Once upon a time there was a little girl who
wanted a kitten for Christmas. Her mother couldn’t buy a kitten
and
parcel it up for Christmas Day, so she bought it a week before
Christmas
and gave it to the little girl.
‚You’re getting
your Christmas present a week early this year,‘ her
mother
explained as she handed over the fluffy little tabby kitten.
‚Is that what
you want?‘
The little girl said, ‚It’s wonderful,
mother…just what I wanted.
There’s just one thing wrong!‘
‚What’s that?‘ her mother asked.
‚Well, it has a cute little claw
on the outside of every paw and
another little claw on the inside
of every paw – but the poor little thing
has no claws at all in the
middle of its paws!‘
Her mother smiled. ‚Don’t worry, Kitty.
When you wake up on Christmas
morning you’ll find the claws are
there.‘
Now Kitty loved her kitten dearly, but she worrie
d about the claws in
the middle of its paws. The days passed and
there wasn’t even a hint, a
clue or an inkling of claws in the
middle of its paws.
When Christmas Eve arrived and there was still
no sign, Kitty went to
her mother and asked again, ‚Are you
absolutely sure that the kitten
will have its middle claws tomorrow?
There’s only a few hours to go and
there’s not a hint or clue or an
inkling as to claws as far as I can
see.‘
‚Wait till you
wake up on Christmas morning,‘ her mother smiled and
went on
stuffing the turkey.
So Kitty went to sleep a worried girl. When she
woke up on Christmas
morning she ignored the presents in her
stocking and rushed downstairs to
look at her little kitten.
She
was astounded, amazed and just a little surprised to see that her
kitten had four claws on every paw! The middle ones had appeared as if
by magic.
Kitty rushed to her parent’s bedroom. ‚Mummy
, Mummy! The kitten has
grown its middle claws!‘
‚Of
course it has,‘ her mother grinned.
‚But how did you know?‘
Kitty demanded.
Her father rolled over sleepily and sighed, ‚Oh,
Kitty, everybody
knows that Centre-claws always comes at
Christmas!‘
