Dick Whittington and His Cat

4.8

Part I

Many, many years ago there was a little boy who lived in a village in England. His name was Dick Whittington, Dick’s father and mother died when he was very young and the boy did not remember them. The village people often spoke about London, and Dick stood and listened to them. He wanted very much to go and see London: he thought that all the people in the capital were rich and that there was much gold in the streets.

One day a man came to the village. People said that the man was from London. Dick asked the man to take him to London, so the man took the boy with him. They walked for many days and at last they came to London.

Dick wanted very much to see the big city and the streets where there was much gold, so he ran off very quickly and did not say goodbye to the man. He ran and ran in the streets of London, but he did not see any gold. He saw that some of the people in the streets were poor and looked hungry.

Dick was also very hungry, but he had no money to buy food. He went and sat down near the door of a big house. This was the house of a rich man, Mr. Fitzwarren by name.

Part II

Soon Mr. Fitzwarren came home to dinner, and when he saw that there was a poor boy near his door, he asked him:

“What are you doing here? Where do you live?”

“I have come to London, sir, from a little village,” said Dick, “and I am very hungry, I have not eaten for two days.”

Mr. Fitzwarren was a good man. He took Dick into his house and told him to work in the kitchen and help the cook.

Dick began to live in Mr. Fitzwarren's house. The cook was a bad woman and she often hit the boy. Dick slept in a little room on the ground floor. There were many holes in the floor and the walls of this room. In the night rats and mice came out of the holes and ran over Dick’s bed.

One day Mr. Fitzwarren gave the boy a penny and Dick bought a cat with it. The cat lived in Dick’s little room and every night it killed a lot of rats and mice. Soon there were no rats and mice in the house.

Mr. Fitzwarren had ships which sailed to different countries with goods from London. For these goods he got different things from other countries.

One day he called all his servants and said to them: “My ship is going to Africa. If you give the captain some of your things he will bring you back some goods from Africa.”

All the servants had things that they did not need and they gave them to the captain. Only Dick had no things. When Mr. Fitzwarren asked Dick what he had, the boy said:

“I have a cat which can catch rats and mice.” The captain took Dick’s cat on the ship and soon the ship sailed to Africa.

Part III

One day the bad cook hit Dick again and the boy thought, “I must run away from Mr. Filzwarren's house.”

Very early the next morning Dick came out of the house and walked to the end of the city. There he sat down on a big stone. To this day the people of London call this stone "Dick Whittington's stone”.

Then Dick heard the church-bells which began to ring. He listened and heard these words:

“Turn again, Whittington,

Lord Mayor of London.”

“Lord Mayor of London!” said Dick, "I shall be Lord Mayor of London when I grow up. Well, then I must go back to Mr. Filzwarren’s house.”

And he turned and ran very quickly back to Mr. Fitzwarren’s house.

The ship with Dick Whittington’s cat on it sailed for many weeks and at last it came to Africa. Many black people came to look at the white people and the king of the country asked the captain to come to his palace, where he gave him a very good dinner. There were many rats and mice in the room. They ran over the tables and over the people who sat at the table.

The captain remembered poor Dick and his cat. He told the king, "I have an animal on the ship that can kill the rats and mice.”

“Bring this animal to me,” said the king, “and I shall give you much gold for it.”

The captain went to the ship and came back quickly with Dick’s cat in his arms. When the cat saw the rats and mice on the table and in the room, it jumped down and began to catch and kill them. The king was very happy and gave the captain a lot of gold for the cat and some rich presents for Dick. When the ship came back to London, the captain gave the gold and the presents to Dick. So Dick was a rich young man now.

After some time Dick Whittington married Mr. Fitzwarren’s daughter Alice. They were very happy and had many children.

The people of London made Richard Whittington Lord Mayor, and his statue with the cat in his arms stood in London till the year 1780.