[Illustration] [Illustration] MILLIONS OF CATS [Illustration] BY WANDA GÁG PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK by COWARD-M^cCANN, INC. IN THE YEAR 1928 Copyright 1928 by COWARD M^cCANN, INC. ALL rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. By the Jersey City Printing Co. MILLIONS OF CATS [Illustration] Once upon a time there was a very old man and a very old woman. They lived in a nice clean house which had flowers all around it, except where the door was. But they couldn’t be happy because they were so very lonely. [Illustration] “If we only had a cat!” sighed the very old woman. “A cat?” asked the very old man. “Yes, a sweet little fluffy cat,” said the very old woman. “I will get you a cat, my dear,” said the very old man. [Illustration] [Illustration] And he set out over the hills to look for one. He climbed over the sunny hills. He trudged through the cool valleys. He walked a long, long time and at last he came to a hill which was quite covered with cats. [Illustration] Cats here, cats there, Cats and kittens everywhere, Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats. [Illustration] [Illustration] “Oh,” cried the old man joyfully, “Now I can choose the prettiest cat and take it home with me!” So he chose one. It was white. But just as he was about to leave, he saw another one all black and white and it seemed just as pretty as the first. So he took this one also. [Illustration] [Illustration] But then he saw a fuzzy grey kitten way over here which was every bit as pretty as the others so he took it too. And now he saw one way down in a corner which he thought too lovely to leave so he took this too. [Illustration] And just then, over here, the very old man found a kitten, which was black and very beautiful. “It would be a shame to leave that one,” said the very old man. So he took it. [Illustration] And now, over there, he saw a cat which had brown and yellow stripes like a baby tiger. “I simply must take it!” cried the very old man, and he did. [Illustration] So it happened that every time the very old man looked up, he saw another cat which was so pretty he could not bear to leave it, and before he knew it, he had chosen them all. [Illustration] And so he went back over the sunny hills and down through the cool valleys, to show all his pretty kittens to the very old woman. It was very funny to see those hundreds and thousands and millions and billions and trillions of cats following him. [Illustration] [Illustration] They came to a pond. “Mew, mew! We are thirsty!” cried the Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats. “Well, here is a great deal of water,” said the very old man. Each cat took a sip of water, and the pond was gone! [Illustration] [Illustration]