80 Rendering 7 Dick Whittington and His Cat

More than five hundred years ago there was a little boy named Dick Whittington, and this is true. His father and mother died when he was too young to work, and so poor Dick was very badly off and often had to go hungry. Now the country folk in those days thought that the people of London were all fine ladies and gentlemen, and that there was singing and dancing all the day long, and so rich were they there that even the streets, they said, were paved with gold. Dick used to sit by and listen while all these strange tales of the wealth of London were told, and it made him eager to go and live there and have plenty to eat and fine clothes to wear.

So one day when a great wagon with eight horses stopped on its way through the village, Dick made friends with the wagoner and begged to be taken with him to London. This is how Dick found himself in the grand city. But oh! How disappointed he was, when he got there. How dirty it was. And the people didn't look happy at all and paid no attention to the boy. Dick wandered and wandered up and down the streets, until he was tired out. It was growing dark and at last he sat down in a corner and fell asleep. For two or three days he lived in the streets begging, only just able to keep himself alive.

Once in his wanderings he lay down to rest in the doorway of the house of a rich merchant whose name was Fitzwarren. But here he was soon seen by the cook-maid who was an unkind, bad tempered woman. She cried out to him to be off, and called him a lazy rouge. However, just then Mr Fitzwarren himself came home to dinner, and when he saw what was happening, he asked Dick why he was lying there. Dick told the kind man his story and the merchant gave orders for him to be taken into the house and gave him a good dinner. Dick stayed in Mr Fitzwarren's house and helped in the kitchen. It was very unfortunate as the ill-natured cook did her best to make his life a misery. Night and morning she was forever scolding him. Nothing he did was good enough. At last it came to the ears of Miss Alice, Mr Fitzwarren's daughter.

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And she told the cook that she would quickly lose her place if she didn't treat him more kindly, for Dick had become quite a favourite with the family. After that the cook's behaviour was a little better, but Dick still had another hardship that he bore with difficulty. For he slept in the attic with a lot of holes in the walls and the floor. Every night as he lay in bed the room was overrun with rats and mice, and sometimes he could hardly sleep a wink. One day he bought a cat that turned out to be an excellent mouser. In a little while Dick had no more bother with rats and mice. Puss took care of that, and he slept sound every night.

Soon after this Mr Fitzwarren had a ship ready to sail; and as it was his custom, he asked all his servants what they would send out. They all had something that they were willing to sell except poor Dick, who had neither money nor goods. All he had was his cat. His master, Mr Fitzwarren advised Dick to send out the cat. There were tears in the boy's eyes when he gave his puss to the captain. All the company laughed at Dick's odd venture and miss Alice, who felt sorry for him, gave him some money to buy another cat.

Now this, and other marks of kindness shown him by Miss Alice, made the ill-tempered cook jealous of poor Dick and she began to use him more cruelly then ever. At last poor Dick could stand it no longer and ran away. He walked as far as Holloway, and here he sat down to rest on a stone, which to this day is called "Whittington's Stone", and began to think which road he should take. While he was thinking the bells of the old church began to chime, and as they rang he fancied that they were singing over and over again:

"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."

"Lord Mayor of London!" said he to himself. "Well, I'll go back, and think nothing of the scolding of the cross old cook if I am to be Lord Mayor of London at last." So back he went, and he was lucky enough to get into the house, and set about his work before the cook came down.

Meanwhile the ship Unicorn that the cat was on put into harbour on the coast of Barbary. The people of Barbary had never before

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seen a ship from England. The King of Barbary sent the captain an invitation to dinner. But as soon as they began eating, great numbers of rats and mice rushed in helping themselves from all the good things there. This was when the captain remembered Dick's cat and told the king that it would rid him of the unwelcome visitors. "Bring it to me at once," said the king. "I will load your ship with gold and jewels in exchange for it." The cat was fetched and as soon so she saw the rats and mice, she jumped out of the captain's arms, and in no time almost all the rats and mice were dead at her feet.

The king was as good as his word and after a fair voyage the Unicorn reached London with a precious load of gold and jewels. Dick Whittington became one of the richest people in England. He was far too kind-hearted to keep all the treasure to himself, so he made a present to Mr Fitzwarren and Alice and the captain and all the servants; and even to his old enemy, the cross cook. After that he dressed like a gentleman. In a smart suit of clothes he was just as handsome and fine a young man as any who visited Mr Fitzwarren's house. Some time later he married fair Alice Fitzwarren who had once been so kind to him.

History tells us that Mr Whittington and his lady lived in great splendours, and were very happy. Richard Whittington was Sheriff and three times Lord Mayor of London, and received the honour of knighthood from Henry V.