WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.559 Preface, Madame, there are moments when one seems to come 2 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:09.400 to life. One looks about and distinguishes a creature whose 3 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:15.000 footprint closely resembles the ace of spades. The thing says, bow, wow, 4 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:18.719 it is a dog. One looks again. The ace of 5 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.320 spades is now an ace of clubs. The thing says, 6 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.640 p fh, and it is a cat. This is the 7 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:29.760 history of the visible world, and in particular that of 8 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:33.240 my god children, Toby Dog and Kiki the demure. They 9 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:35.719 are so natural. I use the word in the sense 10 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.439 in which it is applicable to the savages of Oceania, 11 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:41.280 that all their acts conspire to make of life a 12 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:45.359 very simple proposition. These are animals in the fullest sense 13 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.840 of the word animo. If I may employ the original 14 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:53.159 orthography capable of exclaiming with those of faust, the fool 15 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.280 knows it not, he knows not, the pot, he knows 16 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.320 not the kettle. And as such, Madame, you have place 17 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:04.560 them exactly where they should be. Their earthly paradise is 18 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:09.359 the apartment of Monsieur Villi. In your sannon, the probable 19 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.560 palm and rubber plant give the impression of luxuriant edenic 20 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:18.159 flora relatively speaking, and illustrate the transmogrification, which is to 21 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:22.680 allow Monsieur Gaston de Champ, critic of a tant Pleucepassy, 22 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:27.840 to announce to the wilderness, where he speaks familiarly of Chateaubriand, 23 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.680 and to the College de France, how well he can 24 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.799 admire and understand a true poet. For you are a 25 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.840 true poet, and I will declare it freely, not concerning 26 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:41.519 myself more with the legend's. Parisians have the habit of 27 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:46.200 weaving about every celebrity they admire Gauguin and Verleines, not 28 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:50.400 so much for their originality as for their eccentricities. And 29 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:55.120 so it happens that certain persons, unacquainted with the nameless sentiment, 30 00:01:55.319 --> 00:02:00.000 the order and purity, the thousand interior virtues which guide you, 31 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.040 persist in saying that you wear your hair short and 32 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:08.360 that Willy is bald. Must I, then, living at RTEs, 33 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:11.919 tell tu Paris who you are, present you to all 34 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:14.800 who know you, I who have never seen you. I 35 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:18.879 will say then that Madame Colette Willie never had short hair, 36 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.199 that she does not wear a masculine attire, that her 37 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.479 cat does not accompany her when she goes to a 38 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.840 concert that her friend's dog does not drink from a tumbler. 39 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:33.439 It is inexact to say that Madame Colette Willie works 40 00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:38.639 in a squirrel's cage, or performs upon trapees and flying rings, 41 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.879 and can reach with her toe the nape of her neck. 42 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.919 Madame Colette Willie has never ceased to be the plain 43 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.319 woman Barich Senance, who rises at dawn to give oats 44 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.080 to the horse, maids to the chickens, cabbage to the rabbits, 45 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:58.960 groundsel to the canneries, snails to the ducks, and bran 46 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.639 water to the pigs. At eight o'clock summer and winter, 47 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:07.520 she prepares the cafolet for her maid and herself. Scarcely 48 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.319 a day passes that she does not meditate upon this 49 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:19.080 admirable book. A Lady's Country House by Madame Miller. Robine, orchard, kitchen, garden, stable, 50 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:24.759 poultry yard, beehive, and hothouse have no further mysteries for 51 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:29.520 Madame Colette Willie. They say she refused to divulge her 52 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.520 secret for the destruction of mule crickets to a great 53 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:38.319 statesman who preyed her on his knees. Madame Colette Willie 54 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:40.599 is in no way different from the description I have 55 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.360 just given of her. I am aware that certain folk, 56 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:48.400 having met her in society, insist upon making her very 57 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.879 complex a little more, and they would have ascribed to 58 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:57.199 her the tastes of the mustiest symbolists. And one knows 59 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:01.360 how far from pleasing those muses Robes, how odious the 60 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:06.479 yellow band above the faces expressionless as eggs. Robes and 61 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.919 Bardeux are to day relegated to drawers in the capital 62 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.719 at Toulouse, from which they will never be taken more, 63 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:17.720 except when occasion calls for the howling of official Alexandrine 64 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:22.120 