Kitty-cat tales

"Kitty-cat tales" by Alice van Leer Carrick is a collection of children's stories written in the early 20th century. Framed by a lonely girl named Dolly and her talking kitten Impty, it offers cat-centered fairy tales, fables, and folk retellings shared night by night. The tone is cozy and moral, with whimsical adventures and gentle humor told in a classic, read-aloud style. The opening of this collection finds Dolly, left with strict Miss Jane while her parents are away, comforted by Impty, a black kitten who speaks and promises a new “Kitty-Cat tale” each night. First comes The White Cat, where a prince aided by a mysterious feline wins three trials and frees an enchanted princess. Next is the Japanese tale The King of the Field-Mice, rewarding a kind gardener while punishing a greedy neighbor. The Discontented Cat shows a cottage cat, dazzled by palace luxury and bullied by a lapdog, learning home is best. In The Cat Who Married a Mouse, a tom’s lies—Top-off, Half-Gone, All-Gone—end in betrayal and the mouse’s demise. Mother Michel and Her Cat follows Moumouth through a steward’s plots (drowning, poison, coercion) to a joyful return and the villain’s downfall. Two brief fables—Venus and the Cat and The Cat and the Fox—stress that nature doesn’t change and one sure trick beats a hundred vain ones. The excerpt closes as Dick Whittington begins: Dick finds work in London, sends his cat on a trading ship, nearly runs away, but the Bow Bells call him back just as the ship reaches a foreign court.