Dick and the Cat
In the fifteenth century there lived a poor Boy. His name was Dick . Dick’s father and mother died when he was only twelve, so Dick lived alone in his house with his cat. The house was very old. The walls were thin and there were holes in the roof. In winter, the weather was very bad. It was very windy and sometimes it snowed, and Dick would feel very unhappy. But he was a brave boy. He never complained. Dick was also honest. He never stole and never told a lie. Every day he went to work. He helped the farmers on their farms, he helped the women in their houses, and he helped the merchants in their shops. And they gave him food and clothes.
One day Dick went for a walk at the river with his cat. He saw a beautiful ship in the river. A sailor was on the bank watching workers carrying things into the ship.
“Is that your ship, sir?” Dick asked the sailor.
“No sonny,” the sailor laughed. “I only work on the ship.”
“Where does she go, sir?”
“Oh, to many places. She goes to England, France, Germany. Sometimes she goes to India and China,” the sailor answered.
“May I come with you, sir? I can work hard, and I’ll do any work for you. Please let me sail in the ship.”
“What will your parents say?” the sailor asked.
“They are dead, sir. I’m all alone in the world,” Dick said sadly. The sailor looked at Dick kindly and said, “All right. I welcome you to the ship.”
A week later the ship came to a big city. “We’ll stop here for a few days,” the sailor told Dick. You can go and see the city.” Dick went gladly. He took his cat with him. He had never been abroad, so he felt very excited. The city was very big but it was dirty. It was very crowded, and the people threw food and dirty things everywhere. So there were many rats in the city. Even in the palace there were rats. “Get rid of the rats and you will get a big piece of gold,” the king said. But no one could get rid of the rats. Dick heard this and said to himself, “I can do it.” He went to the palace and was taken to the king. “Very good, boy. Get rid of the rats in my palace and I’ll give you a piece of gold.”
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That day Dick stayed in the palace. At night the rats came out and Dick’s cat ran after them and killed many of them. Night after night the cat did this and soon there
were no rats in the palace. The king was very glad. He gave Dick a piece of gold. “Stay with us and get rid of the rats in the city, and I’ll give you bigger pieces of gold,” the king said. Dick accepted this gladly. He got rid of the rats, and he became a very important man in the city. “Dear friend,” he said to his cat, “you have done a very