第一封信

我親愛(ài)的海倫：

你媽媽是這么叫你的，我知道。因?yàn)槲姨搅藢?xiě)字桌上，看到了她給你的信。——她現(xiàn)在不在房間里。我肯定我也有權(quán)和她一樣這么叫你，因?yàn)槿绻闶俏易约荷男∝垼L(zhǎng)得和我一樣，那我對(duì)你的愛(ài)也不會(huì)比現(xiàn)在更多。我在你的大腿上睡過(guò)多少好覺(jué)啊！你從自己的飯中給我省下了多少美味的肉啊！啊，只要我活著，就不會(huì)讓任何一只老鼠染指你的任何一樣?xùn)|西。

從你昨天出發(fā)之后，我就覺(jué)得不開(kāi)心，完全不知道我一只貓?jiān)撟鍪裁础Ｎ胰チ斯葌}(cāng)，覺(jué)得可以在干草垛上睡一覺(jué)，因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為，對(duì)于不開(kāi)心的人來(lái)說(shuō)，睡覺(jué)是最好的事情；但是老查雷沒(méi)有在他的畜欄里跺腳踏步，我覺(jué)得實(shí)在太孤單了，真是受不了。于是我便去了花園，躺在大馬士革玫瑰叢下面抓蒼蠅玩。有一種蒼蠅繞著花叢飛來(lái)飛去，它的味道比我吃過(guò)的任何一種蒼蠅都好吃。你應(yīng)該明白，我抓蒼蠅和你抓蒼蠅是存在很大的不同的。我注意過(guò)，你從來(lái)都不吃它們，我真好奇，為什么你總是對(duì)我這么好，卻又會(huì)殘忍地毫無(wú)緣由地屠殺可憐的蒼蠅。我經(jīng)常希望能有機(jī)會(huì)和你談?wù)勥@件事。既然你親愛(ài)的媽媽已經(jīng)教會(huì)了我如何寫(xiě)字，那么我就可以跟你講很多我過(guò)去無(wú)法讓你理解的事情——我過(guò)去總是為此不開(kāi)心。因?yàn)閷W(xué)不會(huì)英語(yǔ)，我非常沮喪，我覺(jué)得也沒(méi)有人會(huì)費(fèi)力氣學(xué)習(xí)貓語(yǔ)，所以我們貓族就被局限住了，只能和別的貓交流，不然我們就能知道更多的東西。而且，安默斯特只有幾只貓，我在這里非常孤獨(dú)，如果沒(méi)有希區(qū)柯克太太的貓和迪金森先生的貓，我應(yīng)該已經(jīng)忘了怎么說(shuō)話(huà)了。你在家的時(shí)候，我一點(diǎn)兒都不在意，盡管我不能跟你說(shuō)話(huà)，但是我能懂得你對(duì)我說(shuō)的每一個(gè)字。我們一起玩紅球玩得多開(kāi)心啊。那個(gè)紅球現(xiàn)在被收在了起居室的小縫紉桌底層的抽屜中。你媽媽把它放進(jìn)去的時(shí)候，扭頭對(duì)我說(shuō)：“可憐的小貓，海倫回家之前，你沒(méi)有什么好玩的了。”我覺(jué)得我應(yīng)該大哭一場(chǎng)，但我轉(zhuǎn)念一想，如果哭了也無(wú)濟(jì)于事，再哭的話(huà)就十分愚蠢了，所以我假裝左眼里面進(jìn)了東西，抬起爪子揉眼睛。我很少為了什么事情哭泣，除非是為了打翻的牛奶。我必須得承認(rèn)，我經(jīng)常為了打翻的牛奶哭泣，而貓的牛奶總是被打翻。人們總是把給貓的牛奶放在又舊又破的容器里，隨便一碰就會(huì)翻，然后又會(huì)把這裝了奶的容器放到肯定會(huì)礙事的地方。有很多次，我那放在貓舍里的藍(lán)色碟子都被喬賽亞給打翻了。你以為我吃了豐盛美味的牛奶早餐，可實(shí)際上我什么都沒(méi)有吃到，只有些蒼蠅，而蒼蠅不過(guò)是些佐料而已。我很高興能有機(jī)會(huì)告訴你這些事情，因?yàn)槲抑溃饶慊氐郊遥蜁?huì)給我豐盛的大餐。