in honor of Monsieur Gaston de champ Jeoret or Ras 65 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:26.560 Saint Getorie. Madame Colette Willie rises today on the world 66 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.959 of letters as the poetess at last, who, with the 67 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.000 tip of her slipper, sends all the painted laureled cotton 68 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:39.079 lyre carrying muses that from Monsielle Tourna have roused the 69 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.000 aspirations of classes in rhetoric, rolling from the top to 70 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:48.319 the bottom of Parnassus. How charming she is, thus presenting 71 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:52.360 her bulldog and her cat with as much assurance as 72 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:56.839 Diana would her hound or a bercanti her tiger, see 73 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:01.360 her apple cheeks, her eyes like bluemyer soota, her lips 74 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:06.199 poppy petals, and her ivy like grace. Tell me if 75 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:09.360 this way of leaning against the green barrier of her 76 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.639 garden close, or of lying under the murmurous arbor of Midsommer, 77 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:18.839 is not worth the starched manner that old magistrate du Vigny, 78 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.560 with his neckcloth wound three times around, and rigid in 79 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:29.800 his trouser straps imposed upon his goddesses. Madame Colette WILLI 80 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:33.279 is a live woman, a real woman who has dared 81 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:36.439 to be natural, and who resembles a little village bride, 82 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:40.279 far more than a perverse woman of letters. Read her book, 83 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.920 and you shall see how accurate are my assertions. It 84 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.839 has pleased Madame Colette Willy to embody in a couple 85 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:52.680 of delightful animals, the aroma of gardens, the freshness of 86 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:56.839 the field, the heat of state roads, the passions of men. 87 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.920 For through the girlish laughter ringing in the forest, I 88 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.319 tell you I hear the sobbing of a well spring. 89 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.959 One does not stoop to a poodle or tom cat 90 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:11.800 without feeling the heart wrung with dumb anguish one is 91 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.240 sensible in comparing ourselves to them. Of all that separates 92 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:21.560 and of all that unites us. A dog's eyes hold 93 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:25.120 the sorrow of having, since the earliest days of creation, 94 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:29.399 licked the whip of his incorrigible persecutor in vain. For 95 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.680 nothing is mollified man, not the prey brought him by 96 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:36.879 a famishing spaniel, nor the humble girelessness of shepherd dog 97 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:40.800 guarding the peace of the shadowy flocks under the stars. 98 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:45.319 The tragic fear shines in the cat's eyes. What are 99 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:47.560 you going to do to me, it seems to ask, 100 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:51.079 lying on the rubbish heap, a prey to mange and hunger, 101 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.839 and feverishly it waits the new torture that will shatter 102 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.639 its nervous system. But have no fear. Madame Colette Willie 103 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:03.240 is very kind. She quickly dispels the hereditary dread of 104 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:06.800 Toby Dog and Kiki the demure. She meliorates the race, 105 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:10.079 so that dogs and cats will learn in the end 106 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.240 that it is less dull to frequent a poet than 107 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.399 an unhappy College de France candidate. Had this candidate proven 108 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.519 more copiously still, but the author of memoir Dettle Tomes 109 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:26.439 had Topsy turvily described the jawbone of the crocodile. Toby 110 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:29.560 Dog and Kiki the Demure know well that their mistress 111 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:31.920 is a lady who would do no harm, neither to 112 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.319 a piece of sugar nor to a mouse. A lady who, 113 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:38.720 for our delight jumps a rope she has woven of 114 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:42.360 flower words which she never bruises, and with which she 115 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:46.240 perfumes us. A lady who sings with the voice of 116 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:51.000 a clear French rivulet, that wistful tenderness which makes the 117 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:58.040 hearts of animals beat so fast. Francis jam End of 118 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.000 Prefacemtis Personi. 119 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:05.040 Toby Dog a French bulldog read by Troy Bard. 120 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:11.279 Kiki the Demure a Maltese cat read by Bob Gonzales. 121 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.839 He Master of Minor Importance read by Matthew Reyese. 122 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:23.240 She Mistress of Minor Importance read by Roseanne Schmidt. 123 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.959 The Little Dog read Byshadah. 124 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:35.639 The Narration read by Sandra Sentimentalities the Sunny Porch, Toby 125 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:39.759 Dog and Kiki the Demure sprawl on the hot stone flags, 126 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:44.679 taking their after luncheon nap. The silence of Sunday prevails 127 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:48.639 yet Toby Dog is not asleep. The flies and a 128 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:54.600 heavy luncheon torment him hind quarters flattened out frog fashion, 129 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:59.120 he drags himself on his belly up to Kiki the Demure, 130 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:02.000 whose body is perfectly quiet. 