The further adventures of Gobbolino and the little wooden horse

8 SOOTICA

Leaving the bats to find shelter for themselves in the rabbit holes, Gobbolino and the little wooden horse began to climb the very steep and narrow path between the rocks to the summit of the mountain.

Now that he was back again in this bleak and unfriendly country Gobbolino became very nervous, and said no more about sending the little wooden horse home. If his friend had left him Gobbolino would hardly have had the courage to climb on alone, so dark and angry were the crags, and so steep the track below them. The sun was rapidly leaving the sky, and the rocks were cold and blue.

For a short while they could still hear the squeaking of the bats below, but soon these sounds died away and they were terribly alone.

The path wound up and up and up. The sun went down, and the mountains seemed to be covered in a great black counterpane. The moon had not yet risen, and the stars were very faint. It was not a good place to be caught in at night, but neither of them wanted to arrive after dark in the witchs cavern.

Round a corner they came upon one of the many caves squeezed in between the rocks — caves that the bats had not been allowed to claim for their own. The cave was empty now, and the friends looked at one another with one single thought in their minds. If they crept inside and spent the night in the cave they might face the next morning with more courage, and in daylight. They did not need to say a word aloud to each other, but turning off the path they stole inside.

Gobbolino felt much safer when the walls of the cave were around him, and he was deadly tired. He lay down close beside the body of the little wooden horse, and almost immediately fell asleep.

The little wooden horse stayed awake only long enough to make sure that the cave was quite empty, and that no strange noises threatened them from the mountain above. His wooden heart beat pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, for he did not like this part of the country any better than Gobbolino did. But nothing would have persuaded him to desert his friend, although he could not help thinking very anxiously about his dear master back there in the forest, who would be daily expecting him to come home.

Their adventure had scarcely begun, since they did not know why Gobbolino's sister had sent such a piteous message, nor what kind of trouble she might be in.

"But there is nothing I can do about it till the morning," said the little wooden horse very sensibly, so he too went off to sleep.

When he woke up the cave was full of moonlight. It shone straight in from the entrance, and standing in the middle of it, looking straight at him, was Gobbolino.

The little wooden horse leapt to his feet. He thought Gobbolino must be leaving without him, taking advantage of the moonlight and not wanting to waste any more time waiting in the cave.

But Gobbolino was coming into the cave, not going out, and his face did not wear the kind and friendly expression that the little wooden horse had learnt to know so well. It wore a suspicious, rather fierce look, and he now noticed that the cat’s eyes were flashing with a green light, not blue, and that all its paws were black. It was so exactly like Gobbolino in every other way that the little wooden horse had to stare at it again and again to make sure he had not made a mistake, and this was his friend after all.

But if he had any doubts left these were quickly dispelled by a flurry of dark fur at his side. Three black paws and one white one sprang out of the shadows in a single bound, as Gobbolino’s voice cried joyfully:

"Sister! My sister Sootica!. Is it really you? Oh, sister! Sister! How glad I am to see you!"

The two cats fell upon each other, licking and purring. The green fire died down in Sootica’s eyes. She seemed overwhelmed with joy to see her brother. The cave resounded with their joyous miaows and purrs, and the little wooden horse was feeling slightly left out in the cold when suddenly Gobbolino remembered him, and proudly introduced him to his sister.

"My best, my most true and trusted friend!" he said. "I would not be here at all if it had not been for him!"

"Well, I never! Well, I never!" said Sootica, walking round and round the little wooden horse. It was quite evident that she had not seen anything like him before.

"Where do you come from?" she asked curiously. "And what are you doing here?"

"I came to help my friend Gobbolino in answering your plea," said the little wooden horse solemnly. He could not help noticing that Sootica looked perfectly healthy and able to look after herself. She did not appear harassed, or in distress, nor, in fact, in any kind of trouble at all.

"The owl brought me the message that you sent, sister!" said Gobbolino eagerly. "I started out that very same morning, and here I am! And why did you send for me, sister? Please tell me why!"

The eyes of the witchs cat half closed, and grew cunning.

"I was missing you, brother," she whined, looking at him through green slits, "I was feeling so lonesome without you! But I thought you would come by yourself! I did not expect you to bring a friend!"

