A Kindle of Kittens

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A KINDLE OF KITTENS Rnmer Godden Illustrated

RuMF.R GoiMM^

by Lymie Byrnes

among

dren, and

a

is

novelist, translator,

world-famous

and writer for

many books

her

Who

day She-Cat, self the

a stray tabby,

mother of four

of good homes.

wrinkled

face,

found her-

kittens in need

One was dark with kitten

there

was no

for the s\\eetest cat of

all

her adult books.

was the

Rye, she

made her

choices,

than Ploney.

all

now

A

between

you

young English artat the Wimbledon Art in London. While workKindle of Kittens, which is

School of ing on her

A

first

a

picture book, Ms. Byrnes vis-

a great

ited

and

Rye, painting

houses

happy and

and people

an,d

sketching the

there,

many

which appear in the book. She successful ones.

Lynne

Surrey, England.

Byrnes's illustrations lovingly

capture the charm of Rye, England, the setting for

A

Kindle of Kittens,

in a

story with enough of a moral perhaps to satisfy

of

former resident of

divides her time

Lyxxe Byrnes is ist who studied

name

deal about the owners) in town, finally

many

valuable,

better

tell

most

Scotland and London.

so hand-

As any good mother \\'ould, She-Cat made a careful survey of the hoiises and dustbins (for they

Rockijig Horse Secret. She was in Sussex, England, but spent

of her childhood and part of her later

thought She-Cat, and so she called him

Money. And

The born

years in India, the setting for

color of orange marmalade, and he was

named Sunny. The third was some and elegant he had to be

Vinegar Bottle, and

in a

a

and so She-Cat called

him Funny. The second

Lived

are

Woman

The Dolls' House, The Old "Kindle'' means to give birth, and one

chil-

everyone— except tomcats.

&>^^ ON®

.\yi lA

of

lives in

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A KINDLE OF KITTENS Rumer Godden

Illustrated

by Lynne Byrnes :f^

^

For Seamiis

The Viking

Press

New York

Text

© Rumer Godden

Illustrations r)

1978

Lynne Byrnes 1978

Ml rights reserved

2

^^gttjkJL--^^ ji"^^'

r T

She was

a little

tabby

cat, striped

on her

legs

and

tail,

and with

a

small striped face in which her eyes looked as big as half-pence.

one knew how she came

to live in the

town and she did not know

either; she did not belong to anyone, but

sometimes

morning

— so

the

of the highest roof in the town and

tiles

looking the

early that the sun

down on

all

town belonged

She

sat

air, until

No

was not up

in the early

— she would walk along sit

the other roofs with their

on the ridgepole

chimney pots; then

to her.

on the ridgepole washing

the clouds turned pink.

herself,

one leg stuck up

in the

She had no name so

that the townspeople called her Cat.

The

kindly ones put out scraps for her, even saucers of milk; the unkind

ones said "Shoo!" and often threw shoes or slippers did not old

mind

;

a little cat

could vanish. She ran along the

tops of high garden walls and slept where she liked

even on the bonnet of a car if

Cat

there were plenty of alleys and passage-ways in this

town down which

an outhouse

at her.

someone

She never went

left

if it

were warm, or

in a

— under

a car,

wheelbarrow or

the door open.

into a real house but she

knew

all

their dustbins.

The town was

so old that

it still

had

its

"big house", the Mansion

House, where an important lady and gentleman lived by the ;

size

of

number of wine bottles in their dustbins Cat knew they were important and had many guests. There was a Town Crier, too, who put on a purple caped coat the meat-bones and fish-spines and the

cocked hat and went round the cobbled streets ringing his

and

a

bell

and crying "Oyez! Oyez!"

amused

the visitors.

He

also

to tell the

had

town news; he much and

his wife

crossed his fingers and spat

when he

a well-filled dustbin

gave Cat some of her best scraps.

