and said nothing.

"Well," said the donkey, after a pause, "can I do anything else for you, Sir Cat? Granting that it is too late to
wake the morn, there may be other requests with which I will gladly comply."

"Gracious me!" thought Puss to himself, "he uses big words."

The donkey cocked up both ears as if awaiting Puss, Jr.'s, reply.

"Which is the shorter road across Mother Goose Land?" inquired Puss.

"I don't know the exact number of miles," replied the donkey, thoughtfully, "but the road to your left is the
shorter. The one to your right leads to the seashore. Gingerbread Bridge is at the ending."

"What!" exclaimed Puss, Jr. "Why, you don't say so!"

"What do you know about Gingerbread Bridge?" asked the donkey.

"I crossed it once, and not so very long ago, either," replied Puss.