131 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:03.240 Are you asleep? 132 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.960 The demure purse feebly. 133 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.480 Are you even alive? You're so flat you look like 134 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:13.799 the empty skin of a cat. 135 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:17.960 Kiki the Demure, in faltering tones. 136 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:23.240 Let me alone, not sick? Are you? 137 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:30.279 No? Let me alone? I'm asleep. I'm not even conscious 138 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:35.600 of my body. What's torments to live with you? I've eaten, 139 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:37.879 it's two o'clock. Let's sleep. 140 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:41.440 I can't. Something's made a ball in my stomach. It 141 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.559 means to go down, I guess, but very slowly. And 142 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:48.000 then these flies, these flies, the eyes start out of 143 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.120 my head. At the sight of one of them, I'm 144 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:53.159 all jaws bristling with terrible teeth. Just hear them snap. 145 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:57.320 Yet the infernal things escape me. Oh my ears, Oh 146 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:01.360 my poor sensitive brown belly. My fever knows there you 147 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:04.519 see right on my nose. What shall I do? I 148 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.840 squint all I can two of them? Now, No, only one, 149 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:10.799 No two? I toss em up like bits of sugar, 150 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.919 and it's the empty air. I snap, I'm worn out. 151 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:17.159 I detest the sun and the flies and everything. 152 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:22.679 Ooh, he wails Tiki the Demure, sitting up, his eyes 153 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:24.480 pale from the light and sleepiness. 154 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:30.039 Well, you've succeeded in waking me. That's all you wanted, 155 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:34.480 isn't it. My dreams are gone, these flies that you 156 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:38.519 are pursuing, I hardly felt their little teasing feet through 157 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:42.399 my thick fur. The nearest touch like a caress now 158 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:46.600 and then thrilled along the silky sloping hairs, which clothed me. 159 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:51.240 But then you never act with any discretion. Your vulgar 160 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.720 gaiety is a nuisance, and when sad, you howl like 161 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:56.279 a low comedian. 162 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:57.639 Toby Dog bitterly. 163 00:10:58.200 --> 00:10:59.840 If you woke up, just tell me that. 164 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:02.399 Tiki the Demur correcting. 165 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.639 Of course you'll remember twas you woke me. 166 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.759 I was so uncomfortable. I wanted someone to help me, 167 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.440 to give me a word of encouragement. 168 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:17.720 I don't know any digestive words. Fancy they're giving me 169 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:21.879 a bad character. When just examine your conscience a bit 170 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:25.159 and compare us. Hunger and heat wear you out and 171 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.639 drive you mad. Cold makes your blood curdle. 172 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:30.679 Tuby dog vexed. 173 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.279 Mine is a sentenive nature, a demoniacal nature. 174 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:39.320 You mean no, I don't mean that you. You're a monstrous egoist. 175 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.720 Perhaps you and the two paws don't understand what you're 176 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:49.039 pleased to call a cat's egoism, our instinct of self preservation, 177 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:53.840 our dignity, our modest reserve, our attitude of weary renunciation, 178 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.399 which comes of the hopelessness of ever being understood by them, 179 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:02.080 They dub in haphazard fashion egoism. You are not a 180 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.559 very discriminating dog, but at least you are free from prejudice. 181 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.639 Will you understand me better? A cat is a guest 182 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.559 in the house, not a plaything. Truly, these are strange 183 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:16.919 times we're living in the two paws. He and she 184 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:20.399 have they alone the right to be sad or joyful, 185 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:23.759 to lick plates, to scold, or to go about the 186 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:28.080 house indulging their capricious humors. I too have my whims, 187 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.879 my sorrows, my irregular appetite, my hours of reverie when 188 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:34.919 I wish to be alone. 189 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.440 Toby Dog attentive and conscientious. 190 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:41.919 I'm listening, but I can hardly follow what you say. 191 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.720 It's so complicated, A bit over my head, you know. 192 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.639 But you astonish me. Are they in the habit of 193 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.720 hindering you in your changeful moods? You mew and they 194 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:53.559 open the door. You lie on the paper, the sacred 195 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:58.159 paper he's scratching on. He moves away, marvelous condescension, and 196 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.159 leaves you a soil page. You meander up and down 197 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.840 a scratching table, obviously in question of mischief, your nose 198 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:07.559 wrinkled up, your tail giving quick little jerks back and 199 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.559 forth like a pendulum. She watches you, laughing while he 200 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:15.159 announces the promenade of devastation. How then can you accuse them? 201 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:17.919 Kiki the demure, insincere. 