Sootica did not seem at all at ease with the little wooden horse. Every time she looked at him she shifted from one black paw to another, and she kept walking round and round him, staring.

"You needn’t be nervous, sister," said Gobbolino, "he is the best and bravest little horse in all the world! And if we can do anything between us to help you, let us know quickly what it is, because in the forest Uncle Peder will be anxiously waiting for his horse to come home, and I promised the children at the farm that I would not be long away."

Suddenly the witch’s cat lost all her bravado. Her green eyes filled with tears, and she looked piteously at the two friends.

"I want to be a kitchen cat too!" she sobbed. "I am tired of being a witch’s cat! My mistress gets more and more bad-tempered every day! I am never allowed to do as I please. I have to work at making spells and practising wickednesses from dawn till dark! I don’t enjoy it any morel I want a safe and happy home like yours to live in!"

"I want to be a kitchen cat tool"

Gobbolino was very distressed. He knew how he had suffered himself while trying to find a home when he was half a witch’s cat, and here was his sister Sootica, steeped in spells and sin, but longing to settle down in some safe and happy home while she was still under the power of a witch. How could she imagine such a thing was possible? And how long would she be satisfied to live the life of a common mouser? How far could she be trusted to behave like an ordinary cat, and not get up to tricks which, as Gobbolino knew, were sure to be worse and more unpleasant than any he had ever learnt himself. And how likely was it that the witch would allow her to go free? A witch relies on her cat to stay by her side for ever and ever. She would not part with Sootica just for the asking.

"How can you bear to give up the life you told me was so exciting?" Gobbolino reproached her.

"I am tired of my exciting life, brother!" said Sootica simply, and the tears rolled out of her green eyes down to the black fur of her bib. "I want to be good and happy like you!"

"For ever?" said Gobbolino, disbelievingly.

"For ever!" Sootica repeated, nodding vigorously

"Your mistress threw me into her cauldron to turn me into a kitchen cat," said Gobbolino. "When I came out I wasn’t a witch’s cat any longer. Would she do the same for you?"

"Oh, no!.. Never, never, never!" shuddered Sootica. "I wouldn’t tell her I was leaving her, because if I did she would never let me out of the cave again! I must come with you secretly, while she is asleep. In the early morning, perhaps, when she is fast asleep after being out all night, and she won’t notice if I am there or not."

"But if she were to wake up and find you gone," shuddered Gobbolino, "she would be sure to chase you, and she would catch us all three!"

"Oh, she would! She would!" chuckled Sootica, her tears drying. "But I have a trick worth two of that! We must pass through running water! Witches can’t pass through running water, or even over it, but witches’ cats can! Well be quite safe when we have done that!"

Gobbolino thought of the stream halfway across the plain, where they had eaten their dinner. He thought too of the hounds that had chased them, and suddenly remembered the bats.

"If you were to come back with us, would the bats be able to live in the caves at the foot of these mountains?" he asked his sister. "Because we promised them we would try to arrange it, and they would not have to go back to the church belfry and disturb the villagers any more."

"Oh, the bats!" said Sootica scornfully. "They can sleep anywhere they please for all I care! My mistress will soon get tired of turning them out of the caves when she hasn't got me to do it for her!"

The little wooden horse had not said anything for a long while, but now he spoke, looking very gravely at the witch's cat, Sootica.

"I think you are intending to behave very badly towards your mistress," he said severely. "After all, hasn't she brought you up since you were a kitten? Hasn't she fed you, and given you a home, and taught you all you know? Bad she may be, but she is your mistress and you owe it to her to be faithful. What is she going to do for a cat if you leave her like this?"

"I'm sure I don’t know, and I certainly don’t care!" said Sootica crossly.

"Do go and ask her permission first, sister," urged Gobbolino. "Perhaps she will allow you to leave if you really want it so badly!"

"You are perfectly crazy if you think so, brother," said Sootica scornfully. "Do you really think that at her age she wants to train up another kitten to be as clever as me? Not likely!."

"Just as I told you!" retorted the little wooden horse. "You really cannot be so inconsiderate towards your mistress. Make the best of the life you have chosen, my friend — I can assure you that you would soon get tired of living the quiet existence of a kitchen cat, like your brother Gobbolino!"

