Midterm - Prof. Tarma Amelia Black
Picture #5 and Picture #1
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The Cat Magician
The rock was watching all of the activities of the town. It loved being in the sea, with the water lapping up against it's sides. It also loved the storms, when the winds and the heavy rains combined with the swelling sea to gust heavily against it's stalwart strength. The rock also loved it when the people of the town would swim out to it, or boat out to it (for the unadventurous). It listened to them as they talked; lately some few people had been coming out and discussing something that they were concerned about. The rock listened avidly. While it loved being a rock, it sometimes wished it had legs and could move about.
Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was an evil magician. He had showed up in the village one day, nobody knows from where. He took up residence in a cottage a few miles from town. Observant people noticed that a cat showed up around the same time as the magician ...
One day, the magician strode into town. A little donkey was drinking at the trough and the magician shoved the donkey out of his way. The donkey brayed and kicked out his heels in protest and the magician snarled something in a rough voice. Instead of a donkey, there was, crouching on his hands and knees a young man.
A young woman of the town saw the whole thing, and when the magician continued on his way, hurried over to the donkey-man, and cast her cloak over him to conceal his body.
The cat prowled on over and hissed angrily "Someone ought to do something about that guy. Ever since he took that potion, he's been beyond bearing!"
"What do you mean?" asked the young woman.
"Oh, just that he hasn't always been a man" said the cat, snottily. "Once upon a time he was a cat just like me. But some students in a magic school thought it funny to give him something to drink ... and he turned, not only into a man, but into a magician. As a cat he was barely tolerable but as a man, it seems all the virtues of catdom is gone in him. Too bad, he was an excellent ratter, too."
"Do you think it would be possible to ... reverse that spell?" asked the young woman, musingly.
"I don't know" replied the cat, incorrigibly honest.
"By the way, Cat" the woman said, thoughtfully "how is it that you and I can speak?"
If a cat could blush, it would have.
"Um, I'm the student who gave the drink to the cat ... and it sort of backfired ..."
"Oh, so you are hanging around him, hoping to get your true form back?" she asked, tossing her golden black curls.
The cat smiled a cat smile. "Of course."
In the meantime, the young man (who had been a donkey) was slowly becoming accustomed to this strange form. He straightened up, easing the cloak more securely around his shoulders and body.
Speaking slowly, but with growing confidence, he said "While this is a fine form, I much prefer my own. What can I do to get it back?"
The woman slowly smiled. "I know ...."
The cat and the young man looked at her, the cat in that way which implied that she was being rather annoyingly smug.
"I work at the tavern" she said next. "The magician comes in regularly; that is how I know him. Thing is, he always has the same thing to drink and to eat. Oddly enough, he loves cream and tuna pie."
She looked at the cat.
"How difficult would it be for you to come up with some more of that potion that you caused him to drink while he was a cat?"
"Not difficult at all" the cat yowled. "That was the first thing I did, was get my friend to put some in a bottle with a good stopper on it, and fix it so I can carry it around. I followed him here to this town in the hopes that I'd be able to get him to drink it."
"Great" she said, with a smile. "So all I have to do is pour some into his ...."
"Noooo!" yowled the cat. "You must not pour it, it has to be me who pours it because whoever pours it is what he'll switch places with!"
"Oh ...."
"But that's no problem, I can come and tip the bottle over into his cream. It doesn't take much really."
"What about me?" said the donkey boy.
"That's no problem" replied the cat. "When I have my proper shape back, I can easily switch you back into your own body." The odd threesome, the woman, the cat and the donkey boy, paddled their way out to the rock several times to discuss how they were going to do this. They finally had it worked out, covering all the possible things that could happen ...
****
And so it was. The cat became a magician, the magician became a cat and the boy became a donkey.
The cat remained a great ratter, the woman didn't marry the magician but instead persuaded the magician to turn the donkey back into a young man (after she had discussed the matter thoroughly with the donkey) because she thought he was very seemly and they married and had a bunch of very hairy children.
