afterwards a wolf came to pay his respects, and knocked at the door.
Wolf. Good day, Mrs. Cat, with your whiskers so trim;
How comes it you're sitting alone so prim?
What's that you are cooking so nicely, I pray?
Cat. O, that's bread and milk for my dinner to-day.
Will your worship be pleased to stay and dine,
Or shall I fetch you a glass of wine?
"No, I thank you: Mrs. Fox is not at home, I suppose?"
Cat. She sits all alone,
Her griefs to bemoan;
For, alas! alas! Mr. Fox is gone.
Wolf. Ah! dear Mrs. Puss! that's a loss indeed;
D'ye think she'd take me for a husband instead?
Cat. "Indeed, Mr. Wolf, I don't know but she may,
If you'll sit down a moment, I'll step up and see."
So she gave him a chair, and shaking her ears,
She very obligingly tripped it up stairs.
She knocked at the door with the rings on her toes,
And said, "Mrs. Fox, you're within, I suppose?"
"O yes," said the widow, "pray come in, my dear,
And tell me whose voice in the kitchen I hear."
"It's a wolf," said the cat, "with a nice smooth skin,
Who was passing this way, and just stepped in
To see (as old Mr. Fox is dead)
If you like to take him for a husband instead."
"But," said Mrs. Fox, "has he red feet and a sharp snout?" "No," said the cat. "Then he won't do for me." Soon after the wolf was sent about his business, there came a dog, then a goat, and after that a bear, a lion, and all the beasts, one after another. But they all wanted something that old Mr. Fox had, and the cat was ordered to
