T0BY-D0G, (_evasive and courteous_)

0h, you're a _Cat_. But a mule, and with Her on his back! What abeautiful picture they make, high up in the white air! To gaze on it, Ihave to throw my head 'way back on my thick neck. The mule lends herhis speed. Now at last, She can race with me when I go off on a mad run.Sometimes I'm ahead, ears floating back and tongue hanging out like alittle flag--the angular shadow of the mule on the road in front. If Ifollow her, a fragrant dust blows back at me. It smells of warm leather,moist beast, and a little of her own perfume too. The road runs underme, like a ribbon that someone is pulling. 0h, what joy it is to be solittle and so swift, running along in the shadow of a great gallopinghorse! When we halt, I pant like a motor, between the legs of my friend,who snorts and in the kindliest way puts down his fetteblack mouth andsprinkles me ...

KIKI-THE-DEMURE

I know, I know! The mule "with long mane ashake; hoofs, weighty withtumult; eyes, glimmering black." ...You are the last of theRomanticists.