202 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.840 I don't accuse them, after all, psychological subtleties are not 203 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:23.519 in your line. 204 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:26.720 Don't speak so fast. I need time to understand, it. 205 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:31.440 Seems to me, Kiki the Demure slyly pray. 206 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.799 Don't hurry. Your digestion might suffer in consequence. 207 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:39.000 Toby Dog, unconscious of the irony. 208 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.399 You're right, I've some trouble in expressing myself to day. Well, 209 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.120 here goes. It seems to me that of the two 210 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.440 of us, it's you they make the most of and 211 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:49.960 yet you do all the grumbling. 212 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.480 A dog's logic that the more one gives, the more 213 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:55.159 I demand. 214 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.440 That's wrong, it's indiscreet. 215 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:02.679 Not at all. I have a right to everything, to everything, 216 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:06.080 and I I don't imagine you lack anything, do you? 217 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.519 I don't know. Sometimes in my very happiest moments, I 218 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.759 feel like crying. My eyes grow dim, my heart seems 219 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.120 to choke me. I would like to be sure, in 220 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:19.120 times of such anguish, that everybody loves me, that there 221 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.519 is nowhere in the world a sad dog behind a 222 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.039 closed door, that no evil will ever come. 223 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:29.360 Kiki is a demure jeering And then what dreadful thing happens? 224 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:34.360 You know very well inevitably at the moment she appears, 225 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.279 carrying a bottle with horrible yellow stuff floating in it, 226 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.320 castor oil. Wilful and unfeeling, she holds me between her 227 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.240 strong knees, opens. 228 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:46.360 My jaws close them tighter, but I'm. 229 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.200 Afraid of hurting her, and my tongue horrified taste the slimy, 230 00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:54.200 mawkish stuff, I choke and spit. My poor face is convulsed. 231 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.240 In the end of this torture is long and coming. 232 00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:00.559 You've seen me afterwards, dragging myself around melon Collie, my 233 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:04.039 head hanging, listening to the unwholesome glue, glue the oil 234 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:05.120 makes in my stomach. 235 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.039 Once, when I was little, she tried to give me 236 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:12.080 castor oil. I scratched and bit her, so she never 237 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:12.799 tried again. 238 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:13.039 Ha. 239 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:17.240 She must have thought she held the devil between her knees. 240 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:22.320 I squirmed, blue fire through my nostrils, multiplied my twenty 241 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:25.600 claws by a hundred, my teeth by one thousand, and 242 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:29.000 finally disappeared, as if by magic. 243 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.559 I wouldn't dare do that. You see, I love her. 244 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.519 I love her enough to forgive her even the torture 245 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:36.279 of the bath. 246 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.279 Kiki, the demure interested. 247 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:43.320 You do, tell me how it feels. It makes me 248 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.519 shiver all over just to see her putting you in 249 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:46.000 the water. 250 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:51.120 Alas, listen then and pity me. Sometimes, when she's come 251 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:53.120 out of her tub with nothing on but her skin, 252 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:56.840 her soft, hairless skin, that I look respectfully, she spills 253 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.559 out more warm water, throws in a brown brick which 254 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:03.759 smells them tar, and calls Toby. That's enough. The soul 255 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.480 quits my body. My legs shake under me. Something shines 256 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.960 on the water the pitcher of a window, all twisted 257 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.200 out of shape, It dances about and blinds me. She 258 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.679 seizes me, poor swooning thing that I am, and plunges 259 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:19.879 me in e Gods. From that time on, I'm lost. 260 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.799 My one hope isn't her. My eyes fasten themselves on 261 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:26.159 to hers, while a close warmth sticks to me like 262 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.200 another skin on top of mine. The brick's all foamy. 