This is a story of horror.It happened many years ago, but I still remember it clearly.I will never forget it - and my wife will never forget it either.
After we were married, my wife, Amelia, and I went to Germany. We went to stay in the old city of Nurnberg.
In Nurnberg, Amelia and I met an American. Like us, he was on holiday. His name was Elias. The three of us became good friends and we spent a lot of time together. Every day, we went round the city looking at the buildings. They were very old and very beautiful.
The oldest building in Nurnberg is the castle. The castle stands high above the centre of the city. From the castle, visitors can look down and see the city below them. There is a moat at the foot of the castle walls. At one time, the moat was filled with water. The moat kept the people in the castle safe from their enemies.
Now, however, there is no water. There has not been water in the moat for hundreds of years. Today, there are fruit trees and beautiful gardens in the moat. The road up to the castle is steep and long.
One day, Amelia , Elias and I went to visit the castle. We walked up the steep road and looked down at the gardens in the moat far below. It was summer and the sun was hot.
People were sitting in the shade under the trees in the gardens. It was a beautiful scene.
We walked further up the hill and looked down again into the moat. Far down, near the bottom of the wall, we saw a cat. It was a large black cat and she was playing with her kitten. The kitten was chasing its mother's tail and they were happy together. It made us feel happy too.
How happy they are said Elias. Let's join them in their game. We can play with them.
Elias bent down and picked up a stone.
Look, he said, I'll drop this stone. It will fall near the kitten. And it won't know where the stone came from. It will puzzle the cats.
Be careful, said Amelia. She looked unhappy and frightened. Please be careful. Don't hit the little kitten with the stone.
I won't hit the kitten, replied Elias. I want to play with them. I don't want to hurt them.
But it's a long way down, said Amelia. It's dangerous
No, no, said Elias. Look, I'll drop the stone far away from the kitten and its mother.
Elias bent over the wall. He opened his hand and dropped the stone. We all looked down. The stone fell and hit the kitten. The kitten died immediately.
The mother cat looked up. Her green eyes stared straight at us. Then she looked at her dead kitten and licked its body. She looked up at Elias again. She opened her mouth and showed her sharp teeth. Her teeth were red with the kitten's blood.
Suddenly the cat tried to run up the wall. She wanted to reach us. She ran up a short way and then fell back to the ground. She fell on top of the kitten. Her fur became red with the kitten's blood. The cat looked very frightening.
Amelia was so upset that she felt ill. I took her to a nearby seat. She sat down in the warm sun.
I walked back to the wall. Elias was standing there. He was looking over the wall. The cat was still trying to run up. She wanted to reach us. Every time she tried to climb up, she fell to the ground again. She looked more horrible every time.
The poor cat is going mad, said Elias. It was an accident. I'm sorry I dropped that stone. I only wanted to play with the cats. I didn't want to kill the pretty little kitten.