There was

a

rude boy

who

saw Cat because he believed

cats, unless

they were black, were

unlucky sometimes he threw, not shoes but stones ;

Woman suffered from him too Woman because she kept her curtains

Quiet

;

at her.

she was called the Quiet

drawn and,

if

she had to go

out shopping, slipped out of her house with her basket

one was about and,

seldom spoke

to

as quickly as possible, slipped

anyone and there was

The

little

when no

back again. She

in her dustbin because

she gave almost everything away, not to people but to the birds or a stray dog; to

-^^

Cat as

well.

>^,''''

^

And

there was the Poet. ''My wishful fishful

he saw Cat. She wished she were at all; like

he said when

The Poet had no

dustbin

Cat he lived on what people gave him because, unHke

her, he often forgot about food. to himself.

fishful!

sprite,^''

No

wonder.

He

He

walked around the town talking

had wonderful words.

''Out of doors I see the spring

Creeping through the alleys dim^^^

chanted the Poet, '''For

I

see the

young moon's ring

." .

.

n:C0^^^ .#^i'^

Like the Poet, Cat often walked the streets but she walked mostly night along the empty pavements, waving her liked the

moon, but

when

best

the ridgepole and look at the

One warm

it

was

town

full.

tail;

Then

and she,

silvered with moonlight.

night she heard a miaoul;

a big

sat beside

"Tell

too,

she would go up on

it

was

a soft

crooning

miaoul, more entrancing than any noise she had ever heard.

made by

at

dark cat with a handsome white vest.

It

was

He came and

her on the ridgepole.

me

your name."

"Cat," said Cat.

am He-Cat." "Then ... I am "I

She-Cat," Cat said shyly.

"Queen Cat," and he came "King Cat," said She-Cat.

Then

they did not

sit

closer.

on the ridgepole any longer; he chased her

and the miaouls became caterwauls.

^ J

K

^\

^-^

\

t3mu0«^'

"^taliMa

>^

^^~

>

V Some weeks

later

She-Cat began

mat, says the old spelling book; the mat. She-Cat began to find

it it

to feel fat.

The fat cat

sat on the

would have been wiser difficult to

climb up

to sit

on

to the

ridgepole. ''I

am

going to have kittens," said She-Cat to herself. "Here's

a nice kindle!"

The

kindly people said, "Kittens! Poor

for the

The

Animal Welfare Man. people

who

said

kindly. "Disgraceful! at

He

"Shoo!"

More

will take

said the

stray cats!

We must send

them away."

same

thing, but not

Telephone the Welfare

"Kittens!" said the rude boy.

"Drown them

She-Cat clambered slowly up

to the ridgepole

looked

wish

three'

like I

Man

six.^

in a bucket."

and washed, but

air; the stripes

on her

face

furrows and her eyes were as big as one-pence pieces.

knew how many

— the Poet had

a she-cat.

or

thing!

once."

she could no longer put a leg up in the

T

little

kits,'

told her

she thought. 'Some queens have

"queen" was the proper name

for

'Some queens have only two, but some have four or

At the thought of six, her

she had only four.

fur

seemed

to stand

on end

five

— but

One was

dark

like

He-Cat: one was marmalade: one was

and handsome: the but they

all

last, a Httle

had white

vests.

queen, was tabby

like

fluffy

She-Cat,

They were born

in a

broken greenhouse among flower-pots, empU"

sacks and a rubbish heap,

went At fur;

all

belonging

to a

deaf old

man who

never

into his garden. first it

all

was delightful; the kittens were Hke warm

little

bags of

they could do was suck and sleep and purr. She-Cat had

never heard purring before; she began to purr too.

The

dark kitten had a face that,

into comical wrinkles,

marmalade

kitten's

him Sunny. The

when he purred like

so sweet that

sun-rays that she called

one was so handsome and elegant she was

sure he was valuable and so she called

was

went

and so she called him Funny. The

orange fur was so

fluffy

or cried,

She-Cat

called her

him Money. The

Honev.

tiny tabby

But presently the

kittens

opened

their eyes

and grew.

r-r^

<0^'^1

They grew

so quickly that soon they were staggering over the

greenhouse floor and chmbing up flower-pots and faUing into them.

