... Once upon a time, in ages long past, there was a miller. And he was very poor ... living with his three sons in a little hut on the top of a hill. The eldest of his sons was named "Jean," the second "Pierre," and the third "Joseph" ..
The miller owned nothing in this world but his ancient mill, a scrawny lame donkey, and a big black tomcat — and the cat was very ugly.
When the poor miller died, he willed the mill to "Jean," the donkey to "Pierre," and the ugly black cat to "Joseph." Joseph was a poor, simple soul who was content with little, so he was content with the black cat; he took him and carried him on
his shoulder and set out to seek his fortune, wandering from town to town with his big, ugly black cat ...
One day, Joseph sat down sorrowful, having despaired of finding work to live on, he and his cat.
He began stroking the cat's fur, saying .. What shall we do, my dear cat??
The cat looked at him with his two eyes and said: Take heart, my dear Jo, take heart ..
Joseph was dumbfounded to hear the cat speak, for it was the first time he had ever heard a cat talk ...
The cat said: "Don't be a coward, my friend. You have a
little money! Good! Go to the market and buy me a pair of yellow shoes .. and buy me a clean sack and a spool and thread. And I will show you how to become rich!!"
When Jo came back from the market with the shoes, the cat was greatly pleased and rubbed his whiskers with delight, for they were splendid shoes.
The cat took the sack with some food in it, put on the shoes, and went off hunting .. In a green field, the cat lay in wait in the grass, opened the mouth of the sack, and went to sleep ... And while he was sleeping, a big rabbit came and began sniffing at the sack and the cat, then poked his head into the sack to eat what was inside ... and the poor rabbit fell into the sack, an easy prey for the clever cat.
The cat carried the rabbit in his sack and went to the king, and came before him in his yellow shoes and said:
"Your Majesty, my master Prince Youssef has charged me to present to you this succulent rabbit ... and it is the biggest rabbit in the lands of my master the Prince.
