PETER HUMBUG AND THE WHITE CAT
with the prettiest wife should be successor to the throne. Although the king was not altogether pleased with this proposition, mainly for Peter's sake, he assented, especially as Peter himself made no objection.
The two brothers thought that this time it was quite impossible for Peter to win. What princess in the world would care to marry a person like Peter Humbug?
Peter trudged along; but where should he go and find a pretty wife? He speculated and speculated, hardly knowing whither he was going, until he found himself again at the hut in the forest. Having knocked at the door and heard the cat call "Come in!" he ate and slept; and next morning the animal asked him why he had returned again. Peter told her that he was seeking a wife, but did not know how to find one. When the cat heard the circumstances, she said that he had better stay where he was. Peter did not know whether it would be of any use to him, as he had never seen a single human being around this place, and he must, of course, seek a beautiful princess, or some person of high rank and great beauty; but as the cat had helped him so well the two previous times, he followed her advice, however, and consented to stay on the same conditions as before.
One day passed like the other. When the cat was washed and combed, Peter was at liberty to roam about in the woods to his heart's content.
93