我希望你發(fā)現(xiàn)了我為你放在馬車(chē)底部的馬栗。我想不出別的能放在那里可以提醒你想到我的東西。我害怕你想不到那是我放的，如果你沒(méi)想到的話(huà)，那實(shí)在太糟糕了，因?yàn)槲页粤瞬簧倏囝^才能帶著那些栗子翻過(guò)馬車(chē)的擋泥板，為了把能找到的最大的栗子叼過(guò)去，我一直大張著嘴，下巴都快僵掉了。

門(mén)廊上有三朵漂亮的蒲公英，不過(guò)，我覺(jué)得到你回家的時(shí)候，它們應(yīng)該就不見(jiàn)了。有個(gè)人來(lái)你的花園里面鼓搗，盡管我一直都非常仔細(xì)地觀察著他，卻沒(méi)有搞明白他在做什么。我擔(dān)心他做的事情你不喜歡，如果搞清楚了是怎么回事，我會(huì)在下一封信中告訴你。再見(jiàn)。

愛(ài)你的小貓

Ⅰ

My Dear Helen，

That is what your mother calls you, I know, for I jumped up on writing table just now, and looked, while she was out of the room；and I am sure I have as much right to call you so as she has, for if you were my own little kitty, and looked just like me, I could not love you any more than I do. How many good naps I have had in your lap！And how many nice bits of meat you have saved for me out of your own dinner！Oh, I'll never let a rat, or a mouse, touch any thing of yours so long as I live.

I felt very unhappy after you drove off yesterday, and did not know what to do with myself. I went into the barn, and thought I would take a nap on the hay, for I do think going to sleep is one of the very best things for people who are unhappy；but it seemed so lonely without old Charlie stamping in his stall that I could not bear it, so I went into the garden, and lay down under the damask rose bush, and caught fies.There is a kind of fy round that bush which I like better than any other I ever ate.You ought to see that there is a very great difference between my catching flies and your doing it.I have noticed that you never eat them, and I have wondered that when you were always so kind to me you could be so cruel as to kill poor fies for nothing.I have often wished that I could speak to you about it：now that your dear mother has taught me to print, I shall be able to say a great many things to you which I have often been unhappy about because I could not make you understand.Iam entirely discouraged about learning to speak the English language, and I do not think anybody takes much trouble to learn ours；so we cats are confned entirely to the society of each other, which prevents our knowing so much as we might；and it is very lonely too, in a place where there are so few cats kept as in Amherst.If it were not for Mrs.Hitchcock's cat, and Judge Dickinson's, I should really forget how to use my tongue.When you are at home I do not mind it, for although I cannot talk to you, I understand every word that you say to me, and we have such good plays together with the red ball.That is put away now in the bottom drawer of the little workstand in the sitting-room.When your mother put it in, she turned round to me, and said，“Poor pussy, no more good plays for you till Helen comes home！”and I thought I should certainly cry.But I think it is very foolish to cry over what cannot be helped，so I pretended to have got something into my left eye, and rubbed it with my paw. It is very seldom that I cry over any thing, unless it is“spilt milk”.I must confess, I have often cried when that has happened：and it always is happening to cats'milk.They put it into old broken things that tip over at the least knock, and then they set them just where they are sure to be most in the way.Many's the time Josiah has knocked over that blue saucer of mine, in the shed, and when you have thought that I had had a nice breakfast of milk, I had nothing in the world but flies, which are not good for much more than just a little sort of relish.I am so glad of a chance to tell you about this, because I know when you come home you will get a better dish for me.

I hope you found the horse chestnuts which I put in the bottom of the carriage for you. I could not think of any thing else to put in, which would remind you of me：but Iam afraid you will never think that it was I who put them there, and it will be too bad if you don't, for I had a dreadful time climbing up over the dasher with them, and both my jaws are quite lame from stretching them so, to carry the biggest ones I could fnd.

There are three beautiful dandelions out on the terrace, but I don't suppose they will keep till you come home. A man has been doing something to your garden, but though I watched him very closely all the time, I could not make out what he was about.I am afraid it is something you will not like；but if I fnd out more about it, I will tell you in my next letter.Good bye.

Your affectionate Pussy.