1
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Barks and Purrs
by Colette Willy, aka Colette Translated by Maire Kelly
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Barks and Purrs
Author: Colette Willy, aka Colette Translated by Maire Kelly
Release Date: March 28, 2004 [EBook #11737]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARKS AND PURRS ***
Produced by Hilary Caws-Elwitt and PG Distributed Proofreaders
BARKS AND PURRS
BY
COLETTE WILLY
TRANSLATED BY
MAIRE KELLY
CONTENTS
PREFACE SENTIMENTALITIES ON THE TRAIN DINNER IS LATE SHE IS ILL THE FIRST FIRE THE STORM A CALLER
PREFACE
Madame:
There are moments when one seems to come to life. One looks about and distinguishes a creature whose foot-print closely resembles the ace of spades. The thing says: bow-wow. It is a dog. One looks again. The ace of spades is now an ace of clubs. The thing says: pffffffff--and it is a cat.
This is the history of the visible world and in particular, that of my god-children, Toby-Dog and Kiki-the-Demure. They are so natural--I use the word in the sense in which it is applicable to the savages of Oceania--that all their acts conspire to make of life, a very simple proposition. These are animals in the fullest sense of