"I would never get tired of it!" scowled Sootica.

"Perhaps your mistress still has the spell in the cauldron that she dipped me in!" said Gobbolino suddenly. "And if she has, you have only to dip yourself in it and all will be settled in an instant. Once you are an ordinary cat the witch will not want to have you, and you will never want to be a witch’s cat again!"

"Ha!" laughed Sootica scornfully "You do have some foolish ideas in your head, my poor silly brother! Why, when I returned from dropping you off the back of my broomstick on to your happy farmyard home, the witch had already tipped the rest of the spell down the mountainside! No, there is no hope for it but to escape, and I intend to come with you first thing in the morning!"

"But why did you send for me if you meant to escape in any case?" asked Gobbolino, puzzled.

At once the eyes of the witch’s cat became sly, and she half closed them again.

"I will tell you how you can help me, brother!" she said. "My mistress is old and getting very blind. She would never know the difference between us if, for a few hours, you took my place, just long enough for me to reach the plain and across the water that will break her power over me. Only a very few hours, Gobbolino! Just long enough for you to hide your tabby coat in the shadows while she sleeps away the daylight, and as long as she thinks it is me sleeping in the corner she will not take the slightest notice of you. Do just this little favour for me, brother, and I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

Gobbolino’s ears flattened on his head from sheer terror at such a dreadful idea.

"But my paw! My white paw! And my eyes are blue!" he protested helplessly.

"You must keep your eyes half closed and she will never notice the colour!" cried Sootica. "And I shall black your paw with dirt off the walls. After all, it is only for such a little while!" she coaxed him. "My mistress sleeps for hours and hours after her night excursions, and I can assure you you will be as safe up there in her cave as by your own fireside at home!"

"Oh, no! No! No!" sobbed Gobbolino, while the little wooden horse stood up as straight as a wooden soldier beside him, determined to defend his friend to the last.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mistress Sootica!" he exclaimed. "How can you ask such a thing of your brother? It is wicked and cruel and heartless, and if I have any say in the matter he shall do no such thing!"

"And I shall have to stay a witch’s cat for ever and ever!" said Sootica subsiding into tears. "Very well! You are selfish and cold-hearted, the pair of you! And it is you who ought to be ashamed of yourselves! There you are both of you with happy homes, and a welcome waiting for each of you when you return; but here am I, doomed to a miserable existence for the rest of my life. I hope you will think of me now and again when you are warm and purring by your own hearth, brother!. We were born and bred side by side, but look at us now!"

Gobbolino was nearly sobbing himself.

It all came back to him, the wretched hours and days and weeks he had spent in the witch’s cave, a slave to her powers and her spells and her mischief. He had never been so miserable in all his life as in those days, and now he was going to abandon his sister to the same fate, rather than help her, just for the shortest possible time, to make her escape.

He looked at the little wooden horse.

"It would be very much better not to do as she asks," said the horse. "I think you will regret it if you do!."

"I only want to be good like you are!" wept Sootica. "I don't want to be wicked any more! Won’t you help me to be good, dear friends? Or are you going to abandon me for ever and ever and ever?"

Even the little wooden horse was silent now.

It was a problem bigger than any he had had to deal with. On the one hand, there was the well-being and safety of his friend Gobbolino, and on the other the saving of a fellow creature, steeped to be sure in wickedness, but who might, if they helped her, turn into something better.

The one person he could think of who might make a good cat of Sootica for the rest of her nine lives was his dear old Uncle Peder. But the risk! Oh the awful risk of such an undertaking, even for a few short hours!

While they all stood dumbly facing one another in the moonlight a shrill and far-off screeching summoned Sootica from the top of the mountain. It was the witch, calling for her cat to join her on her night’s excursions.

Sootica shot to her feet with her fur standing on end.

"My mistress! I must go before she sees you!" she exclaimed. "Brother! I beseech you to do this one thing for me! Just this one little thing! Meet me high up on the mountain when the sun touches the topmost crag, and I will show you where to hide yourself! Please, brother! Oh, do! Oh, do! Just think! You will be giving me my last chance of happiness!"

There came another screech from above, and Sootica shot out of the cave and was gone.