263 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:33.360 Now I smell tar, my eyes and nostrils smart. There 264 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:37.080 are storms in my ears. She grows excited, breathes loud 265 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.000 and fast, laughs, and scrubs me lightheartedly. At last she 266 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.759 rescues me, fishing me out by the nape of my neck. 267 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:47.240 I paw the air, begging for life. Then comes the 268 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:51.279 rough towel and the warm coverlet, where, exhausted, I relish 269 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:52.320 my convalescence. 270 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.840 Kiki the demure, deeply. 271 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:59.080 Impressed, Calm yourself, jove the telling it alone. 272 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.840 But you old sly boots, didn't I see her one day, 273 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.920 armed with a sponge, standing over you, holding you down 274 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:06.920 on the toilet table. 275 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:09.960 Do you give it a mule? Quite embarrassed, lashing his. 276 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.759 Tail an old story, the long fluffy hairs on my legs, 277 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:17.960 which gave them the outline of a zwoves had somehow 278 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.400 gotten dirty. She insisted upon washing me. I persuaded her 279 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:24.880 that I suffered atrociously under the sponge. 280 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:27.880 What a fivery you are? Did she believe you? 281 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:33.039 Um? At first it was my own fault, though when 282 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.359 she didn't turned over on my back, I proffered the 283 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:40.359 candid belly, the terrified and forgiving eyes of a lamb 284 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:44.880 about to be sacrificed. I felt a slight coolness, nothing more. 285 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.359 A fear that my sensibilities might be destroyed took possession 286 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:54.400 of me. My rhythmical wailings increased, then subsided, then went 287 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.200 up again, like the noise of the sea. You know 288 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.200 the strength of my voice. I imitated the calf, the 289 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:04.880 whipped child, the cat in the night, the wind under 290 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.359 the door. Little by little I grew enraptured with my 291 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.640 own song, so that long after she finished soiling me 292 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.920 with the cold water, I continued wailing, my eyes fixed 293 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.960 on the ceiling. Then she laughed tactlessly and cried out, 294 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:21.160 you're as untruthful as. 295 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:23.519 A woman toby dog, with conviction. 296 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:25.400 That was annoying. 297 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:28.319 I was angry with her the entire afternoon. 298 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.160 Oh as to sulking, you do your share. I never 299 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.000 can I forget injuries. 300 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:36.559 Kiki the Demure, dryly. 301 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.559 You lick the hand that chastens you. Oh, it's well. 302 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:42.599 Known, Toby dog gullible. 303 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:46.319 I looked the hand that Yes, that's it, exactly, an 304 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:48.240 awfully pretty expression. 305 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.519 Not mine. Dignity doesn't trouble you any my word. I'm 306 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:57.400 often ashamed for you. You love everybody, You take all 307 00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:01.240 sorts of rebuffs without even raising your back. You're as 308 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.880 pleasant and as banal as a public garden. 309 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.160 Don't you believe it? You ill bred cat. You think 310 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.039 you know everything, and you don't understand simple politeness. Frankly, now, 311 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.720 would you have me snarl at his or her friend's heels? 312 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.039 Well dress people who know my name? Lots of people 313 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:19.720 I don't know know my name, and good naturally pull 314 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:20.359 my ears. 315 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:22.400 I hate new faces. 316 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:26.640 I don't love them either, whatever you say, I love her. 317 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:30.240 And him and I him and her. 318 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.039 Oh I guess your preference long ago. There's a sort 319 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.519 of secret understanding between you two. 320 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:41.240 Jikit the Demure, smiling mysteriously and abandoning himself to his referee. 321 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:46.880 An understanding, yes, secret and profound. He rarely speaks, but 322 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.119 makes a noise like a mouse scratching his paper. It's 323 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:53.279 for him. I've treasured up my little heart, my precious 324 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.839 cat's heart, and he, without words, has given me his. 325 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:00.599 This exchange makes me happy and reserved. Now and then, 326 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.319 with the pretty wayward ruling instinct which makes us cat's 327 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:07.839 rivals of women, I try my power over him. When 328 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.680 we are alone, I point my ears forward devilishly as 329 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:13.960 a sign that I am about to spring upon his 330 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:18.359 scratching paper. The tap tap tap of my paws, straight 331 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:22.440 through pens and letters and everything scattered about, is addressed 332 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.279 to him, as well as the insistent meowling. When I 333 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:29.680 beg for liberty him to the door knob, he laughingly 334 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.960 calls it or the plaint of the sequestered cat. The 335 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:37.920 tender contemplation of my inspiring eyes is for him alone. 