And the rock was entertained by the whole matter.
The End
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The Cat Magician
The rock was watching all of the activities of the town. It loved being in the sea, with the water lapping up against it's sides. It also loved the storms, when the winds and the heavy rains combined with the swelling sea to gust heavily against it's stalwart strength. The rock also loved it when the people of the town would swim out to it, or boat out to it (for the unadventurous). It listened to them as they talked; lately some few people had been coming out and discussing something that they were concerned about. The rock listened avidly. While it loved being a rock, it sometimes wished it had legs and could move about.
Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was an evil magician. He had showed up in the village one day, nobody knows from where. He took up residence in a cottage a few miles from town. Observant people noticed that a cat showed up around the same time as the magician ...
One day, the magician strode into town. A little donkey was drinking at the trough and the magician shoved the donkey out of his way. The donkey brayed and kicked out his heels in protest and the magician snarled something in a rough voice. Instead of a donkey, there was, crouching on his hands and knees a young man.
A young woman of the town saw the whole thing, and when the magician continued on his way, hurried over to the donkey-man, and cast her cloak over him to conceal his body.
The cat prowled on over and hissed angrily "Someone ought to do something about that guy. Ever since he took that potion, he's been beyond bearing!"
"What do you mean?" asked the young woman.
"Oh, just that he hasn't always been a man" said the cat, snottily. "Once upon a time he was a cat just like me. But some students in a magic school thought it funny to give him something to drink ... and he turned, not only into a man, but into a magician. As a cat he was barely tolerable but as a man, it seems all the virtues of catdom is gone in him. Too bad, he was an excellent ratter, too."
"Do you think it would be possible to ... reverse that spell?" asked the young woman, musingly.
"I don't know" replied the cat, incorrigibly honest.
"By the way, Cat" the woman said, thoughtfully "how is it that you and I can speak?"
If a cat could blush, it would have.
"Um, I'm the student who gave the drink to the cat ... and it sort of backfired ..."
"Oh, so you are hanging around him, hoping to get your true form back?" she asked, tossing her golden black curls.
The cat smiled a cat smile. "Of course."
In the meantime, the young man (who had been a donkey) was slowly becoming accustomed to this strange form. He straightened up, easing the cloak more securely around his shoulders and body.
Speaking slowly, but with growing confidence, he said "While this is a fine form, I much prefer my own. What can I do to get it back?"
The woman slowly smiled. "I know ...."
The cat and the young man looked at her, the cat in that way which implied that she was being rather annoyingly smug.
"I work at the tavern" she said next. "The magician comes in regularly; that is how I know him. Thing is, he always has the same thing to drink and to eat. Oddly enough, he loves cream and tuna pie."
She looked at the cat.
"How difficult would it be for you to come up with some more of that potion that you caused him to drink while he was a cat?"
"Not difficult at all" the cat yowled. "That was the first thing I did, was get my friend to put some in a bottle with a good stopper on it, and fix it so I can carry it around. I followed him here to this town in the hopes that I'd be able to get him to drink it."
"Great" she said, with a smile. "So all I have to do is pour some into his ...."
"Noooo!" yowled the cat. "You must not pour it, it has to be me who pours it because whoever pours it is what he'll switch places with!"
"Oh ...."
"But that's no problem, I can come and tip the bottle over into his cream. It doesn't take much really."
"What about me?" said the donkey boy.
"That's no problem" replied the cat. "When I have my proper shape back, I can easily switch you back into your own body." The odd threesome, the woman, the cat and the donkey boy, paddled their way out to the rock several times to discuss how they were going to do this. They finally had it worked out, covering all the possible things that could happen ...
****
And so it was. The cat became a magician, the magician became a cat and the boy became a donkey.
The cat remained a great ratter, the woman didn't marry the magician but instead persuaded the magician to turn the donkey back into a young man (after she had discussed the matter thoroughly with the donkey) because she thought he was very seemly and they married and had a bunch of very hairy children.
And the rock was entertained by the whole matter.
The End