Once upon a time, there was a little ginger cat whose name was Roamer. He was wandering around the garden, because he didn’t know what to do. He played for a while with a piece of string, then he sniffed about a bit, but soon he got tired of that. Nothing happened in the garden all day: not so much as a single leaf moved. The little cat was desperate to do something. He wanted some excitement! Some action! But instead, it seemed that the whole village must have fallen asleep.
So he was aimlessly wandering along the garden fence this way and that, when something caught his eye. The neighbours had hung some old china cups on their fence posts as a decoration. This was something interesting at last!
He went over to take a closer look. First he sat and watched them, then he went right up and sniffed them. And then he tentatively touched one with his paw. A question came into his mind, as it does sooner or later to any cat who comes across a cup: “What happens if I nudge it?” He didn’t think about the answer very long. He gave a little laugh from under his whiskers and knocked the cup off the fence post.
The cup hit the ground and smashed loudly into smithereens. “Fun at last!” Roamer meowed joyfully.
“What’s going on? Off with you!” shouted the neighbour, who had rushed out of the door in alarm. Roamer wasn’t expecting that! He took fright, let out a squeal and took to his heels. He only just escaped a blow from the neighbour’s broom handle.
Meanwhile, in the next garden along, a big black dog called Scoot was napping in his wooden kennel. It wasn’t long…