336 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:42.039 They weigh on his bent head until the look I'm 337 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.279 calling searches and meets mine in a shock of souls 338 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:50.160 so foreseen and so sweet that I must needs close 339 00:20:50.279 --> 00:20:54.559 my lids to hide the exquisite shyness I feel as 340 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:58.480 for her. She flutters about too much, often jostles me, 341 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:01.599 holds my paws together, and rocks me in the air, 342 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:06.319 pets me in excited fashion, laughs aloud at me, imitates 343 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:07.799 my voice too well. 344 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.960 Toby Dog moved with indignation. 345 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:14.039 You're very hard to please. I certainly love him. He's 346 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.200 good and pretends not to see my faults so that 347 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:19.000 he won't have to scold. But she's the most beautiful 348 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.720 thing in the world to me, the dearest and the 349 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.440 most difficult to understand. The sound of her step enchants me. 350 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:30.799 Her changeful eyes dispense happiness and trouble. She's like destiny itself. 351 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.599 She never hesitates, even torture from her hands. You know 352 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:40.359 how she teases me cruelly, No, not cruelly, but artfully. 353 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:44.039 I never can tell what's coming next. This morning, she 354 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.440 bent down as if to speak to me, lifted one 355 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.759 of my tiny elephant's ears, as she calls them, and 356 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:51.960 sent a sharp cry into it, which went to the 357 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.720 very back of my brain horrors. Was it right or wrong? 358 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.279 I can't decide Even now. It started waves of nervis 359 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.759 running madly through me. Then she has a fancy for 360 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:07.160 making me do tricks. Almost every day. I must do 361 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:09.960 the fish, Toby Dear. She lifts me in her arms 362 00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:12.920 and squeezes me until I gasp. My poor dumb mouth 363 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.359 opens as the carpst does when they're drowning it in air. 364 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:17.839 That's just like her. 365 00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:22.279 Suddenly I find myself free and still alive, miraculously saved 366 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.359 by the power of her will. How beautiful life seems 367 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.200 to me. Then, how fondly I locked the hend hanging 368 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:29.519 at her side, the hem of her. 369 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:34.200 Dress kikika demure contemptuously, a pretty thing to do. 370 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.400 All good and evil come to me from her. She 371 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:40.720 is my worst torment and my one sure refuge. When 372 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.400 I run to her, my heart's sick with fear. How 373 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.000 soft her arms are, and how sweet her hair falling 374 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:49.440 in my face. I'm her black baby, her toby dog, 375 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.519 her little bit of love. She sits on the ground 376 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.440 to reassure me, making herself little like me, lies down altogether, 377 00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:58.359 and I go wild with delight at the sight of 378 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:00.759 her face and her mind, her own back, and her 379 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:04.640 fragrant hair. My feelings overflow. I can't resist such a 380 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.680 chance for a jolly good game. I rummage and fumble about, excitedly, 381 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:11.680 poking my nose everywhere till I find the crispy tip 382 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.559 of a pink ear her ear. I nibble it just 383 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.559 enough to tickle her to make her cry out. Stop, Toby, 384 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.279 that's awful. Help help this dog's devouring me. 385 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:27.599 Hm, simple, homely, wholesome joys. And then off you go 386 00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:30.880 to make friends with the cook, and you with the cat. 387 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:31.279 At the farm. 388 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:34.599 TI keep the demule coldly enough. 389 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:39.279 I pray that concerns no one but myself and the 390 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.079 little cat. 391 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:44.000 A pretty conquest. It should make you blush. A seven 392 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:45.200 months old kitten. 393 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:47.599 TI keep the demule roused for me. 394 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.079 She has all the charm of forbidden fruit, and no 395 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:54.920 one dares steal her from me. She is slim as 396 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:55.799 a bean. 397 00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:58.680 Pole Toby dog aside. 398 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:04.160 You'll rascal, and long poised on long legs. She walks 399 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:08.279 with the uncertain step common to all young things. She 400 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.680 hunts field mice, shrew mice, even partridge, and this hard 401 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:15.720