They were had

so

to carry

that she

seemed

hungry that She-Cat's milk was not enough and she

them scraps

her scraps.

They made

was sure even the deaf old man would to hear shouts

She-Cat climbed up

of "Animal Welfare to the ridgepole

again, too thin; her eyes

now

to

it

much

find them.

noise

She

Man," and "Buckets." was easy

as she

was thin

looked as big as two-pences. She sat

on the ridgepole and thought.

She was too worried

—

so

wash.

1^ f

'It's all

very well for me,' thought She-Cat,

pavements to eat

my

at night, sleep

what people give

kittens.

on the bonnets of cars or

me

or what

I

in a

wheelbarrow;

can find in dustbins, but for

.

kittens

scampering everyw here

garden walls, getting under

and she shut her eyes

Then

walk on the

.'

She imagined four falling off

'to

•

I

cars,

climbing into dustbins,

in horror.

she opened her eyes and looked

houses of the town. "They must each said She-Cat. "I

after her,

must choose."

down

live in

over the roofs of the

one of those houses,"

She chose

carefully, inspecting every

was hard work

It

to the

house

in the

town.

for a little cat, especially as she

greenhouse every two hours

had

to

go back

to give the kittens her milk,

but

she went round and round until the pads of her paws were sore;

round and round, looking up likely to

She

telephone the Welfare

also looked at

At

at people's faces to see if

last

she

all

made

Man

the dustbins.

her choice.

they were

or had rude boys with buckets.

Funny was Crier's,

Town

to

go to the

Town

even louder than the

Crier, they

Crier.

bell,

and

would be amused

cocked hat; besides, the

Town

His voice was louder than the

at

if visitors

were amused

Funny, even

Crier's wife

if

at the

he hadn't a

was generous and

their

dustbin excellent. It

was quite easy; She-Cat had only

to

put Funny in the

Town

Funny in her mouth and carried him by the neck and laid him on the pavement at the Town Crier's

Crier's way, so she took

scruff of his

feet just as the

Then

Town

Crier was shouting "Oyez! Oyez!"

she went behind a doorpost to watch.

n

Hf'gi^f^

Funny

let

picked

Funny

"Lost

out a

cat!

Anybody

mew

so loud that the

Crier stopped.

He

up.

Lost

cat!

lost a kitten?

Oyez!" cried the

to his wife,

Town

Crier.

"Oyez!

Oyez!"

There was naturally no answer,

home

Town

and that

is

so the

Town

Crier took

where Funny has been ever

Funny

since.

The Quiet Woman was

have Sunny. 'She needs

to

those dark rooms,' She-Cat had thought. Again

knew she had only Quiet

Woman

to

mew

would open

She-Cat carried Sunny

on the doorstep, rubbed hid.

it

a httle

sun in

was easy; she

and rub herself against the door and the it.

as she

at the

had carried Funny and put Sunny

door and mewed, and ran away and

As the Quiet that

it

Woman came

out, a

sun ray caught Sunny's coat so

glowed with such marmalade colours that the Quiet

bhnked; then she gave

a little gasp.

She Hfted Sunny up and cradled him out his rough

little

Woman

tongue

to give the

in her hands.

Quiet

Woman

a

Sunny put shy

lick

on

her chin where, to She-Cat's astonishment, tears were running

down. She-Cat could hear Sunny purring

him

as the

Quiet

Woman

carried

in.

She was never

as quiet again; her curtains

were pulled back and

often she could be seen standing on her doorstep holding talking to

all

the people

who admired him.

Sunny and

Money was more

difficult

because She-Cat had decided that, for

such a handsome and elegant kitten, the only

Mansion House.

'Its

fitting

house was the

lady has dimples,' thought She-Cat, 'and ladies

The gentleman

with dimples are usually kind.

has a beard and

beards are rather frightening, but his eyes are gentle and so voice.'

when

Money, she was

they were so good. But

Its front

how

would never

sure,

how

is

his

see the dustbins; a pity

to get into the

Mansion House?

door was not opened unless somebody knocked or rang and

could a small cat do either? At the back door there was a dog.

