In truth, the cunning cat had hidden the clothes under a large stone.
The king immediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and fetch one of his best suits for the Lord Marquis of Carabas.
The king received him very courteously.[14] And, because the king’s fine clothes gave him a striking appearance (for[15] he was very handsome and well proportioned), the king’s daughter took a secret inclination to him. The Marquis of Carabas had only to look at her a couple of times and she fell head over heels in love with him.[16] The king asked him to enter the coach and join them.
The cat ran on ahead.[17] Meeting some countrymen who were mowing a meadow,[18] he said to them, “My good fellows, if you do not tell the king that the meadow you are mowing belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped up like mincemeat.[19]”
The king asked the mowers whose meadow it was that they were mowing.
“It belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas,” they answered altogether because the cat had frightened them.
“You see, sir,” said the Marquis, “this is a meadow which always yield a plentiful harvest every year.”
The master cat, still running on ahead, met with some reapers, and said to them, “My good fellows, if you do not tell the king that all this grain belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped up like mincemeat.”
The king, who passed by a moment later, asked them whose grain it was that they were reaping.
“It belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas,” replied the reapers, which pleased both the king and the marquis. The king congratulated him for his fine harvest. The master cat continued to run ahead and said the same words to all he met. The king was surprised at the big estates of the Lord Marquis of Carabas.
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