Thanks for the attribution. I should have researched it and included it, but
I had to attend to HRH Ketzl's repast.

CATTYSON!!!!!?????????!!!!!!!

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh

Make Levees, Not War

Bravo! Now I just have to post my Rime of the Ancient Islander, an
adventure with my RB cats Frank and Nikki. The whole poem is at
http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/rime.htm

PART I

An ancient Islander meeteth three kittens working on the Mouser, and
detaineth one.

It is an ancient Islander,
And he stoppeth one of three.
`By thy black beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ?

The Mouser’s gangway waits for me,
And I am late for chores;
The kits are met, the rigging’s set,
May’st hear the Cap’n roars.’

He holds him with his skinny paw,
`There was a map,' quoth he.
`Hold off ! unpaw me, black-beard loon !'
Eftsoons his paw dropt he.

The Kitten-Cat is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring cat, and
constrained to hear his tail.

He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Kitten-Cat stood still,
And listens like a three years' child :
The Islander hath his will.

The Kitten-Cat sat on a stone :
He cannot choose but hear ;
And thus spake on that ancient cat,
The bright-eyed Islander.

`The map was charred, the paper seared,
Barely could I read
A cross was there, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.

The Islander tells how he sent the map to the Mothership for restoration.

A note I sent, up in the sky,
To contact experts there,
They took the map, and on the night,
Sent it back down to here.

They’d treated it, removed the burns,
And made it clear to tell- - ‘
The Kitten-Cat here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud ship’s bell.

The Kitten-Cat heareth the ship’s bell ; but the Islander continueth his
tale.

The Cap’n hath paced onto the bridge,
Red as a beet is he ;
Whiskers bristling, ears a-twitching,
Looking mighty fierce.

The Kitten-Cat he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear ;
And thus spake on that ancient cat,
The bright-eyed Islander.

The map is returned to Frank from the Mothership.

`And now the CYBER-CAT came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong :
He struck with his o'ertaking claws,
And chased me south along.

With sloping tail and dipping brow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
This cat ran fast, loud roared that cat,
Then southward aye I fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold :
And ice, ear-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

The rest is at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/rime.htm .