She-Cat discovered that the Mansion House was open public on

Wednesday

thought She-Cat, into the

'so

afternoons. 'Well,

it is

open

to me.' It

I

am

to the

part of the public,'

seemed

visitors could

go

drawing-rooms and the garden but were not allowed

upstairs, but, 'That's

where

I

shall

have to

go,'

thought She-Cat.

Next Wednesday afternoon she took Money the

the

mouth he was heaviest of the kittens and she could not help his bumping on pavement. Stone steps led up to the Mansion House front door,

and she waited with Money

came and the

front door

there were so

many

visitors

bought

stuffed sock he

scruff

was

in their

legs she

and

bumped on

in

mouth.

She jumped up on

mouth

— and

it

fell

a big

bed with

— that was an

effort

their

bedroom

and

satin

with such

a big

a lace

Money against a cushion that was Money suited it and it suited Money;

laid

covered in lace and satin too.

he purred and

the

every step but he could not cry as his

door was open and She-Cat saw

kitten in her

among them

Money were not noticed. While took Money upstairs; limp as a

There was no sign of the lady or gentleman, but

cover.

;

until a party of visitors

was opened. She slipped

their tickets, she

in her

shadow

in her

asleep against

it

—perhaps he was

tired

from the

bumping. She-Cat thought, when she

left

him, that

Money had

never

looked as handsome; the lady and gentleman must have thought so too because

Money became

the

Mansion House

cat.

That

left

Honey. 'Dare 1/ thought She-Cat, 'dare

with Honey?

He

is

the nicest

and he does use such walking.

him

Still,'

as with

a

man

in the

town but he has no dustbin,

number of words and he does do

much

she thought, 'Honey will have as

me, probably more because the Poet

someone had

just given

trust the Poet

I

him

a

is

all

that

to eat

with

popular.' Indeed

whole turkey; She-Cat knew that

because she had found the bones in his back garden.

Honey was

used to a tumble of mews and miaows and purrs so she would not

mind

his words,

and

as for walking, she

put her in his pocket.

was so small the Poet could

Honey had never looked

as small as

when

she was put on the

Poet's doorstep, but She-Cat should not have feared

miaowed outside

;

she had

came out and looked round

the door and the Poet

down and saw the kitten. Honey looked up at him, opened her tiny mouth to mew but there was no need. ''Oh my small my sweety my fine my fair for her, then looked

.

^

My darling He

picked

Honey

hoped she would

.

.

^

..." cried the Poet.

tenderly up and put her where She-Cat had

be, in his pocket.

Later that afternoon, she saw him coming out of the dairy with bottle of milk; next he

went

into the fishmonger'^s.

a

She-Cat did not go back

to the

went up

and

kittens

to the ridgepole

were happy and

a

it

was too empty. She

sat there all night,

settled in

Towards midnight Cat heard and saw

greenhouse;

but she knew her

life.

a soft entrancing

crooning miaoul

dark shape with a white vest, but she shut her ears and

her eyes tight.

Towards morning she high up into the

air

started to

wash; she could

stick

now.

She washed and washed

until the clouds

grew pink.

one

leg

'^WJi^l »'W«

^.j

(

The Poet's words are

taken from poems by Fredegond Shove, and I must also acknowledgement make grateful to Patrick S. Collier who gave me, among other things, the collective noun of the title and taught me that "to kindle"

can mean "to give birth".

First

American Edition.

Published

New I

2

in

1979 by

The Viking

3

4

5

82

83

81

Library of Congress Cataloging

Godden, Rumer.

SUMMARY: find suitable [i.

Press, 625

Madison Avenue,

York, N.Y. 10022. Printed in Great Britain.

Cats

—

PZ7.G54Kg

A

80 in

79

PubHcation Data.

kindle of kittens.

After Cat has her four kittens, she has to

homes

I'iction]

[E]

for I.

them.

Byrnes, Lynne.

78-15931

II. Title.

ISBN 0-670-41301-1

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