Once there was a young cat called Gaspar. He lived in Rue Gaspar de Utrera with his mother. Sometime he was good and sometimes he was bad, but every time he went out to play his mother would say,
‘Gaspar, don’t go over to the other side of the harbour. Stay on this side. If you go to the other side of the harbour Mr Chong will get you.’
But young cats are inquisitive creatures and they are not always good. Gaspar’s friends told him that they had been to the other side of the harbour and that sometimes they found chicken legs there.
So one day Gaspar went to the other side of the harbour and sure enough, while he was sniffing around for good things to eat, Mr Chong came along with his sack. As soon as he saw Gaspar he got him by the tail and put him into his sack and took him home to eat him.
When he got home Mr Chong had a look at the cat. He squeezed his back and he squeezed his legs.
‘Hmm.’ He said, ‘you are quite a stringy and tough young cat, I will need some salt and pepper to make you tasty. Mrs Chong!’ he shouted to his wife, ‘come here and mind this cat while I go for the salt and pepper’.
So Mrs Chong came from another room and sat with Gaspar who was very frightened.
‘Does Mr Chong eat cats every night?’ he asked her.
‘Most nights. But only if a cat has been bad enough to get in his way.’
‘And do you only have cat meat, do you have nothing else? No pudding?’
‘Oh I love pudding!’ said Mrs Chong, ‘but for people like us pudding is a rarity’.
‘Well,’ said Gaspar, it so happens that my mother is making pudding tonight and if I run home and ask her nicely I am sure she will give me some extra pudding to bring for you. Maybe I should run home and ask her?
‘What a thoughtful young cat’ thought Mrs Chong. ‘All right, but be quick and make sure you’re back in time for dinner.’
Gaspar ran back to Rue Gaspar de Utrera as quickly as he could. That was a narrow escape.
A few weeks later Gaspar was going out to play, and, as usual, his mother said to him,
‘Don’t go over to the other side of the harbour. Stay on this side. If you go to the other side of the harbour Mr Chong will get you.’
But Gaspar did go to the other side of the harbour and as he went sniffing around he found a fine juicy chicken leg. He was stuffing the chicken leg in his pocket when, suddenly, Mr Chong grabbed him.
‘You’re the cat who slipped away from me. Well this time I’ll make sure there’s no escape!’ And with that Mr Chong put him in his sack and tied it firmly.
When he got home he put the water on to boil and he put the sack with Gaspar in it underneath the table. He waited and he waited but the water didn’t boil. So he waited and waited and still the water didn’t boil. At last he said,
‘Cat. I can’t wait any longer for this water to boil. Stick out a leg so that we can start cooking, besides it will stop you running away.’
Gaspar poked a leg out of the sack and Mr Chong took his cleaver and chopped it clean off and dropped it into the pot.
‘Mrs Chong!’ he shouted, ‘Mrs Chong, come and help me with the cooking!’
When nobody replied Mr Chong went to look for Mrs Chong and as soon as he left the room Gaspar jumped out of the bag and ran all the way home for it was the chicken leg that had gone into the pot. Gaspar was good for a very long time and he never went back to the other side of the harbour again.